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Prarie Dog Shooting/Hunting

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Randy:
Do we have any Prairie Dog shooters with us here at NFOA?

Those that have tried it know how much pleasurable and challenging it can be. Prairie Rat is what these rodents should have been named instead of Prairie Dog named after how they bark warnings to each other as invaders come near there rat holes.
When Prairie Dog shooting depending on how often the town has been shot at, the range can be anywhere from 20 to 1000 Yards. Prairie Dog towns are found in many states and the vast majority app. 98% pulled from my rear is west of the Missouri River with SD, WY, ND, KS, CO, and yes NE being some of the most popular locations.

Equipment recommendations you can use anything from your trusty .22lr to a .308 for that reach out and touch something crowd. My cartridge of choice is the .223 in 55grain V-Max smokin at a muzzle velocity of app. 3200fps. The longer your barrel the better with one of my rifles being 26?. Optics are your friend and yes good optics cost I have been known to spent more on my optics than on my rifle. When your barrel is hot and the mirages are moving the optics do make a difference without question.  A good scope along with good binoculars and or spotting scope will help you find and reach out to make that unforgettable far-off and or double shot.

Many also like the 22-250 as well. The .308 works quite well for the shooters that do not count how many rats that they shoot in an outing but rather how many yards there furthest confirmed successful shot was.
Last weekend I was 20 miles NW of Hulett, WY which is near Devils Tower on a Ranch of 48,000 acres it was wonderful to be out away from the rest of the world (except for the tire blow out from the shale rock). Shooting was good on Friday with a partly cloudy sky and a slight crosswind up to 10mph and 65 degree temps. The dogs were somewhat weary and obviously had been shot at before. This forced us to reach out some 300 to 800 yards. I shoot at 800 yards but I did not hit at 800 yards.  375 yards is about my max for my skill level my rifle as usual is much better than this shooter. It was fortunately dry enough that we could read our bullet hits (dust).Anyway it was a blast to be out with my shoot-in buddies spotting for each other as we shoot the day away. Watching the clouds blow by and listening to the song birds as we spotted for more Prairie Rats.

As some of you may know the dogs like the sun and the next day there was none, it actually had rained the night before causing us to four wheel with my truck into our shooting spot four miles off of the county road. This was through some of the stickiest black gumbo dirt that I have driven in, it truly was a challenge. We spent $30.00 at the car wash in Hulett on our way home from the trip. This day was a bust as we tried to spot some dogs but the sun never broke so after three hours we called it a day and packed up as the rain again started up to head back to the ranch for lunch and our trip back home to Plattsmouth.

We the three of us used shooting benches and also shot prone. It was not a 500 round days but we were prepared with much ammo. But dang-it we also brought much ammo back to shoot another day.

For the tree huggers who want to protect these rodents remember this. They are carriers of the Bubonic Plaque thru the flea's that they carry. They eat their own. They damage range land beyond use. Ranchers poison and gas them even vacuum them out of there holes to eliminate the problem.

For those who may be interested in more info check out the Varmint Hunters Association they also put out a quarterly magazine with much information. http://www.varminthunter.org/

Please tell us more about your Prairie Rat stories.

bkoenig:
Never done it yet, but I've always wanted to.  I'd love to know some good places to go.

Toster:
a buddy and I have been looking to go some time, just need time and a couple good places.

maanbr:
I have my Varmint Rem 700 set up and shooting dimes, never have shot at a prarie dog though.  Would be fun to try one of these days!

Jay:
How do you like that rifle, maanbr? I've been thinking about what my next purchase is going to be, and that is  on my list of possibilities.

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