The Brotherhood of Bears
Tom Munnelly, Assistant to the President of Communication Workers of America Local 1101 in N.Y., is either one heck of a lucky black bear hunter or a darn good one. I suspect he’s both. During his last five black bear hunts in Wyoming, he scored five times, and four of his bears made the record book. Two of them won awards in the annual Wyoming Outfitters and Guides Association Contest.
Tom hunts with the largest outfitter in the Cowboy State, SNS Outfitters, owned and operated primarily by members of the International Association of Fire Fighters, who actively guide and run the business. One of the owners/guides is Egbert VonEggern, known simply as Okee to his friends and clients. Before retiring, he served as President of IAFF Local 904 in Casper, Wyoming.
"Tom’s a good hunter; he’s patient, he’s a fine shot and, yes, he’s lucky," Okee said. "But being lucky and good isn’t enough to produce the results Tom’s had over the years. He couldn’t have done it without a great place to hunt…with really good bear populations and lots of big bears. And we have that kind of place and a use permit from the Forest Service to access it."
With more than 700,000 acres available for hunters, SNS Outfitters offers clients the opportunity to pursue elk, whitetail and mule deer, black bear, antelope, moose and prairie dogs. And as a union member owned company, SNS Outfitters offers members of the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance a 10% discount on any hunt.
As a USA member, Tom took advantage of the special discount last May when he scored his most recent bear on the last day of the hunt, in the closing minutes of legal shooting light.
"You see that kind of thing happen all the time on TV shows, but you figure that’s some sort of reenactment and makes a good story, but it’s not real," Tom said. "Well in my case, it was real; I shot that bear moments before we were ready to call it quits."
Tom makes no bones about his high regard for the folks at SNS Outfitters; he’s been hunting with them for 15 years, successfully taking antelope, mule deer and black bears. He’s going back in October to hunt elk with his 14-year-old grand-nephew, also a member of the USA.
"SNS Outfitters are top notch; they’re very good at what they do. I’d recommend them to anybody and especially to my union brothers and sisters," Tom said. "The ten percent discount is a nice bonus and a real show of brotherhood."
Check out SNS Outfitters and other USA member-owned outfitting operations offering discounts to USA members at www.unionsportsmen.org/outfitters.
