The alarm went off at 5AM.  The sky was inky black and simply filled with stars.  Beautiful.  The real objective though was to get out on the wildlife drive early enough to see some of the local fauna.  We were on the road by 6 and the locals made a pretty good showing.  In the order of most to fewest:

Prairie dogs – too many to count.  They are a riot to watch and listen to

Bison – a handful of lone bulls and a large herd of cows, young and yearling

 “Wild” horses – several stallions out on their own and two with bands of mares and colts.  They are actually feral horses left over from ranching days.

Mule deer – those big ears look funny! The young ones are the cutest with the black edging all around the ears.

Elk – a lone bull elk flashing a great rack and another with a harem of one (so far anyway)

Golden eagle – one with a great roost placement, high above the Prairie Dog town.

Snake – about 3 feet long.  Not sure what kind since he slithered swiftly and I did a two step so I didn’t get a real good look.

Later in the day, one band of horses came strutting right down the yellow line.  They act like they own the place.  The colts played like little kids running circles around the adults