Hunting personalities
Alain Jorion and the Grand Slam
Tony Orman talks to Alain Jorion of Gisborne – believed to be the only hunter to take a top-class trophy of all our 13 big game animal species.
Many years ago, NZDA member Alain Jorion( now aged 73) set himself a goal: to obtain by“ fair chase” methods top-quality representative trophies of all the big game animals available in New Zealand.
This ambitious task took Alain decades simply because he set himself such a high standard in both trophy quality and hunting ethics. He is the only NZDA-recorded person to have achieved the Grand Slam.
“ Throughout those years, I spurned extra help such as access by helicopter, use of spotlight and so on – but I did use a dog at times when hunting pigs, an accepted practice in this country,” he says.
By ethical hunting and patience, Alain eventually achieved his aim by taking trophy chamois, red deer, sika deer, Himalayan tahr, whitetail deer, wild goat, wild boar, wallaby, rusa deer, wild sheep, fallow deer, wapiti and sambar deer.
Some trophies stand out in his mind in terms of comparative satisfaction and sense of achievement. Time taken is a factor in his ratings, with the fallow deer and rusa standing out.
While it was a personal achievement, Alain is quick to acknowledge the invaluable help he had from NZDA members. In the early 1960s, when his family shifted to Silverstream in the Hutt Valley, a neighbour was NZDA stalwart the late Russ Mitchell, who attended many conferences measuring trophy head entries.
“ Russ had a big and positive influence on me,” says Alain.“ He was one of the most knowledgeable hunting men in New Zealand. He was not just a shooter, but a truly selective hunter.”
Russ’ s influence set the foundation for Alain’ s ambition to shoot at least one good trophy of each big game animal, while also observing ethics to the utmost.“ I began to think not of numbers, but of quality,” said Alain.
Alain Jorion with his Gisborne red deer stag – not one of his Grand Slam trophies, but indicative of the good heads to be taken today
In 1968 Russ and Alain, along with other NZDA members Peter Plim and John Riley, headed to the Big Wanganui River on the West Coast of the South Island, where he shot a 14 pointer. But unfortunately it had a
Alain Jorion’ s Grand Slam trophies and awards
Highest aggregate Douglas Score 1722⅞.( Minimum of a head of all 12 species, not including moose)
Chamois 27¾ * Fallow 209¼ * Goat 121⅞ * Pig 19½ Red deer 304⅝ * Rusa deer 173 2 ⁄ 8 *
* Record book trophy
Sambar 176 Sika deer 168 Tahr 40¼ * Wapiti 280 Whitetail 124⅜ * Sheep 78 *
28 NZ Hunting & Wildlife 196- Autumn 2017