Well an unexpected opportunity came up to ride out west for the 2nd time in two years. I had about 3 days to figure out where to go between WY and CO, figure out the laws for hunting what, where and how. And figure out a route back... Not to mention getting off work and packing and what not.

I finally settled on prairie dogs and coyotes, in Wyoming. CO requires that I get a small game license, WY does not require anything for Predators and Pests. They also allow you to hunt either on public land unless it is otherwise marked. So we headed out, my plan that I finally settled on was to ride out to Denver then split off and rent a car.

27 hours later, here come the mountains..



I was heading North towards Cheyenne and then West to Laramie. After checking the maps, Medicine Bow National Forest, was closer than going all the way to NW Wyoming. It was getting late when I got to Laramie and I stopped for gas at the Conoco which also happened to be a full sporting goods shop. So I asked the lady where I could head, she sent me back to the Lincoln Memorial rest stop where there is a small section of Medicine Bow. I turned around and headed back and I was about to hit a campground when I saw the sign, "No shooting after March 31 thru Sept". So back to Conoco. Spoke with the younger girl that was working, and she pointed out the Land Management maps, which saved me a stop at BLM. I bought a state map and a BLM map for the area soutwest of Laramie, also got a few free maps to boot. So I was off, down to SR230 which dips into CO and back north. As I was driving, I found an open gate into Medicine Bow, I pulled off and couldn't go anywhere and it was dark. Got out of my car, look at the pitch black forest, immediately got creeped out by the possibility of big foot walking out of the woods to say hello and settled on sleeping in the car. So I organized things, got some blankets, threw a hatchet and my Ruger Super Redhawk on the floorboard next to me and settled in for a shity night's sleep. Got up the next day and took a look around.



So I started driving North again, wanted to take a picture every 3 minutes.



Mule deer and antelope everywhere



got to "6 mile gap" which looked like a good stop with BLM land and Forest... Couldn't get down to the parking area though, too much snow for the Mazda 6, which means it wasn't a lot of snow. So I drove a little further North and stopped at just before the Bid Creek fishing access area, made the turnoff into the BLM land and went grabbed the rifle and my Primos caller.

Set on a hill overlooking the area



Brought my 20" varminter double star upper on my DTI SPR lower with a RRA 2 stage trigger. Loaded up 40 rounds of 68 gr BTHP before I left. Had to sight it in after I got there b/c I had mounted my new Weaver 2-10x36 Superslam on it a few months ago but never shot it...



Tried calling in some Yotes  but all I saw were Deer and prong horns.. miles and miles of land and only saw one of guy show up with a gator...he road off and was gone.

So I set up camp for the night...bottom of a small gulley next to melt water stream...





The gear, Stansport Starlite 2 tent, an estra self inflating airpad, kodiak self inflating airpad, kodiak 40* bag, wool blanket and a Coleman Max 6.5 Liter backpack. I did not do any hiking but brought the back pack just in case. It was big but the tent weighted in a 5lbs and is really too big for backpacking. The airpad, tent and the sleeping bag took up 2/3 of my back. Tents is decent for the price though, a little harder to set up because of the way criss-cross but I like the small vestibule area to leave your shoes outside the tent but still keep them covered. The Coleman is nice, first time I've used it even though I bought it about 3 years ago on clearance at Walmart. Temps were in the 60's during the day but just above freezing overnight. The bag and blanket were fine for the temps.

So the guy with the gator came back out, heading to his truck. Caught up with him as he was loading up, turned out to be a local fishing guide for North Park Anglers (northparkanglers.com if you're interested). Asked him about prairie dog and coyote hunting in the area. He said I was in a good spot for coyotes but it helps to be mobile, like his gator. If I wanted prairie dogs, head north towards Saratoga.

So called it a night and got up the next day, decided on Saratoga. Drove north through Riverside...



My kind of town.

Pulled off on BLM land just across form the Treasure Island Public Access. Parked and started walking for prairie dogs, right across from the some private ranches. I used to hunt ground hogs for farmers in Indiana. So it's pretty much the same thing. They spread into the ranches, raid crops and dig holes for the horses and cows to step in but still, I've never actually seen wild prairie dogs. So I started walking and was hearing some birds chattering....took me about 5 minutes to realize that the birds were dogs chattering at me. So, spotted one that was eyeing me, about 75 yards, first shot and first kill...first blood with any of my ARs too...



The wind was steady between 15 to 20 mph. It was aggravating, blowing me, affecting bullet travel. So the next shot was close to twice as far. Took a shot, high and right of the little varmint and he just stood there like a dumbass and waited for a second shot. I thought I hit him and he went down, but I lost track of which hole he was sitting near and I couldn't find him. I must have spent about an hour looking for him but never found him, I might have missed,still don't know. Took another even longer shot a little while later, flat out miss. Then popped one about 25 yards away but he got back down into his hole. By this time I had been walking for a few hours and was spent. Walked over and snapped a few pics of some old farm equipment.



And this little guy



Came within feet of a jack rabbit that I didn't see until he bolted. Startled the crap out of me.

Afterwards, I headed into Saratoga and stopped at the forestry service office. Wanted to ask them on opinions of where to go next. Wanted to know about some sight seeing possibilities too for the last day. So the nice lady mentions that it supposed to snow that night. Stopped at the grocer on the way back, same info, snow or rain...

The grocer....



So the PD spot was too windy to camp for the night so back to the same spot I was in the night before. Set up camp and did a little more walking and yote calling. Ran across several skeletons from winter...



