Now that we’re only a couple weeks away from 2020, it’s time for me to recap my 2019 combo hunt with SNS. I had the opportunity to go on an amazing hunt with SNS Outfitter & Guides. It was a mule deer and antelope combo hunt in eastern Wyoming, and we stayed at Camp Envy, hunt 2. I’ll talk about the story of Camp Envy another time.

Camp Envy was absolutely beautiful, where this camp sits on the ranch brings some of the best Wyoming sunsets that you can imagine. From the terrain to the quality of animals to the weather, I really lucked out! The week before we were all in camp was the first big snow of the year, the temperatures dropped, and the snow really accumulated. The week I was in camp the weather was great, cool mornings, nice afternoons and cool evenings, really enjoyable. And, depending where you were hunting the following week was also receiving weather. Couldn’t have timed that better if I tried.

The crew at camp were great and provided a positive impact to the overall experience. The guides were very professional, and Judy, the camp cook, made great dishes, she was also mindful of food allergies, which was greatly appreciated. This experience was truly like none-other and will certainly bring me back for another hunt in the future.

I had the privilege of hunting with a gentleman, Rush Simpson. Rush was great, and we all shared many laughs and memories that we’ll never forget. Neither of us were in a hurry to harvest our animals, it just happened to work out that it only took 3 days for us both to tag out with SNS.

Troy, our guide was very professional and a great judge of the animals. For me, specifically, antelope were hard to tell what they might score or the overall quality of the animal. So, it is great to have Troy there helping us through the process of judging the quality. Ambrosia, who you’ve probably chatted with if you’ve ever called SNS, was also with us. She is an avid antelope hunter herself, so her insight into the quality of animal was fantastic.

Heading into the hunt on morning one we were seeing animals out moving, we almost had a full moon, so the extra light was great to see what was being active. Once we were in legal shooting light, we saw a buck that had us ready to begin the chase. As we worked our way toward him, unfortunately he moved out of our area. We knew he’d be back at some point, but maybe he wouldn’t end up with us.

We changed direction, had a little snack, and as we were going out to find an antelope we started glassing over a ridge-line to our left and there were a couple of worthy antelope, as we glassed a bit further there was a mule deer, that we really shouldn’t pass up. I turned to Rush and said “if you’re not taking him, I am.” With much excitement and elevated heart rates he grabbed his gun and went prone.  There was a beautiful four by four within a hundred yards. Rush ended up taking him and went home with a trophy worthy animal and meat for the winter, which was awesome. We took some photos and high-fived, a great memory!

With nearly an entire week left of hunting we didn’t hunt too hard for the next hour so, we glassed around, snuck in on a group of mule deer who were small bodied and ultimately, we thought should have another year of growth. As we were making our way out, we came across an antelope that I wasn’t going to go home without. With the classic look this guy was going to be mine! I took the perfect heart shot and he dropped. Now, both Rush and I tagged out on one of our animals in day one. Exciting times! My antelope has made for some delicious eating and I am looking forward to getting my European mount back.

As we returned to camp, we hung the animals in the meat fridge ready to have them picked up and taken to the processor the next morning. We then showered up and visited with Judy for quite some time as she prepared dinner. Cribbage is a must play at hunting camp. Ambrosia and I spent a good part of the evening playing cribbage, chatting with other hunters and guides and hearing everyone’s stories from the day. Really enjoyed our first evening post hunt in the cook house listening and laughing.

As we headed out for day two. I was in search of a mule deer and that was kind of the mission for the day as Rush didn’t necessarily want to shoot anything day two as he wanted his hunt to last a bit longer, this made for the perfect opportunity for a good day of hunting on foot. We knew we were going into this canyon that historically had some wonderful mule deer in it. We were cruising along glassing from time to time and listening for possible movement. This particular time we stopped to take a break, I put my clip in. We come over a little ridge and Troy, the guide, sees some tines drop down in the valley. And the chase was on. We dropped down on our bellies and crawled to an area for a better view. Rush and Ambrosia stayed back, simply to keep the noise level down, four people crawling is much louder than two.

We got to the edge of the ledge. There were four really nice bucks. One that Troy looks at me and goes, you better shoot this, because if you turn it down, there’s something wrong. He was a really nice buck; big body, tall, a great 3×3 with mass to him. My heartrate quickly spiked as I dropped to prone position yet trying to modify for my shooting comfort. He was within 100 yards and once I had him in the cross hairs, the equation really came together, and I dropped him. I will never forget the look on Troy’s face, he looked at me, I looked at him, and with much excitement a high five followed by a hug and congratulations from everyone. Now the work began. Even though the shot was close, it was across a valley so getting to him took a little work, and then packing him out took even more work! As they say, all in a day’s work.

I will never forget that memory. After we loaded him up, we headed back to camp. Again, we were the first ones back for the day, we liked to call it efficiency. We hung the meat in the cooler and got everything ready for day 3 and another evening of swapping stories, playing cribbage, and laughing until our abs hurt.

Day three was a later start, because it was only an antelope hunt for Rush. He tagged out fairly early into the day and is very happy with his antelope. We both left with enough meat for our families for the winter, memories to last us a lifetime, and anxious to book another hunt. Rush will be hunting in Montana in 2020 with SNS, I am working with Ambrosia and Sy to pick the best hunt for me in 2020, stay tuned!

I will say though, this was an amazing experience that we will be talking about for a while. I have recommended SNS to many and will certainly continue to do so for a great Wyoming hunt.

All right. Happy New Year and happy hunting. I hope to see you at a SNS camp in 2020.