YOUTH AWARD

“The Alvin Guinn Youth Hunter of the Year Award”

The award will be presented at the WSFA yearly banquet. The winner will be selected by two WSFA directors and a member of the Guinn family.

The Rules for the contest are:

(1) Must be 17 year old or under (at date of harvest);
(2) Any North American big game animal can be entered (taken under a legal hunting license);
(3) Boone and Crockett Fair Chase rules will apply;
(4) The youth’s family must have a membership in good standing with WSFA;
(5) The B&C Score sheet along with a short essay must be submitted (criteria for the essay will be a brief description of the youth hunter; and a short story on who has influenced him or her in their participation in outdoor activities, and a report on their actual hunt);
(6) The winner will have their essay and field photos published in the WSFA newsletter.

The intent of the “Alvin Guinn Youth Hunter of the Year Award” is to acknowledge a youth for practicing Fair Chase hunting and conservation, and for WSFA and Guinn Outfitters Ltd. to promote youth participation in outdoor activities.

This is a contest not a competition; although the B&C score will be considered, it will not be the deciding factor in choosing a winner. The content of youth’s essay will be just as important.

 

Alvin Guinn

November 16th, 1915 - August 10th, 2006

Being a student under the legendary guides of the Canadian Rockies, Alvin eventually became one himself. He was only 14 when he started as a trail guide for an outfitter out of Banff, and by the time he was 20, he was an accomplished mountain guide. He covered trails in Kananaskis, Banff, Jasper and Radium BC. As a kid he spent lots of time with some of the early outfitters of the Banff areas; names such as the Peytos, Brewsters, Soapy Smith and Jimmy Simpson Senior, who held the old world record for bighorns. He also spent a couple of winters trapping on the Panther River with Ike Mills using a dog team.

Alvin eventually made his home at the Rafter Six Ranch at Seebe, just east of Banff. He spent over 50 years hunting sheep in the nearby mountains, harvesting many record book heads. Hunts of days gone by were different than today. In the 20’s and 30’s they would need 60-90 days to do a hunt. Most hunters traveled by boat from Europe, and then took the train across Canada. Eventually they ended up in the mountains of Kananaskis, perhaps 20 days after leaving home.

Alvin lived in what is now Zone 410, which is the Canmore Bow Zone. He had input into the making of the zone in the early 1960’s, and also guided the very first archery hunters. One of such hunters was the one person that did the most for promoting archery hunting worldwide, Fred Bear. Alvin guided Fred’s grandson, Kris Kroll, to what was the world’s record goat for many years. Kris was 17 years old at the time.

Alvin in his long outfitting career has guided a few hundred sheep hunters, but his best stories were always the ones that involved the younger hunters. He was forever astonished by their ambition, appreciation of their new surroundings and strength to climb. He would have been honored to have this award dedicated in his name.