Twice per year, early spring and early fall, a couple of old geezers who are both getting a bit long in the tooth, gather in WY for a week of "red misting" and trout fishing. Normally I would have already documented and shared these spring activities as they occurred a few weeks ago, but a bad case of the "crud", courtesy of my grandson, delayed my publication efforts.
With a week of adventures ahead, a 10-hour drive from SW MT to S Central WY soon prepared me for the chance to shake off the lingering effects of cabin fever after a loooong winter. Snow in the Big Horns greeted me as I entered the Cowboy State and I continued driving south on I-90 further into WY.
The next morning, after a hearty breakfast we setup our respective shooting tables on one of the many ranches we have come to frequent over the years and prepared ourselves for a day of thinning the herd. This particular mesa provides a nice updraft opportunity for the local feathered scavengers to ride the wind currents and wait. It didn't take long before there were numerous carcasses scattered all across the nearby pockmarked landscape.
In what seemed like less than 30 minutes after we started ringing the dinner bell, several raptors began circling overhead and it didn't take long before a large Golden Eagle swooped in and landed. After placing its talons on the carcass, it began tearing and ripping the prairie dog (PD) into bite sized pieces. This activity soon attracted two more Golden Eagles, and they too began feasting on the remains of other nearby PDs. This picture does not do justice to the sheer size of these raptors as their wingspan was easily 6 or 7 feet.
Over the next two days it was more of the same. Setup on one of the many ranchers' fields, wait for the PDs to reappear, dial for distance and let'r rip! Typically, our preferred weapons of choice are the 17HMR, 204R and the venerable 223. This trip saw the 204R being reached for more often than not and fortunately I had both a Cooper M21 and a Kimber 84M, both rifles proved to be more than adequate when pressed into service. I shot factory ammo, Fiocchi, 32 grains with an advertised MV of 4,125 fps.
As we wrapped up our PD shoot on the third day, the reputation of WY as being the windiest state in the lower 48 was certainly confirmed with afternoon gusts approaching 25mph and the forecast for the next day being sustained winds over 30mph. Lenticular clouds and Wyoming's topography all contributed to our decision to forgo our shooting activities on day four and seek instead the protection afforded by the canyon walls of nearby mountain streams while fishing for trout.
Our last day in WY found us again perched on rangeland with ample populations of PDs in almost every direction. Collectively, these fields provide for a target rich environment where we often would not move or relocate to another location for many hours. During this trip I was finally able to put my recently acquired Caldwell BR Pivot shooting table thru its paces. To say the BR Pivot provided a vast improvement over my previous table (MTM Case-Gard) would be an understatement, particularly when a steady rest was required while reaching out to targets 300-400 yards away.
This picture is but one example of the necessity of having a solid rest. The PD in the foreground was standing on its rear legs towards the back of the mound. I was setup 349 yards away, next to a Ram pickup (the small black rectangle near the top center of the frame) with my BR Pivot. One well-placed shot from the Cooper 204R shooting 32 grain pills helped put an exclamation point on whether or not this table had been a worthwhile investment. YES!!
While the total number of dispatched PDs was somewhat down from that experienced in years past, the week spent in WY with a good friend while renewing acquaintances with the local ranchers more than made up for the lack of validated takedowns. I can hardly wait to repeat this trip again come late fall. As I am apparently limited to only including six pictures in this post, I will follow-up with another post and include several more pictures detailing the trip.
With a week of adventures ahead, a 10-hour drive from SW MT to S Central WY soon prepared me for the chance to shake off the lingering effects of cabin fever after a loooong winter. Snow in the Big Horns greeted me as I entered the Cowboy State and I continued driving south on I-90 further into WY.
The next morning, after a hearty breakfast we setup our respective shooting tables on one of the many ranches we have come to frequent over the years and prepared ourselves for a day of thinning the herd. This particular mesa provides a nice updraft opportunity for the local feathered scavengers to ride the wind currents and wait. It didn't take long before there were numerous carcasses scattered all across the nearby pockmarked landscape.
In what seemed like less than 30 minutes after we started ringing the dinner bell, several raptors began circling overhead and it didn't take long before a large Golden Eagle swooped in and landed. After placing its talons on the carcass, it began tearing and ripping the prairie dog (PD) into bite sized pieces. This activity soon attracted two more Golden Eagles, and they too began feasting on the remains of other nearby PDs. This picture does not do justice to the sheer size of these raptors as their wingspan was easily 6 or 7 feet.
Over the next two days it was more of the same. Setup on one of the many ranchers' fields, wait for the PDs to reappear, dial for distance and let'r rip! Typically, our preferred weapons of choice are the 17HMR, 204R and the venerable 223. This trip saw the 204R being reached for more often than not and fortunately I had both a Cooper M21 and a Kimber 84M, both rifles proved to be more than adequate when pressed into service. I shot factory ammo, Fiocchi, 32 grains with an advertised MV of 4,125 fps.
As we wrapped up our PD shoot on the third day, the reputation of WY as being the windiest state in the lower 48 was certainly confirmed with afternoon gusts approaching 25mph and the forecast for the next day being sustained winds over 30mph. Lenticular clouds and Wyoming's topography all contributed to our decision to forgo our shooting activities on day four and seek instead the protection afforded by the canyon walls of nearby mountain streams while fishing for trout.
Our last day in WY found us again perched on rangeland with ample populations of PDs in almost every direction. Collectively, these fields provide for a target rich environment where we often would not move or relocate to another location for many hours. During this trip I was finally able to put my recently acquired Caldwell BR Pivot shooting table thru its paces. To say the BR Pivot provided a vast improvement over my previous table (MTM Case-Gard) would be an understatement, particularly when a steady rest was required while reaching out to targets 300-400 yards away.
This picture is but one example of the necessity of having a solid rest. The PD in the foreground was standing on its rear legs towards the back of the mound. I was setup 349 yards away, next to a Ram pickup (the small black rectangle near the top center of the frame) with my BR Pivot. One well-placed shot from the Cooper 204R shooting 32 grain pills helped put an exclamation point on whether or not this table had been a worthwhile investment. YES!!
While the total number of dispatched PDs was somewhat down from that experienced in years past, the week spent in WY with a good friend while renewing acquaintances with the local ranchers more than made up for the lack of validated takedowns. I can hardly wait to repeat this trip again come late fall. As I am apparently limited to only including six pictures in this post, I will follow-up with another post and include several more pictures detailing the trip.
