In 2002, Grand Slam Club/Ovis introduced an award to the big game hunting world known simply as the OVIS. 2023’s recipient marked the 22nd person to receive the OVIS.

There is no argument that mountain hunting is the toughest type of big game hunting, period. The OVIS was conceived to recognize individuals who have an overwhelming passion for hunting the mountains, and doing so in fair chase and with total integrity. Our 2023 OVIS recipient is Jeff Demaske of Colorado. 

Jeff’s mountain hunting resume is extremely extensive and impressive. His first Grand Slam, #1756, was achieved in 2012 and since that time, he has gone on to take an additional 9 Grand Slams and a total of 48 North American wild sheep including 10 Dall sheep, 12 Stones, 12 bighorns and 13 desert sheep. Jeff’s largest four rams for his 700 Club slam add up to 746 2/8 SCI, and this is the fourth largest Grand Slam ever recorded.

Jeff has taken 34 different Ovis species of the world’s wild sheep and an astounding 83 total rams, counting all the multiples. His original Ovis World Slam was completed in 2013 with a desert bighorn and he reached the Ovis Super 20 in July 2015 on a hunt in Mongolia where he took all three argali found there in a single trip. Jeff has hunted sheep extensively in Asia and Russia over the past decade as evident by some of the photos on the screen and he recently scored on an aoudad ram from the north African country of Morocco.

As far as Capra entries are concerned, Jeff has not neglected those either and has racked up a total of 36 different species of wild goats with 42 total billies taken. Just as with the sheep, Jeff has hunted Capra species practically everywhere they can be found and is one of few individuals who has taken all four huntable species of markhor. His Capra World Slam was achieved in 2014 on a hunt in Spain as he has all the Capra trophies from that country as well. He finished his Capra Super 20 in 2015 with a Balkan chamois from Serbia and he reached number 30 on the Capra list just one year later with a Carpathian chamois from Romania. 

Jeff is truly a dedicated hunter/conservationist and is heavily involved in all the major conservation organizations. His passion for wildlife and wild places keeps him pursuing adventure. Jeff is a shining example of the GSCO mantra that “Hunting IS the #1 Conservation Tool.” Considering all of this, and so much more, ladies and gentlemen, we were pleased to honor Jeff Demaske as the 2023 recipient of the OVIS.