Louisiana boy desperatly wanting to long rang some Dogs.

[Jlong]

Pretty much what the Title says. I have never been out of the state of Louisiana save for a short stint in Central Texas. I am wanting to shoot Prairie Dogs something fierce. If anyone could recommend a good outfit to have a good shoot at I would appreciate it greatly. I have been surfing the web and that, but I figured y'all are probably the best folks to ask. Was hoping possibly for late September, or early October. Preferably Kansas, or I have seen one place in OK, No Mercy or something like that. I will most likely drive, and would like to keep it in the 16 hour range.

I hope I'm not being to picky, and thank in advance..

[phantom]

Jlong . . You ask a tough question . . !! Not many guys are willing to give up their favorite PD Town too quickly !! The best thing I could suggest is to see if there is someplace to go in one of the Varmint Magazines they usually have some adds to where to go or get an outfitter. This game is getting much more attention by the year, and as a avid PD shooter, I can well understand why. It is about as much fun as you can have with a rifle for about 3 days, and not have to pay for the cleaning - cutting - and freezing when you leave.

I get Predator Xtreme and it has a couple of adds in the back of it, or the American Rifleman or American Hunter, or just go to the store and get a shooting Hunting magazine and look in the back and see if there are any adds in there.

The other thing, if you live in Louisiana, you are a long drive from just about anyplace that has any Dogs in it. Oklahoma has some, but they are up in the Panhandle of the state. Texas has a nice place out in it's panhandle also, you may have to take a drive / vacation some time and go up into those areas and ask around in the sporting goods stores . . they actually still have them out in those places . . . ;D

I have been going with some friends for the past 5 or 6 years - one of the guys does all the booking and setting up the trip, we just pay our share and I really don't know much about who we are with . . for real. We went up to Montana this year, LONG DRIVE !! I have 16 hours to my cousins in Utah, then another nearly 2 days up to the Killing Fields . . Long trip - part of the fun . . ;D

Just my suggestion . . I noticed you posted this nearly a month ago . . Like I said, not too many guys want to give up the towns, it is fun, but the Plague will clean them out quickly too and that means that the field you shot this year, may not exist next !! And the outfitter you were with got cleaned out too . . . good luck !!

[Jlong]

Thanks for the post. I have been in contact with a couple of outfitters, and from what they are telling me about there rotations, it will be next spring before they get anything remotely close to me to hunt. I am in no hurry, it is just one of those things I wanna do soon. I thought I was going to have some time this month, but a car accident has set me back. Next spring is my goal now. My rifle will be good, and broken in by then. Just finished her up last week.

Again Thanks for the reply, it is what I have been hearing alot. I can understand about people coming to hunt your property, and leaving fences open, and trash all over the place. All my signs got shot up, because I had to run out so called friends from my place.

[Joe O]

Ckeck this out.It lists the closest states and outfitters.The Texas panhandle,then straight up either side of the Kansas Colorado line.Call them

http://www.ultimateprairiedoghunting.com/

[phantom]

Jlong . . It looks like you have a handle on it now. The other posting has a good link too, go into that one and see what they have to offer. Being in the DEEEEP South - you have a long drive just about any place you want to go and do this, have you considered moving . . ::) Just kidding !!

What did you get for a rifle to do this with ? If you got a .223 Varmint Rifle you are on the right track, any thing much heavier than that is OK, but the one I shoot the most dogs with is the .223 in a Heavy Varmint . . they will take dogs out to about 300 yards if you do your part and have a really good scope. I now have two of them to do this with, one to keep cool, while I heat the other one up !! Do some range work and get to where you know exactly where it shoots out to the 300 yard line, beyond that you will need a bigger gun, as in a 22-250 or such, or more !! There are guys that like to run 400 - 600 yard shots, but for the most part you are going to be doing a lot of inside the 300 yard line, trust me, been there done that !! I have found that the .223 is just about the best all round caliber for this kind of activity, yea, I own several other rifles, and they get used too, but you will find your self coming back to the .223. One of the ones that I really - really like is the .17 Remington Fire Ball . . wow !! Neat to shoot them with, but it gets copper'd pretty quickly, and I am back to the .223 again. I clean the .17 out at night and back to it again the next day . . .

If you have already got the rig together, with the scope, make sure that you can see clearly with it - a scope that you can not nearly read the writing on the coke can is not a good one, you will need one better than that. One of the scopes I have has a Turret that I can adjust up and down to "0", a nice Bushnell Target Model. That is the one I like the best, the other one does not have a turret that I can set the "0" on and I have to try to remember where that is (an Older Redfield - good, but not as good). . not good while you are shooting and getting targets of opportunity and trying to remember where the "0" is. . . The ole gray matter isn't what it used to be . . for sure !! So the Redfield is going to get changed out pretty soon, not sure to what just yet, but something for sure. It is a good ole scope, just not Prairie Dog Quality !!

The other thing that I have found that is nearly critical to a successful shoot is a good pair of 10X binos . . 8's are ok, but the 10's are better, you are looking for a very small target, 10X is best !! The other thing to do for practice is keep your old water bottles, fill them with water, and if you can consistently hit one at 300 yards . . your there !! A small dog is about the size of a 12 oz. coke can . . or smaller, that is a good warm up target, but be sure to clean up the debris though . . ;D

I took enough ammo to keep several guns hot for 4 days this year, the plague had gone through the area and pretty well put the fields down good. So instead of shooting 2k of ammo, I ended up just doing about 500 in 4 days . . Slow year !! But the dogs didn't notice, got more for less ammo this time. When we discovered that there were not as many dogs - even over several miles of prairie, we settled down and made the shots count, took our time and did it all correctly.

