There are many challenges and triumphs in the hunting world, but there is no group of hunters more prestigious than the ones who have finished the North American Super Slam.
The Super Slam is a traditional hunting challenge that includes taking one of each of the 29 big-game animals on the continent.
Many have attempted, but few have succeeded in the Super Slam. The list of hunters to accomplish the feat solely with a bow is only 44 names long, with Tioga County’s Gene Fleming the latest name cracking the list this past week.
A current Dagget resident, Fleming has been hunting for nearly all of his life, and has finally completed one of the biggest accomplishment for any hunter.
“I started hunting when I was 12 and shooting a bow when I was eight,” Fleming said of what sparked his love for hinting. “My family was also hunting and the bow was the biggest attraction when I was younger.”
For Fleming, it was a journey that spanned over 20 years, and to be acknowledged on the same list as some of those other legendary bow hunters was a humbling experience.
“I’m the 44th person to do it with a bow, the first from PA,” Fleming said. “Looking at the caliber of bow hunters on that list and that I’m on the list that’s pretty special.”
The North American Super Slam is a traditional challenge that includes taking one of each of the 29 big-game animals on the continent.
The list of animals that needs to be taken is a daunting one, including four types of bear, three elk, five caribou, three moose, four sheep, one cougar, one bison, one muskox, one mountain goat and a pronghorn that are located from the most northern settlement to the bottom edge of North America.
Not only did Fleming complete a 20-year in-the-making challenge, but he did it in a unique way.
With most hunters taking the challenge with a rifle, Fleming completed all 29 as a bow-hunter, a feat never officially completed by a Pennsylvanian and only accomplished by nine other hunters.
He pulled his inspiration from Chuck Adams, the first person to complete the Super Slam with a bow and someone who Fleming idolized in his early years.
“Chuck Adams was the first one to do it, as a teenager he was the one I followed,” Fleming said. “He was the first one to do it with a bow in the 90s. I was sixteen. Chuck Adams planted the idea back then.”
Fleming was always drawn to the bow-hunting form of hunting and said that after getting his first animal with a bow back in the 90s, he was hooked.
“I had hunted for two or three years before I was even able to get a doe,” Fleming said. “When it all comes together and you realize you can get an animal with a bow it’s a pretty incredible experience.”
The hunt includes a plethora of different challenges, from tracking down potentially dangerous animals to dealing with frigid and rigorous terrains. The challenge is not only tests a hunter’s acumen, but also their physical and mental strength.
Fleming noted some of his most difficult hunts and talked about his time in the most northern community in North America, Grise Fiord in Canada where he not only encountered a demanding and beautiful terrain but also got to experience an entirely different culture.
“The polar bear, Grise Fiord was the furthest north community in North America., and it was really neat,” Fleming said. “The native Inuits, the way they live. Their dogs. The way they sustain themselves off the land and the vast nothingness.”
He also talked about his time hunting for fannin sheep in 2013 and how it showed him what he was truly capable of.
“I went on a fannin sheep hunt in 2013. That was a successful hunt,” Flemming said. “It was my first adventure-type hunt. I killed a nice ram and a mountain caribou. If I could hunt with a bow during that hunt, I could hunt anything with a bow and be successful.”
Even during dangerous hunts, Fleming was able to keep cool and calm and was never bothered by the potential danger of his prey.
“The lion and big bears — that’s never been a big concern to me,” Fleming said. “They are more scared of you than you are of them. There’s a slim thought in the back of your head, but it’s in the back of your mind.”
One of the biggest hurdles that come into completing a challenge such as the Super Slam that many don’t consider is being physically and mentally conditioned.
Some hunts can be 9-10 day ventures through dangerous and less than ideal conditions, and being able to perservere physically is key, as is also being able to stay sharp and with the right mindset.
“The dall sheep hunt was the most physically demanding and grueling hunt of all of them,” Fleming said. “It was very mountainous, in Alaska and tundra type bog and rocky conditions.”
He also commented on the importance of not only physical endurance but maintaining the correct state of mind when in those treacherous conditions.
“You have to have your mind in the right place when you start,” Flemming said. “Be willing to drive through the bad conditions and expect they are coming and be ready for them. You have to be in the best physical condition when it starts…it’s pretty huge, and on the seventh or eighth day your physical condition comes into play.”
Though there were some harsh and frigid hunts during his time completing the Super Slam, there was plenty of beauty and peace to be seen during his extensive travels.
From seeing virtually untouched lands in the northern parts of Canada to the mountains out west in the Rockies hunting for elk, he was able to see some of the most pristine and untouched areas in all of North America in search of the animals to complete one of the most illustrious challenges in all of hunting.
Though his journey goal of completing the Super Slam is over, don’t expect to see Fleming stop doing what he loves anytime soon.
He still plans to hunt and enjoy the outdoors as much as ever and offered up words of advice for anyone who might be interested in trying to become the 45th person to complete the challenge with a bow.
“Start with whatever is fun and what intrigues you,” Fleming said. “Do what’s fun along the way and enjoy yourself. Be in good physical and mental condition. Keep up with and know your equipment.”
