Completing GSCO Super Ten | Savage Journeys

Hunting has always been a part of my life as far back as I can remember. My father and uncles would pack me around with them elk hunting in Oregon from as early on as 6 years old. I’ve been hunting since I was 12 with my dad. I was hooked immediately, and it set me off on a lifelong hunting journey. By the time I turned 24, I had hunted deer, elk, moose, mountain goat, bear, and cougar. A friend told me about the Grand Slam Ovis Club, and I realized that I was already halfway to the Super Ten achievement without even realizing it. I am now 29 years old and have continued hunting and defining my journey as my goals continue to grow. 

Grand Slam Club Ovis

Grand Slam Club Ovis (GSCO) is a nonprofit conservation organization whose mission is to improve and increase wild sheep and goat species worldwide as well as North American Big Game. They are similar to many known conservation groups like Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation or Mule Deer Foundation, but their outreach and projects span across the globe. 

GSCO provides the opportunity for outdoorsmen and women to become members as well as donate towards their cause which is a main source of fundraising for them. They also host an annual convention and have fundraising events there such as live auctions and raffles. I am a current member with GSCO and will continue to hold my membership to help improve habitat and species stability of animal across the world and specifically in North America. 

One of the great opportunities GSCO provides for hunters around the world is their awards/achievements programs. They have international, North American and Age specific achievements they award. One of the greatest achievements a hunter can be awarded through GSCO is the Super Slam. 

Super Slam requires a hunter to successfully harvest all 29 big game species in North America in a free range/fair chase scenario. There’s a sub award titles “Super 25” which is made up of the 29 big game species less a few species that are more difficult to harvest or no longer available to hunt such as the Quebec Labrador Caribou or Polar Bear which cannot be brought back into the United States. The achievement that is just below that is the Super Ten. This achievement is more difficult to be awarded because it requires harvesting one subspecies from each Big Game category. The Big Game categories are Bears, Cats, Deer, Elk, Caribou, Moose, Bison/Muskox, Mountain Goat, Pronghorn, and Wild Sheep. 

My Super Ten

Being able to successfully check off one of the subspecies from these categories is difficult because it’s not likely for hunters to actively hunt multiple different species/categories. Often times hunters are successful at three or four categories (deer, elk, bear, moose) but have not found luck with the other six or seven categories. 

I never really thought of the Super Ten as a goal until I did some research and realized this achievement was well within my reach. That's when I decided to pursue it in 2016. My next few hunts were directly working towards completing the Super Ten by knocking caribou and pronghorn off my list. By the end of the hunting season in 2019, I had completed caribou and antelope, but let’s go back and recap the other categories on my list. 

1. Mule Deer | Oregon | October 2004

My first ever North American Big Game species. I have harvested a few mule deer in my life, but nothing brings back memories like the first. I was 12 years old hunting with my father for my first hunt in the US. A long weekend was coming to a close and I was potentially going to eat tag soup for the first of many times. My father, Sean, did everything he could to not let that happen. As we neared the last few hours of the last day of season, we turned up a nice buck across a canyon. He set me up on a burnt stump with the bipod legs extended. 535 yards and fading light. First shot cracked just below the buck’s belly. I had the left and right dialed but not the up and down on my scope. My father told me to hold it a little higher and the second shot rang out. DUMP. The buck dropped right in its tracks.

2. Rocky Mountain Elk | British Columbia | September 2015

We trailed in on horseback for my first hunting trip in Canada and we rode for hours. Eight hours to be exact. On our ride in, we stopped to glass up a bull on the ridge about a half mile before camp. We spotted a 6x6 bull grazing the day before elk season opened. In British Columbia an elk must have six points minimum on one side to be legal to harvest. Lucky for me I had an elk tag in my pocket and time on our side. The next morning season opened, and my guide and I rode back a bit down the trail. We tied up our horses and hiked the mountain the elk was last seen on. Gaining elevation, we turn him up 230 yards below us. I got a steady rest and let one fly. The bull was down, and our trip was off to a great start.

3. Alaska Yukon Moose | Delta Junction, Alaska | September 2016

This was DIY hunt with my wife Kayt and my in-laws, Jan and John Hanf. My in-laws had been hunting this area in Alaska for years. They had it dialed. They knew where to go, what to bring and what to expect. I tagged along my first year and was lucky enough to have Kayt guide me to my first Alaska Yukon Moose. 

4. American Mountain Goat | British Columbia | September 2017

This hunt happened fast, but it was not easy by any means. On the first day of hunting my guide Joe and I found this mountain goat alone at the top of a slate chute. We tied up our horses and climbed to cut distance. It took us nearly four hours to climb 3,000 feet in elevation. We line up a 375-yard shot and that was all it took. Day 1 tag out was bittersweet, but well worth it. 

5. Black Bear | British Columbia | September 2017

The success on this hunt was by accident, but not taken for granted. I spent 14 days horseback hunting in the Canadian wilderness targeting mountain goat and grizzly bear. This was the last year British Columbia allowed grizzly bear hunting, so I pushed hard to make this hunt successful. We spent many hours glassing and even more hours riding/hiking to find a legal grizzly bear but never did. We ended up finding a black bear cruising the hillside above camp after breakfast one morning. We cut some distance and closed the deal. Though I didn’t leave with a grizzly bear, I did come home with a gorgeous black bear. 