Later that night, the beginning of the end. See the storm rolling in over the mountains.



I moved my rental car up to the top of the hill in case of snow or ice, didn't want it to get stuck. Crawled into the tent around 7, began playing through the possibilities of the night. The storm rolling in could have been bad. Wind started blowing a little and a little freezing rain began falling. I finally chickened out. I broke my tent down in the dark and shoved everthing in the car. I drove back to Saratoga and parked next to a hotel and spent the night in the car again. It was snowing pretty good by then and there was about 3" of wet snow on the ground when the sun came up.



Ate beakfast at a small diner and headed out. Drove north to an old dinosaur fossil bed north of Laramie. Was told could walk out and still pick up pieces of fossil. But when I got there it was closed and I could tell where the fossil be was so I kept going to Cheyenne.



In Cheyenne I was told that the storm was going to get worse and I needed to get back to Denver in case they closed the highway. I rolled out, rented a room in Denver. Woke up to 4" of snow with more falling. Head to the airport and walked around the airport with my rifle case and backpack for 18 hours until my flight.

Great post, brought back memories from year before last when a Friend and I went to Wyoming PD shooting.  We went in July and had no trouble finding large numbers of PDs.  I've been to Medicine Bow and did a lot of sight seeing in South Eastern Wy.  I enjoyed going to Ft. Laramie and just seeing the vast size of Wyoming along with the bueatiful mountain scenes.

You'll remember that trip the rest of your life, great pictures!

People out west truly have it made when it comes to hunting and outdoor life.

Awesome post. And great pictures

Awesome post! Sorry that I couldn't meet up with you, looks like it would have been a great time......next time for sure! Thank you for sharing the info with us, it's people like you that make me love this site.

Great pics!  Looks like a fun trip.  

Saratoga is nice. We use to squeaky, yote, and jack rabbit shoot all the time in Bosler. My roommate knew a couple of the ranchers out there. He tagged a real nice badger out there. Now he's a outfitter on his ranch near rawlins

I'd love to try that sometime... next year if you need a travel partner...

So thanks to your post, and all of your informative emails, my two boys (12 and 9) just got back last night from our first "hunting" trip ever. We went to the same spots but because Dad (yes, me) bought a cheap ass tent, we had to sleep at Riviera Lodge (motel) Friday night and because of the weather we came home a day early.
We left Friday morning and got there around noon. We drove through the hills awhile (across from the Ranch, a bit up the road from 6 mile gap) and finally settled on a spot to set up camp. My younger son was in the tent laying out the sleeping bags while my older son gathered rocks to make a fire pit. I heard my younger son yell, looked over and saw that the tent had blown down. I tried to modify it but it blew down again. So after dropping the "F bomb" 320 times, we packed up and drove back down to 6 mile where it looked to be lower and tucked into the forest more (it was kind of windy).
6 mile had some cool camp grounds with fire pits and tables so we set up there. After totally making "base camp" and eating burgers it started to rain and blow really hard.....then hail. So we sat in the 2005 Tahoe watching the tent blow down, then back up, then down, etc. Once it passed, I looked inside of the tent and saw small amounts of water and decided to drive to Saratoga to get ripped off on a motel room. So we packed up again.
Woke up at 4:45 and realized I left the tent on the roof of the car somewhere between Riverside and Saratoga, woke my older son up, told him to lock the door and I'd be back soon. Found the tent (scattered) on the side of the road.....gathered it up. Got back to the room and got the boys. We drove back to the Coyote spot but it was just way too windy. Drove to the prairie dog spot and walked around a bit, made sure the guns where on target (younger son had an M&P 15-22, older son had a PSA premium 14.5"CHF with an Aimpoint PRO and I had my Noveske lower with Geissele high speed NM trigger with 16"SS410 BCM upper.
We decided to drive further back and found a good place to start walking. The wind had stopped and it was nice out. About 25 yards from the car I saw a good sized mound off in the distance with something sitting on top. I took a look through the scope (Vortex Viper 6.5-20) and verified that it was a prairie dog. I thought it was too far out but what the heck, I'll try. I extended the bipod and layed down. Took a shot and he moved about 10 inches then stopped. Took another and he staggered off, instead of going into his hole. So we walked over to the area, and saw the trail of blood but never found him. I think he made it to another hole. I used the range finder from where I shot him to the Tahoe and it was 357 yards.......I was stoked to have hit him that far!
We walked around a bit more but then another storm hit.........we are home now. We will be going back! (I have never posted pics here but will try and see if I can figure it out later).

Cool trip.

Man, I haven't seen a horny toad (aka horned lizard) in over 20 years. Glad to see they're still around.

Tinypic.com

After you upload your Image just copy the IMG link and past it into your post here to post pics

URL=http://s1064.photobucket.com/user/dan_jensen1/media/Mobile%20Uploads/0507160925_zpsmrdowudj.jpg.html][/URL]
My two sons.

URL=http://s1064.photobucket.com/user/dan_jensen1/media/Mobile%20Uploads/0507161146_zpsvs3b6ymf.jpg.html][/URL]
Part of the blood trail.

URL=http://s1064.photobucket.com/user/dan_jensen1/media/Mobile%20Uploads/0507161148_zpsonm0cfga.jpg.html][/URL]
My son standing where the pd was when I shot him. You can see my Tahoe in the distance which shows how far the shot was. You can see some blood to the right of my son.

Good job dad. Wish my kids could have gone.

We will definitely be going back many times this summer!

Trying to get ahold of you dan... Coming out there with my son in a  couple weeks

I give up, what's the hobo pool?