I was born and raised on a small cattle ranch in western North Dakota where I started hunting rabbits with an old single shot .22 (circa early 1900’s) of my dad’s. My dad stressed early on the importance of not wasting ammo and 1 shot kills were expected even when .22 shells were less than 50 cents a box. To this day it is still hard for me to just go plink or even practice more than a few rounds. Then as I grew up and worked on ranches in Montana I hunted mainly for meat – deer, elk and antelope. I don’t think my kids even tasted beef until they were 13-14 years old. I started hunting internationally when I retired from Exxon refinery in Billings, Montana in 1999. I celebrated with a moose hunt in Alaska. Then people I met through Safari Club recommended hunts in Russia, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Argentina and Australia where I have hunted several times. I hunted for brown bear on Kamchatka and ibex in Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan. One of my luckiest moments was when I won the Arizona Desert Big Horn Sheep Society’s 2010 national raffle. I got my choice of 3 sheep hunts and chose a Fannin hunt in the Yukon as I already had a Dall & Rocky Mountain Bighorn. While in the Yukon I filled a Yukon slam with the sheep, a great Mountain Caribou, a 60” moose and a 6 ½’ grizzly bear – in 13 days! I have enjoyed several of these hunts with my son and daughter. My son and I really enjoy hunting together and both of us got good black bears in northwestern Alberta in May 2012. I encourage people to join SCI as I did. You too can go to these places and hunt if you save your dollars and shop for your hunts. The contacts I have made through Safari Club have helped make it possible for me.