First Time Prairie Dog Shoot--Wow!

[AckleymanII]

After shooting p.dogs one time, I sure felt stupid chasing HORNS!

 

[Dgd6mm]

I'm going to have to check Jim River Guide Service out.

 

[pertnear]

I use to bring a bench, or shoot off the hood if my truck. This set up is way more convenient for us. Granted, we don't shoot much past 300. Just move and shoot. Plus, it's a 10 minute drive for me.

I looks like a great idea! What type of tripods & swivel heads do you use?

 

[moondog]

I'm using a Innorel with a leveling head. My buddy uses a RRS leveling head. Other buddy uses a ball head. All with ARCA rails.
It's nice to be able to just pick the whole thing up and rotate. It's really stable especially if you have a large shooting bag under your rt elbow.

 

[moondog]

Sunday P- dog hunt

 

[Rick in Oregon]

After shooting p.dogs one time, I sure felt stupid chasing HORNS!

Hunting and/or shooting 'horns' = much work.
PD shooting = just alot of FUN!

 

[K9TXS]

I use to bring a bench, or shoot off the hood if my truck. This set up is way more convenient for us. Granted, we don't shoot much past 300. Just move and shoot. Plus, it's a 10 minute drive for me.

Usually I start off with my bench setup. Depending on conditions and the PD, I use the similar setup you have. Much easier and faster to move around. If the wind is really ripping, I can move the tripod around to shoot with the wind. My hit ratio really takes a jump up.

 

[LAH]

determined to get him I fired over 90 rounds--I threw dirt on him almost every one of them--My partner said are you going to kill him or bury him alive?--I guess nobody here would admit that but you know--we were raw rookies--In the end we had more fun than we could imagine--we Will do it again next year. Most fun I have ever had with a firearm!!

I love this. The whole point to me is have fun. That is what I go for.

 

[dusterdave173]

J-Rod
I would say leave the 17 at home--We never had a shot under 300--We used 223 --I am sure the bigger stuff would be great for the longer range shots--the 223 was fine at 300-400 but past that you really had to be on your game. What we found out being total rookies is that when we set up and dogs were just crawling all over--that is was hard to settle down at one distance and work them over--THEN move to a different distance--we were like dogs in meat shop at first--I had been dreaming of this for over 6 months and when cut loose I just started hammering at every dog I saw
Wrong thing to do
Discipline would have been great only I had NONE--first day--we arrived so worked up and ready
We only had short ranges here at home--we did visit a 400 yd range several times --but no extensive practice--I had a decent idea of my bullet drop out to 400--But I found out that I was pretty dead on out to about 300 and after that it took some shots watching the dirt to "walk it in" for elevation--My poor old rangefinder was not up to the job--when we go back I will have a rangefinder that works out to 600--I will have a LOT more discipline with each shot--I will have the best 10x power binoculars I can afford--I WILL spot for my pal and have him spot for me--searching for targets through the scope made for tough day--doing it with binoculars was much better but then finding the ones you had just spotted with your scope was a challenge too--
We started at around 9am each AM and by 2pm our eyes were jelly--you might be able to shoot for another hour but I doubt it--That was hard to swallow too just the way it was. I would say take a big bottle of plain saline to rinse eyes and try to keep them in the game.
A Thin cross hair is a must--Our Vortex Diamondback Tactical 6-24 were decent but the truth is you will almost never get a chance to use that much magnification--the mirage started as soon as barrel was hot and sun got going--we had to dial back power to combat that--It was actually OK I killed just as many on low power as more--worked way better than I would have thought.

I think a nice bench is a must--we were on some OK units one style was fine the other killed our backs after a day on it so ......They are important--select for comfort.

Also it was HARD to shoot all day then go out and actually find the ones you had busted way out there --I know I hit some dogs at 600 but Finding them in a giant field after the end of the day was really tough!! I swear I think critters grabbed some--It was like their pals dragged them back in the hole or something--I am sure I am wrong on that but man it was tough to find them--

Ah the wheels are in motion for a trip next year........we need to get a few together here on east coast to split the fuel---The Pierre Motel Willie put us up in was actually very well run, clean, very decent place--Great owners!

One thing to remember is that once you book there are zero refunds--ever for any reason--If the weather is bad you are just screwed--the day before we went out it was 111 degrees with a monster wind--those guys came in that evening looking half past dead--they had to use 30 in hold offs for wind they said--but they were smiling--we got lucky and had almost dead calm for one day and easy 10-15 the other

 

[BobbyJ]

I use to bring a bench, or shoot off the hood if my truck. This set up is way more convenient for us. Granted, we don't shoot much past 300. Just move and shoot. Plus, it's a 10 minute drive for me.

I like those tripods. Who makes them and are they steady like a table? I might give that a try.

 

[moondog]

I like those tripods. Who makes them and are they steady like a table? I might give that a try.

Mine is an Innorel rtc 90 with 40mm legs, my buddies is a Manfrotto. All three are really stable especially sitting with an elbow braced on your knee

 

[JSH]

Mine is an Innorel rtc 90 with 40mm legs, my buddies is a Manfrotto. All three are really stable especially sitting with an elbow braced on your knee

I won’t knock the tripods there are a lot of guys using them. I could t find a comfortable position to get steady. Buddy uses his a lot, he has a mesh bag that he puts his ammo in and it hangs underneath as a bit of ballast and says that works well for him.

 

[snert]

McFadden Ultimate tripod, long legs, hang a sandbag under it if you really feel the need. Tilts and pans. Last I knew they had several still in stock. I have kills on groundhogs at over 500 yards.

