The criteria for the Pantheon are easily defined, but extremely difficult to ultimately accomplish. It takes practically a lifetime to meet all the requirements needed to enter the Pantheon ranks. For rifle hunters, one needs a Grand Slam; the Ovis and Capra World Slam Super 30s; and a Super Slam. For bow hunters, the Ovis and Capra World Slams suffice. The final requirement is SCI’s top objective recognition, the World Conservation and Hunting Award. This requirement, of course, means that one has traveled to all the huntable continents and taken all the major big game of the world.

Growing up in Michigan, Gary’s passion for bowhunting began very early in life and his thirst for adventure in wild places would eventually carry him all over the world in pursuit of big game with his Hoyt bow and Easton arrows. Many of Gary’s hunts were professionally filmed and produced over the years as part of his Passport series and remain as some of the greatest hunting videos of all time.

When it comes to the North American Super Slam, Gary was one of the first bowhunters to ever achieve that milestone and he did so in January 2000 with a Coues deer making him Archery Super Slammer number 5. As for the mountain game, Gary has certainly done his fair share of climbing the world’s peaks. He completed Archery Grand Slam number 11 in 1998 and took several fine rams along the way. His archery Capra World Slam came in 2014 and his archery Ovis World Slam was completed earlier this year in 2021.

As mentioned earlier, a hunter must also meet the requirements for Safari Club International’s World Conservation and Hunting Award to qualify for the Pantheon and Gary did just that in 2014 after achieving 19 SCI Grand Slams and 33 SCI Inner Circles at the Diamond Level including the Fourth Pinnacle of Achievement, Zenith Award, Crowning Achievement Awards and the World Hunting Award.

It is impossible to list all of Gary’s bowhunting accolades over a lifetime, but without question, he is one of the world’s most prolific bowhunters and a true archery ambassador. Congratulations Gary on this extraordinary achievement!