Photo by Steve Sorensen More than 700 people attended the SCI event, and every youngster 17 and under received a Winchester .22 rimfire — the guns in front of the stage with the red tags on the barrels.

Division. In today’s society it’s a problem the size of a wooly mammoth, but unlike the mammoth it’s not headed for extinction. The divisive spirit is getting more virile, more pervasive, and more destructive. It puts American values in danger.

Why do I say that? Our greatest historic American ideal, and what sets us apart from nations built on ethnicity or religion, is described by the phrases “E Pluribus Unum” (Latin for “From Many, One”) and “One Nation Under God” (from our pledge to the indivisible republic our national banner symbolizes). But aside from the Civil War years, that unifying ideal has never been more at risk than it is today.

It’s represented in the rift between political parties, but don’t worry that I’m about to wander into Trumpism or wokeism. The division I’m talking about is not Right versus Left. It’s not rich versus poor. It’s not Americans versus foreigners. And in terms of a hunter’s worldview, it’s not just hunters versus anti-hunters.

Sadly, damaging divisions run right down the middle of America’s hunting culture. It shows up when hunters act like they’re on different sides, but wherever hunters do battle against other hunters, it’s not good for wildlife. Hunters need to remember (and the non-hunting public needs to learn) that wildlife depends on hunters more than ever. Hunters are on the pro-wildlife team, and we are responsible to tell this positive story.

I was recently introduced to an important part of the pro-wildlife team when I attended the Safari Club International (Pittsburgh Chapter) sporting gala in Cranberry. Wildlife does not have a bigger worldwide supporter than SCI, which advocates for wildlife around the world as much as it does for species native to our continent.

Brian Pitell, President of the SCI Pittsburgh Chapter, puts it this way, “It does not matter what you hunt, whether it’s pheasants or whitetail deer here in Pennsylvania, or elk in the Rockies, or cape buffalo in Mozambique, it does not matter. It does not matter how you hunt, whether you hunt with a bow, a crossbow, a shotgun, a rifle. SCI is not weapon-specific. And, SCI is not geographically bound.”

In other words, SCI is for hunters and conservation, supporting any hunter legally hunting anything, using any method, anywhere on the globe. SCI is all for one, and one for all.

Some hunters might think of SCI as a group of elitists, but that’s not the view from the inside. When I asked how I should dress for the gala, the answer was “business casual.” That means just about anything. It does not matter whether you wear an embroidered tuxedo jacket (paging Mr. Pitell) or a well-worn camo shirt with denim jeans (Hello to everyone at the next table). Your personal style is not a barrier to being welcome at SCI.

Everyone fits in. And every rank-and-file American hunter should appreciate the work Safari Club is doing. Most recently (and highlighted at the Pittsburgh Chapter gala) is the passage of new legislation enabling the Pennsylvania Game Commission to allow Sunday hunting. Thanks in large part to the efforts of SCI, what hunters have been talking about for decades is now a reality.

The next project in Pennsylvania and other states is to open public schools to hunter safety education as an elective class. Every effort to teach firearm safety, to reduce gun accidents, and to curb the misuse of guns should be welcome in our schools. SCI will help it to happen.

Too few hunters realize the need for legislative lobbying efforts, but on behalf of hunters Safari Club International is busy in every state capitol as well as on Capitol Hill in Washington. SCI works for conservation and hunters’ rights on national and international stages. Errant ideas are often attractive ideas, so we must never allow our legislators to hear only the anti-hunting message. Appropriately, the Capitol Hill home of SCI is called the “International Hunters’ Embassy.” Yes, hunters have an embassy devoted not to a nation, but to the strategic defense of hunting and sustainable-use wildlife conservation worldwide.

Because hunters love nature, thirst for adventure, and yearn for freedom, every hunter has the unique opportunity to be an ambassador for wildlife. It’s fair to say American hunters and fishermen are the backbone of the best system of wildlife conservation in the world, but division weakens, and when the backbone weakens, the body declines. So, let’s leave division behind, and let every hunter stand together with Safari Club International because SCI stands with hunters.

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When “The Everyday Hunter” isn’t hunting, he’s thinking about hunting, talking about hunting, dreaming about hunting, writing about hunting, or wishing he were hunting. If you want to tell Steve exactly where your favorite hunting spot is, contact him through his website, www.EverydayHunter.com. He writes for top outdoor magazines, and won the 2015, 2018, and 2023 national “Pinnacle Award” for outdoor writing.