 

[Delfuego]

@JSH you can get plenty stable, but you need a good tripod. Cheap ones are not great. Good ones are easier to find these days, though not real cheap. Our buddy has a full chair and a "pillow" bag for support. We have lots of practice so we just run w/o. Leveling base is very stable. We run these same tripods in field matches out pretty far with bolt guns.

 

[Mike402]

I go PD hunting every year up to Wyoming & New Mexico. I set up a Stukey bench for 300+ shots, and an RRS tripod for 0-300, plus walking around. Admittedly expensive options, but I love good gear. The key to getting high kill counts is being willing to get up off your butt and walk. I do guided hunts and the guides tell me that most guys will just sit on the tables, shoot what they can, and then pick up and drive to a new spot. I have a cart that I pull which carries two rifles, water, snacks, ammo, etc Lots of work, but great exercise and I always end up shooting a ton of dogs. I'm able to access towns that have never been shot at this way.

I REALLY envy the guys that are able to get cans, because that would make a big difference. I'm stuck in CA hell though so not an option anytime soon.

Here's a pic of my setup from a couple months ago. I was shooting out to 900 yards at that location. One of the tricks with the tripod to getting better stability is attaching a sling to the tripod (see pic below) and attaching it to your body via carabiner. Cinches everything down and makes it easier to make the 200+ shots while standing.




Just for fun, here's a quick vid of a kill. This was a 6 creedmoor slinging a 65gr VMAX

 

[tstowater]

Bought Big Game swivel shooting benches years ago to shoot P Dogs. Scrapped the shooting stand on the front of the bench and use a smaller tripod (should have bought about 3 of the ones I use) and a sandbag. Takes about 2 to 3 minutes to set up the first time. Now, if we are using the side by side and moving to a new location in the field, I just take the stuff off the top and flip the bench upside down and put in the side by side box. Way too many options on guns, but generally will take a rimfire of some nature as we usually will get 150 rounds +/- of rimfire action on most trips. Beyond that, the 20VT, 204, 17Rem and the 220 Swifts and 22-250 see most of the action. Played some with a 6BR and like a 6mm Rem for some windy day and longer range.

Getting better at staying out of the sun. Not interested in getting burned and dealing with the consequences later.

 

[RegionRat]

I would say leave the 17 at home-

I would say your situation was not typical.

I wasn't there, so I don't want to criticize your guide's set up, but I would have closed that distance if at all possible for rookies. I am sure he had reasons like mud or fences for putting you where they did, but keeping the shooting inside 300 yards for a rookie gives them a chance to learn the ropes.

A good day starts and ends with a 17 HMR for me. Inside about 250 yards in low winds makes the 17 HMR a blast to shoot on p-dogs. These go subsonic somewhere past 250 yards, but up to that point they are a blast. If the winds come up, then it is time to go centerfire, but till then 17 HMR makes for great trigger time.

Also, getting the range is very important once you are out past 300 yards. As a rookie, it is important to learn to judge the first 300 yards with your reticle and that way you just hold according to what your instincts tell you. As you start out, you dial a lot and then less with time. A heavy rig with good bench technique is important so that you can spot your own shots.

Using a variable scope is a good way to teach rookies to acquire targets if they get lost, but then settle on a decent magnification (say around 10X to start and go up with time) so you can learn what things look like at distance and you can learn to hold. You will get faster and better at lining up the shots with experience so you won't need to dial down the mag so much.

With some experience, you will learn to use your eyes and binos to judge the close shots, and use a better LRF for the questionable ones.

Any blunt mound or brush can be used to get a distance close to your shot, and then judgment for how much to offset the distance to your target. You will get better with time and experience, but you will need a capable rangefinder, preferably the bino style so you are not flopping back and forth between too many things. Cheap rangefinders tend to have too much beam divergence to give you a range on shallow ground, so spend what you need to be able to range a p-dog mound.

I have had many inexperienced guests, many Midwestern friends who never shot past 100 yards. Within half a day they have learned to cover the first 300 yards, and by the second day they own out to 500 with low winds. You will get there, but practice with a purpose and get a better LRF.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

Some towns I shoot we pop with pistols(.22) driving in and out. Set up and shoot rimfire at the ones inside 100 yards. If there are more than 2 shooters(especially new shooters), I usually don't shoot, I let others play with close ones for the first hour. I like to change location at least once, at minimum to have sun/wind more favorable. Next run my 22 pistol will have a green laser, and a red dot sight zeroed at 40 or 50', should be quicker than open sights.

 

[dusterdave173]

Regionrat
You may be right--We may have been in a field that had been shot at plenty--I would never know--I have never been--We were told up front that it would be challenging, that it was mother nature so no control over it, come with good attitude etc so we were not promised anything other than what we got--
I blasted away like I was on the front lines--so I sort of had my own kind of fun with it---when we go back I will be ready for a very different experience--and I hope that means dogs closer than 300 yds LOL

All in all it was worth it--just wish there had been some instruction, advice, and a little more help but maybe he knew the first time is what you do so you can go back and do it right next time.

 

[JSH]

Sitting here thinking of the numerous towns I have access too, maybe 3 possibly 4 may have enough slope to them to get a range finder to work. All the rest are flat. Range a yucca and it comes back at say 300, I will dial or use reticle for the range, only to find the dog is + or - enough to score a miss.
Some times we are on the money.
One of the guys had a Leica one year worked perfect one day the rest of the week was no better than my old $400 rig.
If I knew for certain there was a range finder that would work for this, I would try one.
A steady solid rest and elevated as in the bed of a truck seemed to gain some advantage.