First Time Prairie Dog Hunt - Won't be the last

I went Prairie Dog shooting with four others last week at the Q-Creek ranch in Mills, WY.


I have to say I had a blast!!!! All puns intended. I took my new Savage Model 12FV in .223 Love it except for the clumsy accu-trigger. Here is the rig I used:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwZQ...it?usp=sharing

My gun liked the Sierra 60 grain HP bullets the best. They were awesome!

I also took a custom Mauser 98 built by my dad in the '70's that was bad to the bone.

We shot dogs until we were tired of shooting. It is addictive to say the least.

As a deer hunter from GA I had never had to shoot a target past 100 yards. Learning to shoot out to 400-500 yards was really cool! I took one at 505 yards on the first day. didn't make a shot that long on the other days, but was consistently whopping targets out to 350-400 yards. The 60 grain HP bullets were causing pink mist out to about 300 yards and still cutting them in half out to 400. The longest shot it kind of just rolled over, but that was with a 55 SP.

Intend to go back on the next trip

Here is the pic of the gun. The first link didn't work.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwZQ...it?usp=sharing

Shooting prarie dogs is about my favorite, I'm going in October hopefully

What sort of lodging and guiding did they provide?

Can you go out on your own or does a guide have to be with you?

The lodging is set-up in two price structures:

1. The main lodge is full service with all meals, etc provided like a hotel.
2. The remote lodge is a 5 BR/ 3 bath double wide trailer fully furnished with kitchen, laundry etc. It is much cheaper than the main lodge because you cook and clean up after yourself. The remote lodge was as comfortable as any hotel and the nicest hunting camp I have ever visited.

We chose the remote lodge because we were more interested in shooting dogs than being pampered. Not sure what the cost difference is, but I can tell you that the food in the main lodge is better than any gourmet food you can find in any restaurant in the big city.

Call or email Tad Anderson for pricing and schedule. His contact information is on the web site. He is the hunting and fishing manager. Tad and his guides treated us as if we had been friends all of our lives, and it was much appreciated. There are very few “Rules” but everyone is adamant about gun safety, just as it should be.

I am already preparing for next year.

@Dogman: It was a totally guided hunt. The ranch is so large that someone not familiar with the ranch could get lost and never seen again. The ranch is 550,000 acres. Larger than Rhode Island. I wouldn't want to drive around by myself.

Very interesting. Did y'all fly or drive?

Kill lots of pd's?

JCalhoun:

We flew in from Atlanta to Salt Lake City then a puddle jumper to Casper WY. We shot P-dogs for 3 days and had one day of fly fishing. Yep, we shot a boat load of p-dogs! Great fun! The guides on the Ranch were great folks.

Thanks for the info. I'm definitely looking for something like that.

IScraig- wow, that sounds awesome! I live in Pa. but have been thiking hard about a hunt maybe next year. I have been watching MrChuckhunter on YouTube and he primarily hunts rock chucks in Idaho and surrounding states. It looks like such a blast! I may be weird (may?) but I'd rather hunt varmints and predators than any big game I can think of. Why I love dove hunting- challenging and lots of action. If you have time- a question or two-

Are the majority of your PD shots in the 300-500 yard distance? Want to know so I know how to practice. Honestly, the furthest I've ever shot was in the Army, M-16 qual. 300 yard full size man silhouette. Not exactly precision shooting but I got "expert" anyway.

Love your gun man! Can you tell me/us about the scope? Would a 4-12x40 Nikon BDC be ok for this type shooting?

My gun is a 110 LA .223 (early 90s vintage?). I've got a good 13"-25" Harris Bipod, cheek riser etc. What else would I need (besides lots of practice)?

I do not reload but hope to start soon. Seems like most folks with Savage .223s favor the heavier bullets 60+ gr. Any suggestions for that style shooting factory loads?

Did you shoot off a portable bench, prone, seated...?

Thanks for any info.

Brian

The heavier bullets you mention work with the newer .223 Savages due to the 1-9 barrel twist. The older .223 Savages had a 1-12 twist so the heavier bullet didn't well. I do not know what year Savage made the change on the twist rate.

Silvercrow1:

You are correct. Most of the PD shots were between 300-500 yards. The longest shot I made was 505 yards confirmed by the guide and the longest shot for any of us was 621 yards. I saw my buddy bust one at ~700 yards but we didn't have a range finder that would read that far due to the extreme heat mirage that particular day.

The guns I took were a combo of old and new.