6. Cougar | Oregon | February 2019

Calling in coyotes is a fun past time during off season of big game hunting for me. I spend a few good weekends in the hills with wide open views blowing calls hoping for a shot at a coyote. Never would I expect to see a cougar coming into a call, but on that day I did. I became short of breath as I spotted the tom 80 yards in front of me pausing to locate the sounds I was making. I swung my rifle around the tripod and hammered down. This harvest was unexpected but very rewarding. In Oregon, you can purchase a cougar tag over the counter and season closes once quota has been filed. The quota rarely is ever met due to the restrictions on how hunters can hunt cougar. The season begins in January and runs year-round. Anyone hunting Oregon knows it’s always best to keep a cougar tag on you for the odd chance you run into one.

7. Pronghorn Antelope | Oregon | August 2019

I drew a coveted Steen’s Mountain Pronghorn tag by luck as this tag usually takes 13 points to draw and I drew it with one point. I loaded up the truck and packed for eight days knowing I wasn’t going to come home until I tagged out. DIY and solo hunting is a beast in itself and definitely more difficult in the hot summer sun.  On Day 6, I finally found the antelope I determined was a shooter. 600 yards and one Precision Hunter ELD-X bullet later I was tagged out. 

8. Barren Ground Caribou | Arctic Circle of Alaska | September 2019

This hunt was another DIY hunt with my wife Kayt and in-laws, Jan and John Hanf. We scheduled this hunt on our first wedding anniversary. We were dropped into caribou country and left with camp gear and our hunting packs for five days. During those five days, we saw a lot of caribou but the only shooter bull we could close on was the one my mother-in-law and father-in-law harvested. Getting word via satellite phone that the planes couldn’t come get us, my wife and I continued to hunt. Day 6…Day 7…Day 8…Day 9… still no planes and still no caribou. While glassing on Day 9, Kayt and I found a herd with a shooter bull in it, and we booked it to cut them off. Cutting distance by a mile and a half we couldn’t relocate the caribou. We waited the herd out and they finally showed up. Kayt took the first bull, and I was lucky enough to take the second bull in the herd. An Anniversary double was one for the books.

9. Dall Sheep | Alaska | September 2020

The final two categories in my Super Ten came by mistake or as I like to think of it, fate. Everyone was cancelling hunts when COVID-19 hit, so I started calling every Dall Sheep outfitter looking for a cancellation. I found one and booked it immediately. Just three months after booking the hunt I was in the Brooks Range in Alaska hunting Dall Sheep with my guide, Hunter Dane. Day 4 of hiking hell and I was tagged out on an amazing 10-year-old ram. This was by far the hardest hunt in North America I have done thus far. 

Completing my Super 10 was just one animal away and it was so close to becoming a reality. I had Bison or Muskox to choose from. 

10. Bison | Mexico | February 2021

Working with Huntin’ Fool and Rolling Bones Outfitters I was able to line up a Bison and Coues Deer hunt in Sonora, Mexico. Most people wouldn’t think there are bison in Mexico, but boy are they wrong. Bison have inhabited Mexico for an extremely long time. Like most of the rest of the bison herds, they have dwindled due to over hunting and predation issues. There are regulations on hunting bison in Mexico now stabilizing the herd in Sonora at roughly 250 in the herd. One part of conservation and hunting a well-monitored herd is taking a life to make room for future growth. When an old bull is taken from the herd, a younger bull who is prime for reproducing will grow the herd count by having greater reproduction rates than the older bull. This free-range herd in Sonora was unlike any other herd I have ever experienced. I have seen bison in many national parks and mistakenly labeled them as docile and slow animals. Bison use elevation as security, they play the wind very well and when they want to get up and go, they do! We had to climb mountains to get to them. 

It wasn’t a long hunt, but it was very rewarding, nonetheless. Hunting with the new Savage Impulse straight-pull rifle, I harvested my bison with my favorite hunting partner by my side. This hunt was overwhelming in the sense of taking a life to support other life, completing the Super Ten and getting to experience that with my wife Kayt was one of the best memories I have of hunting. This achievement is not a completion or the end of the road for me, but a milestone on my journey. Not only completing my Super Ten with this bison hunt was memorable but being the first person in North America to harvest a big game animal with the Savage Impulse was an awesome achievement. Every hunt has a special meaning to me, and I cherish the memories and reward of meat in the freezer. But this one, bison, will always be one that sticks with me. 

What's Next?

What’s next for me? Keep working on the Super Slam. I truly don’t know what exact hunt or species yet. I have revisited the list of the 29 animals and only have a handful left. Most of the remaining being Bears, Caribou, and Wild Sheep with Sitka Blacktail Deer, Shiras Moose, and Muskox to wrap it up. Some of them are going to require luck of the draw in state applications. Others I can book or go DIY. Whatever does come next, I hope I am able to continue my journey making memories with my wife and father while achieving my goals.