Good luck on your research . . and have a good shoot when you get to go . . .

[Jlong]

I have a 6.5 x 55 set up to shoot with. I am really wanting the 4-600yd shots. I have a 6.5 - 20 leupy with turrets. I shoot 600 yd f-class here at home, it is the longest range WE have. On my property I have 1000 yds set up, but I rarely shoot that range. Mostly large barrels at that range, not itty bitty things. I haven't shot this rifle yet, so I am not sure what kind of groups I am going to get with it. I spent the weekend detailing my new car, so I didn't put in any range time this weekend for development. I will next weekend for sure though. I have a couple hundred rounds loaded up to test. Thanks for all the great info, and hope the Dogs do better next year. I hear it was kind of slow everywhere. Maybe time to give them a break. I guess I can always go shoot snakes out of the trees in Bayou Pigeon. I have a varmint barreled remmy 700 in .223 as well. It is a shooter also.

[phantom]

Jlong . . You are going to find that you are not going to want to sit behind that heavy caliber for too long, I don't even like to go to the 22-250 for too long. Too much recoil, and that wears on me pretty quickly, not the spring chicken I was 30 years ago . . I usually take a couple of other calibers, bigger, but they kind of stay in the rack for most of the time. If we get to where the dogs are getting gun shy or the wind comes up we break out the bigger ones, but not too much. The .223 is good to about where we can see them well and if that gets buggered up with range or wind, then change.

I have a lot of respect for people that want to shoot them out to the exotic ranges, I just don't want to waste the ammo to do it. The guy that sets up the trip takes a array of calibers, and he shoots them all - exceptionally well . . just wish I could shoot that well, and he likes the really long shots, and does it !! There is usually a bunch of ammo expended to get the range figured out - a lot of variables out on the prairie, I want a target to drop with nearly every shot . . I just can't do it with the old eyes anymore.

A couple of years ago we were up in Wyoming, got into an area where we could all get into the dogs and shoot virtually 360* around us. One ole dog out about 600 yards kept evading my 22-250 - just couldn't get the range and the wind figured out for some reason. I shot about 10 - 12 rounds at it and finally it went into the hole for a little bit. When it came back up I was watching it - told the cousin that the dog was back up again, he shot at it, with a 6mm, still standing !! We were both watching it and we hear the other guys shoot, YUCK !! It exploded !! Well, obviously "they" found the range . . When I ask Jim about the range, since they were off to the left and kind of up hill from us about 200 yards, he said 620 yards - 6mm AI . . done the deal !! But they had been figuring the range and had the gun to do it, Jim said the numbers worked out right in his head and made the shot . . wow !!

Speaking of the heavier calibers, and what they are to shoot. I said that I really love to shoot the new .17 Rem. Fire Ball I got, and you may find this also. With the lighter calibers you actually get to see the bullet hit, with the heavier ones - your observer gets to see them . . you are still recovering from recoil and don't get to see much. With the .17 R.F.B. I get to see them all the way out to the nearly maximum range of the gun . . no recoil at all . . just a bang and dog goes down, or into pieces. . . ;D But you will have to experience this to see what I am talking about. I would highly suggest that you take a "lot" of ammo for the .223 and you will find that is the caliber of choice for the dogs. . . been there done that !! :) The other thing that happens is that the barrels get heated up really quick with the bigger calibers, don't shoot them when they get too hot, barrels are getting expensive . . JMHO !!

[Apache]

If you don't mind my asking....where do you live in Louisiana?

I'm in the central LA area.....outside of Pineville a bit.

[LSUBOY]

Wrangler inn Mobridge, SD http://www.wranglerinn.com/

Click Hunting and call them. Tell them that you would like to come out and shoot some dogs next year and let them take it from there.

- - - You are looking for 400 shots per day minimal

- - - I would suggest (2) 22-250's with 55 grain bullet from 35 to 3600 FPS WITH MUZZEL BRAKES

- - - If you book and go with them, remember that a max of 3 and minimal of 2 rifles will be fine. I used 2 rifles this
summer out there and found it to be the ticket. Course it helps to only be shooting by yourself tooo.

OR

Do a search for PD Outfitters/Guides in South Dakota.

http://www.ultimateprairiedoghunting.com/

http://www.doublekguides.com/prairie_dog_hunting.html

[rcinit]

I'd like to hear more about P-dog hunting around Mobridge if you have any. I live in Central Texas, however I head up to North East South dakota most years to see family. Mobridge is around a 3 hour drive.

[showgun]

If you would like to venture up north, check out our neighbors ranch. Western hospitality at its best....

http://www.chasehill.com/index.html

[A_Gamehog]

I spent the last year on trip to find P-Dogs for hunting in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, and So. Dakota.

Some pointers, Southern Kansas has many P-Dogs close to you.

The Government has a lot of detailed studies telling you where to go also.

See the density maps made by them this is just for So. Dakota.

http://gfp.sd.gov/wildlife/docs/prai...ion-report.pdf

1). Find a state to hunt,
2). Get the Gov. animal Density maps,
3). Google earth where you want to hunt and verify the populations.
;D

[A_Gamehog]

I spent the last year on a trip to find P-Dogs for hunting in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, and So. Dakota.

North eastern Colorado is also good, all year long...

[Jlong]

Thanks for all the informative replys. I really appreciate the information. Also I live in Gonzales, La PM inbound. It's been a while since I checked on this thread sorry.