"Always be ready to be lucky" - Ray Seelbinder
*The North American Deer Slam includes the fair chase harvest of a Mule Deer, White-tailed Deer, Coues Deer, Black-tailed Deer, and Sitka Deer.
Master bowhunter, Ray Seelbinder of Western Colorado completed the coveted North American Deer Slam in the fall of 2017 with his latest trophy – a Columbian Black-tailed Deer from Oregon. More impressively, he did it all with traditional archery tackle and a bow that he built himself, and all on self-guided hunts.
It was a good buck too, and a fine way to finish a long sporting pursuit.
There is no way to know for sure how many people have successfully concluded the Deer Slam, particularly with a recurve bow, but I can assure you that it is a very short list indeed.
Congratulations Ray! You are an inspiration to us all.
A Great Day In the Pacific Northwest
A Pack Full of Memories
The End of a Long Road – Or Perhaps…the Beginning. Pictured Next to His “Buckpoint” Custom 3 Piece Takedown, With Reflex/Deflex limbs
**”Two forms of black-tailed deer or blacktail deer that occupy coastal woodlands in the Pacific Northwest are subspecies of the mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus). They have sometimes been treated as a species, but virtually all recent authorities maintain they are subspecies. The Columbian black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) is found in western North America, from Northern California into the Pacific Northwest and coastal British Columbia. The Sitka deer (Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis) is found coastally in British Columbia, Southeast Alaska and Southcentral Alaska (as far as Kodiak Island).” – Wikipedia
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For an excellent reference on the deer of North America, you might wish to purchase:
Mule and Black-Tailed Deer of North America: A Wildlife Management Institute Book. Edited by Olof C. Wallmo.
We generally have a copy in our bookstore stock, if so interested.
And as you can see, Ray's pretty good with the Coues Whitetails too!
COUES HEAD SOUP – BOWHUNTING FOR ARIZONA’S GHOSTLIEST DEER
Ray Seelbinder of Carbondale, Colorado has spent many years honing his bowhunting skills on the legendary Coues Whitetail, otherwise known as “The Grey Ghost”.
You must have an optimistic spirit to hunt such a mythic and shadowy beast, but as you can see, perseverance does pay off.
Below is a photo of his 2017 Pope and Young buck.
A Proper Stew – One Part Skull, One Part Scalding Water.
Congratulations Ray, on taking a fine specimen of one of North America’s most challenging bow & arrow trophies.
One For the Record Books
The Coues Bucks Get Better - A Few Years Of "Ghosts"
You could also say that Ray is hell on whitetails...
They Grow Them Big In Minnesota
and Mule Deer too!
Ray With One Of His Many Colorado Mule Deer Trophies
As a bowhunter myself, I can only say...
Wow!
May we all be that lucky, or good...
By Michael Patrick McCarty
Active Member Outdoor Writers Association of America, and An Ambassador For 
Come On In - The Water Is Wild, and Free...
Parts off this post first appeared on our online sporting journal at http://throughahunterseyes.com/
“It’s tough not teaching a bow bad habits!” – Ray Seelbinder
"There's more fun in hunting with the handicap of the bow than there is in hunting with the sureness of the gun." - Fred Bear
Top photo by Michael Patrick McCarty, of some vintage arrows by Bear Archery from my personal collection. All other photos provided by Ray Seelbinder.