It only seems natural since there are basically five different species of North American deer there should be a “A Slam of North American Deer” denoting the taking of whitetail, mule deer, Columbian blacktail, Sitka blacktail and Coues whitetails, the latter; the only one of the whitetail subspecies with its own Boone & Crockett record book category. After all there is the Grand Slam of North American Wild Sheep….

The first I heard or thought of a North American slam of deer goes back to when Arizona’s Jay M. Gates III wrote about taking all five species in the same year, back in the early 1980s, in the pages of Petersen’s Hunting magazine. I learned more of such a slam in Gate’s book Bucks I Have Known published in 1988 and from Jay, personally, when I hunted whitetails with him numerous times in the Brush Country of South Texas.

I knew I would never be able to accomplish a Slam of North American Deer as Jay had done in one year because of work and personal finances, so determined to do so over a period of years.

Growing up in rural Texas I started hunting whitetails early in life and in time took my first buck, which was followed by many more and over the years throughout their range in North America. Mule deer had been my second species taken, long before I heard anything about trying to take all five species of North American deer. That first mule deer, of the desert variety fell, high on a rocky, ridge in the Apache Mountains north of Kent, Texas. In time, I hunted mule deer many times in New Mexico, Colorado as well as in Sonora, Mexico and more Texas hunts, and I continue doing so.

Next came a Coues whitetail taken in the Sierra Madres of Chihuahua, Mexico on a hunt with the Artee family’s Al Campo hunting operation. I had long been enamored by the diminutive subspecies found in southwestern New Mexico, southern Arizona and the adjoining Mexican states, from reading about them for many years in articles by Jack O’Connor and writers of the 1950s and 60s. My Coues deer hunt was filmed for a Bass Pro hunting show. The buck I took on that hunt was a mature eight-point that grossed scored Boone & Crockett, barely missing making the all-time record book. But more importantly that hunt created in me a desire to hunt Coues whitetail again in the future, and I have several times.

A few years later I was able to hunt Columbian blacktail deer in northern California’s Humboldt County set up by Gordon Long with Multiple Use Managers. The last afternoon of the hunt, after passing up several really nice bucks, and after missing a non-typical, fairly rare for the species, at long range early in the hunt I shot a really nice four by four with brow-tines. That buck grossed beyond the Boone & Crockett record book minimum, but netted just below. Regardless I was impressed with how handsome the species truly is! Since that first blacktail, I have hunted them a couple more times in central California, where I was able to take nice, mature bucks. I dearly hope to hunt Columbian blacktail again in the future!

With four of the five deer species in the bag, I needed a Sitka blacktail to complete a slam. I came close to hunting Sitka several times. I even bought hunts for them auctioned at DSC’s annual conventions. But then, something always seemed to happen preventing me from doing so. It was at a DSC Convention Tim Fallon and I set up a hunt for the species with Keegan McCarthy’s Coastal Alaska Adventures. That hunt truly turned into an adventure, a DYI hunt. I have written about that hunt for Sitka blacktails several times and some of the things I encountered and experienced. But it turned out a success in taking two bucks, one with a Ruger rifle and the other with a Ruger handgun. Finally, after many years I completed my “Grand Slam of North American Deer”.

I hope to hunt Coues whitetails again in the near future and make a trip to the Northwest for another Columbian blacktail and to Alaska for another Sitka blacktail hunt! Of course I will continue each year hunting whitetail and mule deer, the latter which I consider one of the grandest big game species in North America.

My firearm of choice on most of the upcoming hunts will be one of several rifles including Ruger №1s in a variety of caliber and rounds; Ruger M77s in 6.5x55 Swede, 280 Ackley Improved and 300 Win Mag and possibly a custom 280 Remington. All are topped with Trijicon optics, mostly AccuPoint and Huron scopes and shooting the appropriate Hornady ammo….my combination of confidence!

How about you? Any interest in completing a Grand Slam of North American deer? If so, the upcoming hunting season and the DSC Convention in January are the perfect places to start…