Columnist Paula DelGiudice: Safari Club welcomes stars

Paula DelGiudice

Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2001 | 10:20 a.m.

Paula DelGiudice's outdoors notebook appears Wednesday. Reach her at desertdenizens@aol.com.

The 29th annual Safari Club International Convention kicks off Jan. 10 for its four-day run in Las Vegas. Expected to attend are more than 20,000 exhibitors, speakers, celebrities, press members and hunting enthusiasts, who will be headquartered at the Venetian. Speakers slated to attend are former President George Bush, General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Congressman Duke Cunningham and President Carlos Menem of Argentina.

Many evening programs have been scheduled for the entertainment of participants. Scheduled to perform concerts are country-western greats Roy Clark, the Oak Ridge Boys, and Tanya Tucker.

The hunters' convention is one of the industry's largest with exhibits by firearms and accessory manufacturers, hunting guides and outfitters, taxidermists, artists and jewelers and many more. Also slated are daily seminars that help hunters learn more about their sport.

One of the most successful auctions held to benefit wildlife and wildlife conservation is also held during the convention.

To attend the convention you must be a member of Safari Club. You can join and register for the convention by visiting the organization's web site at www.safariclub.org/conv/start. An introductory membership can be purchased for $25.

For more information, call Safari Club International at its Tucson, Ariz., headquarters at (520) 620-1220.

In a 5-3 vote commissioners accepted a petition brought by Clark County resident Ransom Spurlock to allow use of scopes of any power during the state's muzzleloader hunts. A temporary regulation to allow this change will be written by the NDOW and presented to the commission for a vote during its February 2001 meeting in Reno.

Presently, muzzleloader rifles with scopes can only be used during hunts designated as "any legal weapon" seasons.

Spurlock told the commission that an informal survey he conducted indicated that 88 percent of Nevada's muzzleloader hunters would use scopes, if permitted. He also said that New Mexico Game and Fish Department has told him that it has seen no significant change in hunter success since 1995 when that state began allowing scopes on muzzleloaders.

The web site averages 8,000 to 12,000 inquiries (hits) per day. It provides a variety of outdoor-related information, including hunting applications, regulation brochures, hunter education information, tag draw results and fishing forecasts and stocking information.

"Ice fishing has its own set of safety rules that, if not followed, can cause a day of fishing to end in tragedy," said Loren Jamison, NDOW supervising game warden.

While the ice may be safe in one part of the lake, combinations of warm weather, water currents, springs or snow can cause unsafe ice conditions in another part of the lake. Sometimes that danger may be just a few feet away. Jamison said that as a general rule, ice should be avoided if it is less than two inches thick. At four inches, a person can walk on ice and it should be safe for fishing. At 5-6 inches it can support a snowmobile.

While 8-12 inches of solid, clear ice is often said to be strong enough to support an automobile, Jamison said it's best to leave vehicles safely on shore at all Nevada waterways.

It is especially important to exercise caution early in the winter and toward spring when temperature fluctuations can rapidly change the thickness of the ice. And, as ice ages, the bonds between the ice crystals weaken, causing the ice to lose its strength.

Avoid ice that has slush on it because this indicates it is no longer freezing from the bottom, signaling possible deterioration.