Grand Slam Club/Ovis is pleased to announce two new inductees into the Pantheon for 2024.
Lee Anderson of Florida began hunting in 1985 after a friend told him an exciting story about a safari in Africa. Needless to say, Lee was captivated by it all and booked his own safari to South Africa the very next year. He never looked back, going on as many as six hunts to various wild places every year afterward.
Lee achieved Grand Slam #599 back in 1994 and in 2011 he reached #30 on the Ovis World Slam list. His North American Super Slam was next, and he finished it in 2017, becoming the 155th person to do so. That same year he also met all the requirements for the SCI World Conservation and Hunting award. Lee achieved his Capra Super 30 in February 2023, which earned him induction into the Pantheon.
Age is just a number for Lee and at 84 years young, he is one of the top contenders for both the Weatherby and Conklin award, both of which he is still actively pursuing with the help and support of his biggest fan of 59 years, his lovely wife Penny.
Justin Ragazzine grew up in Youngstown, Ohio and started hunting small game and whitetail deer when he was 12 years old. He went on his first western state hunt when he was 18 in pursuit of mule deer in Wyoming and his first hunt outside of the US was an African safari in 2012.
Justin holds Grand Slam #1750 and his North American Super Slam, #114, was completed in just over two years. Justin says his most memorable hunt would be when he took his Rocky Mountain bighorn with a bow back in 2012. The hunt was supposed to only last five days and he finally arrowed a ram on the 15th day of the hunt!
Justin reached #30 on the Capra list in 2019 and the last few animals needed for his Ovis Super 30 came on a whirlwind hunt in November and December 2023 when he traveled to four separate countries in pursuit of wild sheep.
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. The final requirement is SCI’s top objective recognition, the prestigious 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. To date, there have been only 20 Pantheon inductees.
Congratulations to Lee Anderson and Justin Ragazzine for their amazing hunting accomplishments and dedication to wildlife conservation around the world.
