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2020 Year in Review

In late January, guide Adam Todd and I once again traveled to Pennsylvania to exhibit at the Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg. We had an outstanding show, booking a lot of new clients and catching up with lots of friends, family, and past clients.

My buddy Tony from PA came in late February for a mountain lion hunt to celebrate his 50th birthday. The snow was deep and he harvested a trophy tom with guide Chad and myself.

By late winter, we had no idea what the impact of Covid-19 would be on our Outfitting business. As we entered spring, the lock downs kept our turkey hunters at home. We had many calls from concerned fall clients that wanted to come and we entered into the "wait and see" phase.

After a relaxing spring of shed hunting, the travel restrictions eased and our prairie dog shooters began to arrive. The dogs were plentiful and we enjoyed hosting our regulars and a few new clients.

Summer came in hot and dry. We enjoyed watching our daughter Sydney rodeo and fishing trips in the Bighorns with Adam at Blacktooth Excursions. Then it was time to set our Hazel Park camp on the mountain and get our TTT camp opened up for the approach of big game season.

Our season began with returning clients Josh and Don from TX who each took great archery antelope bucks with guide Ryan, and Mark from NY who took his first cow elk.

We headed to Hazel Park for opening day of archery elk season with Tom from MI. The weather was beautiful and the elk were bugling. We put on the miles and had a shot at a big bull but Tom went home empty handed. The next week, we hosted father and son Gene and Kyle from IL at camp. We were greeted with 22" of snow. Guide Bob and I hunted these guys hard but elk sightings were few after the storm as most of the elk had moved to lower elevations.

On our first hunt at our TTT camp in September we had returning client Gary and his son Gabe from MN. Both harvested nice antelope bucks with guide Ryan. Returning clients Bruce and Ben from KS each took cow elk with guide Aaron and David from CA chased big bulls around with guide Adam but couldn't connect.

On our next archery hunt at TTT we welcomed Jake from NY, Brian from WY and 14 year old Kaitlyn from WY. Jake took a nice archery bull and Kaitlyn took her first ever cow elk.

For our last hunt of September at TTT we hosted returning clients Brian and Brett from DE, Ray from NV, Tom from MN, and Dan and Steve from MD. Brian and Brett each took great archery bulls with me and Adam. Ray and Tom both took cow elk with Ryan and Dan and Steve also took cow elk with me and Adam to round out September.

October rifle season started at our Triple Three camp with Jesse and Jeremy from WI who took home great antelope bucks with guide Ryan. John from FL and Andy from MI took great mule deer bucks and antelope with guide Justin. Greg and Gary from PA took trophy mule deer and antelope bucks with me, and Steve and Nancy from IN took great antelope bucks with guide Aaron.

On our next hunt at Triple Three camp we hosted Jim and Jim from MD and AZ who took their first antelope bucks with guide Ryan. Don and Richard from CA each took great mule deer bucks with guide Justin and Casey from CA and Jason from OH each took trophy mule deer bucks with guide Chad. Kris also got to get out of the kitchen and into the action this week and harvested an old management mule deer buck with guide Chad.

We then moved back to our TTT camp for the opener of rifle elk season. We hosted returning clients Scott from MN, Paul from ME, Paul from WI, and new client Dave from ID. Dave started things off with a nice 6X6 bull with guide Bob. Paul and Paul both took great 6X6 bulls the next day with guides Aaron and myself and Scott finished up with a great 6 pt bull with guide Adam. I then had the pleasure of guiding Schmidty from NC as she took her first elk ever, a beautiful 6X6.

The following hunt at our TTT camp we had father and son Weldon and Brandon from NJ, father and son Chris and Chris from PA, and father and son Ron and Jack from PA. Chris and Chris each took trophy antelope bucks with guide Ryan. Weldon took a great mule deer buck and a cow elk while son Brandon took a nice mule deer and antelope bucks with guide Aaron. Ron and Jack finished up the week with great 6X6 bulls with guide Adam.

At our Triple Three camp, we hosted returning client Frank and Nick from PA, returning client Bill and Anthony from PA, and Jim from NY. Frank took a good 10 pt whitetail buck and Nick took his first antelope buck with guide Shawn. Bill harvested great mule deer and antelope bucks while Anthony took his first antelope buck with guide Chad. Jim and I chased elk around all week but didn't find the trophy he was looking for.