1. Old Gun Custom built by my dad in the 60-70's

- Mauser 98 action chambered in .22-250
- Barrel and action are glass bedded old school style all the way from the tang to the edge of the fore end.
- Ported bull barrel with 1:12 twist.
- Double Set target triggers.
- Custom carved HEAVY walnut thumbhole stock.
- Scope: 90's era Tasco Custom shop 8x40x56. Great glass out to about 600 yards. After that it is kind of guess work. Best magnification is around 20 - 24x
- Bullets: 55g soft points group at 0.5" at 200 yard. Rifle was point of aim at 350 yards for elevation with compensating windage.

2. New gun customized by me last winter:

- Savage model 12FV with adjustable accuTrigger chambered in .223 Rem
- Factory bull barrel with 1:9 twist.
- Action is glass bedded with barrel free floating in the aftermarket stock.
- Boyds Gunstocks Forest Camo standard thumbhole stock.
- Scope: 90's era Tasco Custom shop 8x40x56. Great glass out to about 600 yards. After that it is kind of guess work. Best magnification is around 20 - 24x
- Bullets: 55g soft points group at 1.0" at 200 yard. 60g sierra hp custom loads grouped better at 0.5" at 200yards.

We shot PD's in two styles. Truck shooting with a window rest and on tables with sand bags.

Since the Mauser barrel was ported I shot that one off the tables and sand bags where the average shots were longer out to 500 yards. Best shooting gun I have ever had the pleasure of shooting.

The savage I used out of the truck and shot off of window rests. The longest shot I made with the save was out to 300 yards off a window rest. The only complaint I had about the savage is that stupid AccuTrigger safety. GREAT adjustable trigger - BAD application for a guy with small hands like me. I will be changing the trigger out with a suitable replacement this year before we go out again.

The other guys in my group were using Pentax scopes. The scope needs to have parallax adjustment. Magnification needs to be out there around 24x. You will want to take a good set of binoculars and a range finder. My binocs are 10x and worked great for spotting. for shooting off tables get one of the long sand bags. The two piece set-ups are good but it was more imortant to have the fore end immobile than the butt of the stock.

Between the two guns I think I shot 400 rounds over 3 days of shooting.

HTH,

Shawn

I went for the first time this year also. I ended up shooting almost all my guns with the scope on about 10X. Had trouble seeing impacts a higher settings. 10X was the only way I could spot my own shots which ranged from 100-600 yards. We all kind of just shot on our own. If I had a spotter I could have gone to higher magnification, but then I still wouldn't have seen the impacts. I was armed with 22 mag, 222, 223, 243, 243wssm, 25-06, and 260. The 260 was my best long range gun shooting 100gr A-Max. The 243wssm with 87gr V-Max was good too, but not as predictable as the 260.

I've done 5 trips over the last 8 years , all to the Ok panhandle and after the first I was hooked . The first year I took a 22lr , 223 Handi rifle ,22 hornet & 223 TC Contenders and that was it , even with those 2 rifles and 2 pistols I had to keep switching out guns as the barrels would heat up fast . The shoots were just a group of guys from the net that got together as a couple lived in that area and the lodging was a small local motel .

We are just a bunch of working class boys and didn't need 5 star pampering , the best part was the cook-outs at dan's place in the evenings to eat great home cooked food and swap stories from the days shooting . I have to admit the first year I probably missed more than I hit , having never shot at ranges like that before it took some getting used to , but all in all , it was a trip that will stick with me for the rest of my life , if anyone gets a chance to go on a P-dog shoot = TAKE IT .

stimpy

PS - You don't need high dollar guns and optics , A $250 single shot rifle and a $70 Barska scope will be enough to get you hooked .

@Stimpylu32: You are correct! I have three kids at home so I couldn't afford a new high dollar rifle, so my buddy recommended the Savage 12FV. I found a "new old stock" one on Gunbroker for pretty cheap and was able to save enough to upgrade the stock to a thumbhole from Boyds. My father gave me his old p-dog gun so I only took two rifles. My dad gave me a "New Old Stock" Tasco target scope that did the trick. So all in all I was able to take a new rifle and scope for far less than the price I was seeing in the stores, and a vintage custom gun that my dad had built.

And yes I am hooked!

We are going again in July this year. I have about 200 more bullets to load and I am good to go.

I have to agree. Shooting PD's is very addictive. We have been out 3 times so far this year. Just can't get enough.

Darrell

And one thing, if you dont want to go on a guided shoot, you go knock on a ranchers door that has alfalfa fields and they will almost always let you go shoot PDs for free as long as your respectful (assuming they dont lease out thier fields for guided PD shoots). I think ive been turned down access to shoot PDs maybe 2 or 3 times in my life