Hunting conventions on deck this winter

January and February are shaping up to be busy months for outdoor buffs.

It all gets started with the Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show and Conference, which is back in Las Vegas after being in Florida in 2009. Not far behind are the Safari Club International Annual Hunters Convention in Reno and the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo in Salt Lake City.

The SHOT Show is considered the largest trade show for organizations and individuals involved with the shooting sports and hunting industries. It is the place where buyers from across the United States and from more than 75 other countries gather to meet and do business with folks from the manufacturing and supply side of the industry. And as you might imagine, the SHOT Show hosts a large contingent from the world of outdoor media.

In past years, the SHOT Show made its Las Vegas home at the Convention Center, but for 2010 the show will be at the Sands Expo and Convention Center. Show dates are Jan. 19 to 22. Unfortunately, since it is a trade gathering, the SHOT Show isn't open to the public, but you are sure to see product reviews and other related articles in this and other shooting and hunting publications.

On the other hand, the public is welcome to attend the Safari Club's annual convention Jan. 20 to 23 at the Reno Convention Center, though you need to be a member of the Safari Club to attend. You can take care of that while registering for the convention. On the menu are courses with such titles as "Dangerous Game Biology 101 for Hunters," "Improving Your Long Range Shooting" and "Designing and Building a Trophy Room That Fits You." You even can learn about advanced ballistics for your muzzleloader. More information is available at www.showsci.com.

And everyone is invited to the fourth annual Western Hunting and Conservation Expo at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City. The show dates are Feb. 11 to 14, and if you are shopping for big-game tags, this could be the place to be. Up for grabs will be 200 Utah premium, limited-entry and once-in-a-lifetime tags and a broad collection of governor's tags and auction tags for several states. Species include mule deer, Rocky Mountain sheep, desert bighorn sheep and Rocky Mountain elk.

For more information, check out the expo Web site at www.hunterexpo.com.

• LEAGUE SHOOTS -- While perusing reader comments to an online article about the Clark County Shooting Park, I came across one post in which the writer asked whether the facility would offer league shoots. With the recent closure of the Las Vegas Gun Club, longtime home to the valley's league shoots, this seemed a valid question, so I passed it on to Kristen Siquian, outreach specialist for the park.

"We will not create leagues for shooting here at the park," she wrote in an e-mail, "but if an outside group would like to create a league and then register as a user group, they will be able to schedule a time to shoot at the range."

It appears that the door is wide open for an organization, or organizations, to step up and fill the league niche in the recreational shooting market. For more information, contact the Shooting Park office at (702) 455-2000.

Freelance writer Doug Nielsen is a conservation educator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. His "In the Outdoors" column, published Thursday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NDOW. Any opinions he states in his column are his own. He can be reached at dougnielsen@att.net.