2016 prairie dog hunt

[scooterf79]

Just got back this past weekend from what I hope to be my annual prairie dog hunt in Wyoming. Things weren't nearly as fast paced as last year. Last year I took 100rd for each rifle (2), and we ran out of ammo. This year I take 200rds for each rifle (2) and we didnt even shoot 100yds total. The wind was RIDICULOUS this year too compared to last year. I didn't get very many pics this year but hope to have a few minute video posted in the next several days. Here's what we used:
6br 87gr vmax
17 hornet/20gr vmax
Longest kill was 430 (my new record).
My BNL killed one at 340 with the 6br
Longest kill with the hornet was 368 (just happen to catch an evening with no wind for about 5min)
We even tried a few different locations this year, the areas just seemed to be shot out....guess that's just part of it.
Scooter

[yobuck]

The wind could also have affected seeing less dogs. And shooting will definatly affect them also as for visability.
Shoot the close ones first as they will soon disappear. As a rule the ones further out are less affected by shooting.
But then you will also need another gun. For next year, consider a 22/250 ai with say 69 gr bullets. You can just buy
regular ammo or brass and shoot it to fireform the cases. You will then be able to go out to about 600 and often get multible
shots at the same dog, which dosent happen often on the closer shots. A close miss on a dog is more entertaining
than a red mist hit in my book. The WTF expression after they've been flipped over is priceless.

[5spd]

Yea the "breeze's" out here this year have pretty consistent the last several months.
I shoot them all year long and it would seem summer should be calmer, but not this year.
I was shooting them in Dec w/snow on the ground and the 4 times I was then out it was dead calm, cold & sunny, they made nice red tops on their mounds.
Last week out I had to dial windage 1-2.5" into the 12-19 mph breeze from 150-615 yards.
We have had afternoon rain/hail storms solid for the last 4 weeks which don't help.

[scooterf79]

YB, I wasn't sure if the wind affected them that much or not. I took the 6br with the 87s to help with the wind, obviously not as fast as the 22-250ai. I've got my 6mmx55 swede thatll cut thru the wind quite well...but I kinda based this hunt on last year's fast and furious so that's why I didn't take it.
I may tend to agree...throwing one up about 2ft in the air and him running outta there is pretty funny lol.

5spd, glad to see I wasn't the only one with wind problems lol. I had my range cards made up for a 10mph crosswind just to give me a rough idea but it was way off at times. Last year we had 4 kills between 400-420 with my 22-250 and I don't remember holding off hair on any of them. It was ALOT more calm last year. We did manage to miss the storms tho, quit a little early one day because there was one heading our way but that's it.
Scooter

[Iowa Fox]

Not only the wind, the heat and sun were intense. I took a heck of a sun burn. I wore long sleeves and a big brimmed hat, I never burn but it really got me this year.

[scooterf79]

I got roasted last year...it was awful. A good thing about having family living there is I had my brother-in-law pick up a pop-up canopy at Walmart. Best $50 I've spent for prairie dogs. No sunburn this
year . 👍
Scooter