Well I needed an excuse to go out west and my son is turning 16 so we fent.... Landed in Denver late on Wed, picked up a rental car which took forever so we hit the highway late. Ended up sleeping in Walmart parking lot between Cheyenne and Laramie sometime around O'dark thirty. Woke up and hit Wally World for some food for the trip, including a lamb roast that was on sale.

Headed to Medicine Bow National Forrest in the Chevy Malibu. Drove south off 130 to Albany and then up into the forrest where we threw the tent up near the damn on Douglas Creek. First thing we see after we passed Albany...

Mr Moose in a field...


Camp and lamb on the fire...




Still some snow pack the Malibu couldn't conquer...




Spotted another moose across the lake....he's a little left of center and hard to see but here is the pic anyway...



So all I have is a 40 degree bag and 2 wool blankets. I slept in the bag and gave my son the blankets.. I was not expecting temps in the low 30's so first night we admitted defeat and ended up moving to the car before night was over. Next night we opened the sleeping bag and laid it over the army bed rolls and slept under the blankets...that worked ok one night... Basically it took me the whole week to figure out that we could sleep right on the foam be rolls and throw everything on top of us and warm rocks by the fire to throw under the blankets to keep us warm for a few hours. The last few hours of the last night we were actually warm...

Getting down to business... Prairie dogs... Picked up a Mossberg Patriot in 243 for my son and threw on an old 4-12x bushnell. The scope is crap optics but I thought the 12x would work better. I should have used my dad's '70s 3-9x Tasco which actually has some clear optics. Didn't work with it much so the most accurate load I had was 100 gr SPBTs. First confirmed kill. Winds were typical Wy. Blowing gusty from the left. Spotted for him, first shot hit behind and was a good 125 yards. He started rushing to get another shot, told him not to rush because the whistle pig was still sitting there. Next shot was a clean kill. Told him to just wait for the wind to die a little and pull the trigger. Really proud that he was making some good shots. He's nailed a few squirrels but this is the first time he's had to show real accuracy at reasonable distances.



For me it was a PSA fluted SPR with 1.5-6x Weaver Kaspa.. I didn't have this sighted in last year when I went so this was the first trip with it. I used 68 gr BTHPs. I'm not sure about the ammo choice. I did not get the clean kills that I thought I would but then neither did my son's 243. Gusty wind along with normal breathing and shaking resulted in quite a few hits but they rolled or squirmed their way back to the burrows. My son hit one from behind at a good 130 yards. It flew up in the air to the left. I thought DRT. We walked over to the hole and there was stomach and intestines laying on the ground but no whistle pig. I think we had a few make it back to the den and a few that just rolled down their holes after they were hit but I have to re-think ammo selection next time around.

Hit this guy at about 200 yards.




Headed west on Sunday to Kemerer. Hit Fossil Safari quarry and Butte Fossil National Monument. Threw a tent up on the east side of Viva Naughton Reservior. Came back with 2 boxes of fossil fish after an hour. Well worth $30/hr. My son said he had wanted to go back a second day at the end of the trip...





Drove south through Flaming Gorge reservior into CO to his Dinosaur National Monument.... I remember seeing this picture in my grandmother's encyclopedia since I was a kid. I finally saw it in person.



Butte Fossil National Monument is free. Dinosaur NM is $20 per car. Fossil Safari is $30/hr or $75/4 hours. Children are 1/2 price. Memories are priceless.

Wish I could have taken my girls but they would not have been down with a week straight of living out of a tent....

Well 8 days. 1700 miles on the Malibu. And now I'm back in south florida hating the weather.

You, Sir, are a kickass dad.

Nice job, Dad.  These are memories he'll treasure for a lifetime.

Looks like an awesome trip good job dad

Awesome trip.

As far as the prairie dogs go they were most likely clean kills that were drug back to the hole by their own. I've seen many a dead prairie dog get drug back down by others.

I've seen you miss many of living prairie dog.

Nice! My kid would love the fossil place. We'll have to check it out.

I wish we could have made it out! It's been a challenging year, I was hoping to go a few times this year but haven't even made it out once yet. Next time!