SCI Launches Hunter Information Service as New Member Benefit
Safari Club International has introduced a new benefit that is available to all SCI members at no additional cost. The newly launched Hunter Information Service offers information on hunting travel, destinations, trophy importation issues and much more. The service features an online library and real-time hotline for information on all things related to hunting, hunting travel and sustainable use conservation.
The Hunter Information Service library is accessible through SCI’s newly re-designed website, which launched in October 2018. Under the Hunter Information Service section members may research:
- hunting opportunities
- destinations and species
- requirements to travel with firearms
- trophy importation regulations
- airline restrictions
- disease outbreaks in wild game
- and more
A searchable database of hunt reports submitted by SCI members will be added to the service later. An online directory of exhibitors and sponsors of SCI’s annual convention will also be featured as part of the Hunter Information Service, giving members direct year-round access to exhibitors.
The Hunter Information Hotline component will allow members to call or email a knowledgeable representative with questions about hunting travel, trophy importations, hunting opportunities, updates on legal challenges to hunting, hunting-related problems and other issues.
While the service will be available only to SCI members, there will be some sections of the online library available to all hunters and the press. These sections will offer fact sheets, studies and reports on sustainable use conservation and how the practice contributes to saving species around the world and the habitat they depend upon.
SCI has contracted former Editor-in-Chief of The Hunting Report Newsletter, Barbara Crown, to create and manage the Hunter Information 
Service. She manages the new hotline and provides SCI members with up-to-date information, assistance and advice. Crown has 20 years of experience investigating and reporting on hunting-related news developments around the world and managing the hunt report program at The Hunting Report. The benefits of SCI’s Hunter Information Service are exactly what Crown provided to subscribers of The Hunting Report and now provides to all 50,000-plus SCI members.
“Helping hunters get the information they need to make informed decisions about hunting and avoid or resolve hunting-travel problems is one of my passions,” says Crown. “I’ve seen too many hunting experiences go wrong because of issues that could have been avoided with a little bit of knowledge. My mission with SCI’s Hunter Information Service is to help as many SCI members as possible have outstanding hunting-related experiences.”
The online Hunter Information Service is already live. Members can find it under the About Us menu of the SCI website and review information about airline policies on firearms, firearm import requirements for various countries, links to conservation departments across North America and links to all the professional hunting associations in North America and Africa. The section will expand throughout the coming year with more information on destinations and will eventually include a database of hunt reports where members can research hunting opportunities and operators. For questions or assistance, members may contact the Hunter Hotline at 800-997-0179 or 520-798-4859. Alternatively, send an email to HunterHotline@safariclub.org.
