Dave McMahan lost an 18-year-old son in a 1990 car crash. His only other son, Travis McMahan, disappeared on Oct. 24 during a hunting trip in the southern Big Horn Mountains and hasn't been seen since.

Now, Dave McMahan, who spent the majority of the past two weeks searching in vain for his oldest son, doesn't fear the worst -- he has accepted it.

"Maybe the two of them are together," he said Friday when talking about his sons. "I hope they're together. That's what I think about and hope."

No one has seen Travis McMahan since about 5 p.m. two weeks ago today, when he left his campsite at Buffalo Creek Campground, roughly 35 miles north of Waltman. McMahan, who was not a hunter, had traveled to the area the previous day with two elk-hunting friends on a weekend camping trip.

He spent his last day in Casper working construction with his father. "He was normal," Dave McMahan said. "He was the way he always was."

According to Dave McMahan, at roughly 5 p.m. on Oct. 24, all three men left the campsite heading in different directions. The two other hunters returned around 7 p.m., finding no sign of Travis McMahan.

At about 7:20 that evening, the two hunters -- who were inside their camper cooking dinner -- saw what they believed to be two flickers coming from McMahan's flashlight about 30 yards away.

When McMahan still had not returned to the campsite by 9 p.m., the hunters began searching for him. They found tracks they believed were McMahan's and followed them until they disappeared into a fence line. They continued searching until 3 a.m., when they returned to the campsite.

The following morning, around 10 a.m., they were able to place a call to the Natrona County Sheriff's Office and report McMahan missing. An official search for the 39-year-old started that afternoon.

Apart from three days when inclement weather wouldn't allow it, officials have combed the area for the past two weeks. The search has included two helicopters, which combined covered a 20-square mile area, according to Steward Anderson, Natrona County emergency management coordinator.

No clues or evidence of the missing man have been found.

McMahan believes his son injured himself, fell to the ground and never got back up.

"He's perished," Dave McMahan said. "I just hope he fell asleep and then froze to death. That would be an easier way to go."

The sheriff's office suspended its search for McMahan indefinitely Thursday. Sgt. Mark Sellers, who said the wooded sections of the area still have 3 to 4 feet of snow, said the office will resume the search when the weather allows.

"Unfortunately, at this time, I don't know when that will be," Sellers said.

Dave McMahan, who praised the way the sheriff's office has handled the search, said he understands the decision.

"Until the snow goes away, there's not much they can do," he said.

He drove Travis' mother and sister up to the Buffalo Creek Campground area last Sunday. The trip, he said, was to give them "some peace of mind."

"I just wanted them to understand what the terrain up there is really like," he said.

Explaining how he has kept his emotions at bay, McMahan said, "Until you find him, it sort of just sits in the back of your mind."

McMahan said Friday he and a few others were going back to search the area today.

Travis McMahan is the seventh missing man the Natrona County Emergency Management Office has searched for in 2009, Anderson said. The other six were found alive.

Reach crime reporter William Browning at (307) 266-0534 or at william.browning@trib.com.