Hunters have proudly been celebrating their hunting accomplishments for thousands of years and today is no different. However, with today’s technology of travel and networking, measuring hunting success has taken newer forms than cave painting and trips to the taxidermist.
Slams are the new hunting clubs and when a hunter can string together a group of species or subspecies kills, a slam is often created. Here are the five coolest hunting slams currently being recognized.
The Super Slam of North American Big Game
NABG is defined by the Grand Slam Club as “The legal taking of all 29 of the traditionally recognized species of big game animals native to North America. The Super Slam is bold and one heck of an accomplishment, but it only ranks fifth on our list due to the rarity of anyone having the time and resources to join this exclusive club.
The Wild Turkey Grand Slam
The Wild Turkey Grand Slam is recognized by the National Wild Turkey Federation based in Edgefield, South Carolina. It consists of a hunter harvesting the Eastern, Rio Grande, Merriam’s, and the Florida wild turkey. This slam is one of the most popular slams with hunters as it is relatively inexpensive and all subspecies of birds can be hunted on public property. The most difficult bird to bag is the Florida. The Florida used to be specifically called the Osceola turkey (only found in a portion of Florida). Due to cross breeding with the Eastern turkey, the Osceola was branded the ‘Florida.’
The Super Ten
The Super Ten is the scaled down version of the Super Slam of NABG. This slam entails the taking of one animal from the ten basic North American species; bears, cats, deer, elk, caribou, moose, bison/muskox, goat, antelope and sheep. Although this slam might be out of reach for a lot of hunters, it is a ‘getable’ slam if a person properly plans a lifetime of hunting. It takes the third spot because it is a hefty goal that should take years to accomplish.
The Washington State Mini Slam
The Washington State Mini Slam is the unique opportunity to harvest Eastern, Merriam’s and Rio Grande wild turkeys in one year in one state. No other state offers this possibility and that makes it super cool.
The Hawaiian Grand Slam
The Hawaiian Grand Slam makes the top of the list because how awesome is it to be able to take a wild boar, an Axis deer, a feral goat and a Mouflon/feral sheep and hit the finest beaches in the world? Not only that, but you can take the wife or girlfriend and have yourself two vacations in one. Aloha.