Mark Heinz, a writer for Cowboy State Daily, reported on a Wyoming elk and deer hunt that pulls more than a few heart strings. Heinz’ story focused on Lee Swartzfager, a Pennsylvania man who is battling cancer.
Swartzfager has three kids – Emma, who is 21, Jacob, who is 19, and Sadie, 14. Swartzfager made it a point to take each of the kids to Wyoming when they turned 14 to hunt elk and deer. But when Sadie’s turn came around, her father was too ill to take her.
That’s where Wyoming hospitality took over. Ryan Hornyak, a Wyoming resident and close friend of Swartzfager, got the ball rolling. He got on the phone and found an AirBnB where the Swartzfagers could stay, and Shantell Brandenburg, the AirBnB owner, found Skyline Outfitters, who agreed to guide Sadie for free. Shawn Fricke, the outfitter, said he’d lost his own mother to cancer a year ago, and he wasn’t going to take a dime from them for this hunt.
Despite the pain he is dealing with, Swartzfager made the trip out to Wyoming with his wife, Missy, and with Sadie and Jacob. Fricke got Sadie on a herd of elk quickly, and she got one. It fell where they could get a vehicle to it, so her dad was able to help field dress it with her.
Though they weren’t able to connect with a deer, the opportunity for Sadie and her dad to connect with each other – and with the rest of the family and with the new friends they made on this hunt – was priceless. It’s a confirmation that hunting isn’t really about hunting. It’s about all the other things that go along with it. And the memories a hunt make last a lifetime, no matter if the tags are filled or if they go home unnotched.
