What's Your Prairie Dog BATTING AVERAGE?

[sw282]

After talking to fellow prairie dog shooters AND guides over the years l have heard and SEEN lots of different 'BATTING AVERAGES. l know there are many variables involved in my BATTING AVERAGE. Range being a big factor. Wind is an even BIGGER factor. l guess my shooting ability might be a factor too. Although some may blame their guns or ammo.A fellow Forum Shooter related to me that one outfitter/guide told him shooters averages from 5% to 70% in some cases. The bolt gun guys having the highest averages. Personally l consider myself a low average batter @ hundred-fifty to two hundred.. l am certain that puts me in the Minor Leagues

 

[Jim Bridger]

I cannot imagine using a Guide to shoot Pdogs. Here in Wyoming the critters inhabit the Public Lands every where. In recent years some populations have declined from K9 Distemper. My choice has been the .220 Swift for serious Dog shooting. When the wind up a .25-06 can reach out across the sand.

 

[powderbrake]

It really depends on Range and that's primarily because of the wind.

These are guesses, because I no longer count the number of prairie dogs hit. It is more of a challenge to hit those further out, so I spend a little more time on them, and let the other shooters in our group hit the close ones. No, I won't pass up a closer one, I take my time while some others shoot first, then try to walk it in.

Basically, you should hit virtually all of the 100 yard shots, most of the 200 yard shots, at 300 yards it is approaching the limits of the smaller rounds, 400 yards and up needs steady rifle position, good wind reading and higher ballistic coefficients.... luck is also very welcome in those longer shots.

So here are my guesses, no data to support them outside of experience, and I'm probably optimistic.

100 yds...….90-95%
200 yds...…70-90 %
300 yds...… 40-60%
400-500yds..... 10-30%
600-700...…… 2-10 %

 

[Tommie]

The biggest factor is wind. Personally, I never kept track of hits/misses. Just guesstimating I’d say anything inside of 250 yards is pretty much a gimme hit. Out to 400 yards and windage becomes a bigger issue. Depending on conditions (and firearm used) I’d guess somewhere between 50-80% hits. Beyond a quarter mile there’s a whole bunch of shots being walked-in with misses definitely outnumbering hits. BTW I’d don’t consider a wounded PD to be hit.

edit: These percentages are for adult prairie dogs. When shooting at pups the hit ratio drops.

 

[farmerjohn]

Tommy and Powder Brake are dead on as per my own experience....
John

 

[DogBuster]

don't keep track.......just kill 'em.......

Loaded 400 empty 20 Vartarg cases this week.........

Next will be the empty 20-222's......

Be ready for early May..........No guides here either......

 

[Tommie]

Of course folks who live in prairie dog country don’t use guides. You know the territory. There’s tons of public land in Alaska that is crawling with bears/caribou/whatever but I’m betting you’d hire a guide.

 

[ebb]

Ive never missed a prairie dog in my life.

 

[500yards]

I was out with friends on a PD trip in Wyoming. We lucked out and stumbled into territory that had seen little or no hunting pressure. I was trying out a new 17 Ackley Hornet (fire forming brass) and wanted to keep my shots to 200 yds. or less. I got all the shooting I could handle (350 rds). After I finsihed the short shots, the buddies moved in and shot everything fromm 200 yds and out. A real "tag-team" approach. We all had fun.

 

[Tommie]

Ive never missed a prairie dog in my life.

Indeed. I've been told those Florida prairie dogs are slow moving!

 

[F224]

Tommy and Powder Brake are dead on as per my own experience....
John

My experience mirrors these guys. We spend about four hours a day just walking around the dog town with 17HMR rifles and shooting sticks. We go out with 200+ rounds in our pockets and come back empty after a 90 minute walk about. You can kill lots of dogs in that time, often taking 3-6 off of each mound.

 

[Prairiedogger]

I turn the empty mouth up if I miss a shot. A quick look in a case of 100 rounds gives you an idea. How far of shot is difference.
Out to 200yds---around 98%
200-300------- about 80%
300-400-----I drop to 60%
past that figuring out windage uses some up.

 

[Prairiedogger]

Ive never missed a prairie dog in my life.

Maybe you'd like to come out and shoot at one??

 

[ebb]

I saw a bunch of PDs when out west hunting. My hunting buddy says "you shoot up all your 25-06 ammo on dogs you can forget the lopes". I told him " You bring me all the way out here and I don't see any lopes, were going back where we spend the night at the La Quinta Inn in Aurora and I am going to shoot PDs off the balcony till the Aurora PD arrives. We both agreed the 338 win mag was a little much and shooting dogs with, and it was never discussed again. Back then there was at least 50 acres behind the Inn that was undeveloped and had more dogs per acre than any where Ive ever seen.

 

[ebb]

PDogger I shot Ground hogs at my dads in north GA till I shot the barrel out of my 22-250. Just never got into it after that.

 

[Prairiedogger]

Understand. It aint for everybody. I use it to teach the grankids how to shoot. Steady, solid, squeeze, fallow thru. When they can see the impact, we got it.

 

[spencerhenry]

I used to keep track religiously of shots fired and rodents killed. If there was any question as to whether you counted it as a hit or not, it did not count. My best day was 94% I think, ranges from 75 yards to 300 yards but ground squirrels not P-dogs. On an average day with most shots 150 to 250 I run 75% to 80%, I think that's pretty good an creatures the size of an 8 oz beer, shooting off a bipod.
I went on a group trip with a bunch of guys that don't shoot much. Someone asked me how many I had killed that day, I said not that many, I'm only shooting about 70% today. Everyone of them told me that they were shooting nearly 100%. Not one of them had a quality rifle, not one had anything but factory ammo, and they would heat up their barrels shooting as fast as they could. It was hard for me, but I didn't call b.s.
When you start actually counting the hits versus number of rounds fired, the % is always lower than you would think.

 

[ebb]

Oh I enjoyed it, dads place was 600 miles away, and the kids were getting older.

 

[Prose]

I use 50 round ammo boxes when pd shooting and place all the hits one way and the misses upside down when putting the shells back in the box. at the end of the day I count them up. Under favorable conditions out to 300 yards I’m about 90% with my 20 VT and 95%+ with my 17 FB. With a .223 rem I bat about 85%.

keeping track has significantly improved my average.

 

[ricco1949]

PDs over the course of 5-6 days of shooting....... 50-60% at 100 to 500 yards in all wind conditions. I use a counter for kills and compare to total rounds fired when I get home. I never shoot any PDs under 100 yards...just a personal minimum for the sake of fairness......I consider it their lucky day. Mainly a Vartarg but some 223 to let the VT cool down. Aways 40 Vmax in both rifles.