The next hunt at our Triple Three camp had returning client Bill, Rob and Terry from PA, and returning client Keith and Collins from NC and MD. Bill and Rob each took nice mule deer and antelope bucks with guide Chad while Terry took a great antelope buck with guide Ryan. Keith and Collins both took big mule deer and antelope bucks with guide Shawn.

Back at TTT camp, we hosted returning clients Dan and Mike from NY, Joel from NE, Vic from PA, and Jeremy and Jim from OH. Mike and Dan took cow elk and antelope with guide Adam. Joel took a great antelope buck while Vic harvested an ancient mule deer buck, antelope buck and 2 cow elk with me. Jeremy and Jim hunted with guide Bob once again and each took home cow elk.

For our last October hunt at our TTT camp we hosted brothers and returning clients Paul from VA, Preston from MD, and Philip from DE. We also had returning clients Tad from MD and father and son Bill and Mike from PA. Preston started it off with a mule deer buck and cow elk and Tad also took home a big cow elk with guide Adam. Paul and Philip each took great mule deer bucks with me while Mike and Bill took great antelope bucks and cow elk with guide Aaron.

Our final October hunt at Triple Three camp welcomed returning clients Jeff, Corey and new client Jeff all from VA. Guide Shawn hunted Jeff and Corey hard but they couldn't connect on a buck they were looking for. Ryan guided Jeff #2 to his first mule deer buck.

As we hit November, we had our final hunt of the year at our TTT camp. We hosted Bryan from NE, returning client Chris from TX, and 3 generations of the Tipton family (my wife's father, brother and nephew) from PA. We had quite a first day for this hunt with everybody tagging out on cow elk from the same herd. Everyone helped with some doe whitetail and doe antelope management this week as well. This gang kept guide Adam and me busy!

The last hunt at our Triple Three camp was our usual whitetail/cow elk/doe management crew. We hosted Carl form OR (his 20th straight year), Luke from NY, Bill and Carrie from WY, and Ron and Eric from CA. Carl and Ron each took whitetail bucks and doe deer with me, Eric and Luke took whitetail bucks, doe deer, and cow elk with guide Aaron, and Bill and Carrie each took cow elk, doe deer, and doe antelope with guide Adam. It is always a great way to end our season with this gang. This group is like family to us.

Once we settled down a bit before Thanksgiving, we got to do some family hunting for ourselves. Kris and I were fortunate to each shoot cow elk together. The next week Sydney and I got to do some whitetail hunting. We were both able to take nice bucks. Our freezer is certainly stocked up for the winter!

As I wrap up this year, I need to give a great deal of thanks to our staff of cooks and guides. Kris (my wife) keeps everything running smoothly at our Triple Three Camp with the assistance of our daughter Sydney. It is certainly a full time job preparing amazing meals while keep everything cleaned and keeping the guides under control! Beto, our longtime cook from Mexico, prepares awesome meals at our Hazel Park and TTT camps with limited facilities. He always has coffee on and the wood stove fired up whatever time we show up at camp. We could never do what we do with the success that our clients have come to expect without an amazing group of guides. These guys leave their regular jobs and do this because they love it. That shows in their dedication to giving every hunter the best hunt and Wyoming experience that they can. We are very proud to have these guys work for our Triple Three TEAM. A big thanks to guides Aaron Wuerker, Adam Todd, Bob Thuesen, Chad Mayfield, Justin Christensen, Ryan Afman, and Shawn Sayer.

If you are considering your first or another hunt with Triple Three, please contact us. We book about 2 years out on deer and antelope hunts. Our bull hunts are booked out around 10 years currently. Most all of our tags are now requiring preference points to draw. I can help you with the planning of a future hunt. If you have children who may want to come along on a future hunt, please consider purchasing preference points for them now. Youth tags and points are considerably cheaper. We love taking kids hunting and offer a 15% discount for high school and younger hunters. These guys are my future so lets get them hunting!

We wish you all a happy and healthy 2021.

Sincerely,
Phil, Kris, and Sydney Rutt
Triple Three Outfitters
triplethreeoutfitters@aol.com
www.triplethreeoutfitters.com
307-217-0400