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SCI EVENT A HUGE SUCCESS

By: Ron Wilson

May 4, 2009.... The 8th Annual Hunters Banquet, auction and raffle put on by the Northern San Joaquin Valley Chapter of Safari Club International just keeps getting bigger and better.

How big? Try nearly 600 people this year! The Roen family, who have been hosting this event have never had that many vehicles in their pasture.

Topping this year’s event will be an almost impossible task. The reason is that Benelli’s Tom Knapp and his shooting skills drew a ton of interest from young and old alike throughout California. Tom has mastered a lot of trick shooting and is just damn good at what he does.

His tongue is just as sharp as his shooting skills. While he is firing his Benelli shotguns at targets, he still manages to identify his sponsors about every 10th word fired from his mouth. Now I am not complaining about his word of mouth advertising during his shooting demonstrations, not at all, as Tom makes it perfectly clear that without Benelli there probably would be no Tom Knapp.

I really enjoyed his live show a lot better than all the televised events I have seen him shoot in over the years.  While a lot of the show was the same old Tom Knapp, I could see that as his hair has changed in color so has his showmanship. Tom is like a fine bottle of Bronco wine as he has aged he has just got smoother, especially on those occasional misses.

A couple of the more amusing shooting exhibits that Tom did was a special choke he added to a shotgun that made the barrel of the gun about 7 feet long. The bark of the gun as he shot the clays with it was surprisingly quite. Tom explained that the added barrel was vented so that most of the sound was silenced. Another demonstration of his skills was to have a half dozen kids pick up raw eggs, line up and throw them through a volunteers arm that was stretched up like a goal post one at a time. Tom was standing a few yards on the side and busting them as they flew through the air. I was looking forward to see the guy get clobbered with a low thrown egg but that didn’t happen as the boys and girls chosen to do the throwing did a great job. One egg broke as the kid threw it so he did get a smidgen of egg on him but nothing like it could have been. The kids and the crowd really enjoyed this shooting exhibition as the action was fast and furious. Tom shooting flying eggs, kids tossing eggs and running back to get another as fast as they could and the poor guy holding up his arms winching as the kids tossed the eggs through and over him. If you ever get a chance to see one of Tom Knapp’s shooting demonstrations sponsored by Benelli don’t miss it.

The time really flew by and the hunters and non-hunters alike all got together to chat and socialize which continued on to a good meal and a fine bottle of Bronco wine at the table.

From what I observed the kids, wives, girlfriends, friends and family members all seemed to have a great time again this year in the atmosphere the Northern San Joaquin Valley Chapter of SCI has created. The outdoor air, the old barn, corrals and the pasture land under your feet seems to lend a hand toward the clubs successful events.

Jerry and Karen Fountain owners of the Copper Spur Bar-B-Que did one heck of a job keeping the attendees supplied with a wide variety of appetizers.

I love watching all the diversity of people there. Fathers, mothers, sons, grandparents and grandchildren, they were all in attendance again this year. I had the opportunity to watch Ken Nichols and his two grandsons enjoy the event along with my son and his son Derick again this year. One of Ken’s grandsons was chosen to throw the eggs for Tom, the youngster must be one heck of a rock thrower as he did a great job of firing the eggs into the air for Tom to bust.

It was another great event put on by the Northern San Joaquin Valley Chapter of Safari Club International and I am stating to wonder what in the world they could possibly come up with to make it any better for next year. I think this event is ran as good as any event can run, in fact its one of the best ran events that I have ever attended and not much if any room for improvements.

Now the event wasn’t over at 10 p.m. as there was a band there for listening and dancing to if one so desired. The music sounded good and I am sure the younger generation had a ball dancing and getting together again this year but I decided to call it a night and head for the comforts of home.