What a great trip out to South Dakota. After a ~3,000 mile road trip, I thought I would share. This is my second time out to p-dog hunt in SD and I learned so much more than my first time out. I decided this time around to try it on my own for the first two days to compare it to a guided hunt. While not comparing apples to apples, it did give me an idea of what to look for. Below are pictures to add to the story.
We started our adventure with a hunt in the Fort Pierre National Grasslands. After doing my homework and research, we had a plan. We made it out to Ft. Pierre and immediately starting looking for dog towns. After a little glassing, we found what we were after. Below is a picture of our first stop.
We hunted until about 7 pm that evening and was having a blast. While the dogs were shy, we figured we shot about 50 rounds each b/t the two of us over about 4 hours. As we came back to the gravel road, we ran over a piece of metal in the road. This was a downer as we now had a flat and had to find the spare tire on the van. After an hour of this, we headed into Ft. Pierre for dinner at 9:30pm. It was still daylight as we were eating.
After getting a new tire the next morning (tire couldn't be patched), we headed out for another 1/2 day of hunting before heading West to meet with our guide on a guided 3-day hunt. On this 1/2 day hunt, we decided again to try the Ft. Pierre National Grassland on a different dog town. This time, we had about a 1.5 mile jaunt back to a dog town. This was a decent sized dog town. It had been shot over quite a bit and the dogs were once again shy. We shot about 60 rounds each that day before heading out. Dogs range from 150-500+ yards.
After a two hour drive West, we ended up at our destination. This was a guided 3-day hunt and the rancher put us up in his ranch house next to the family house. This place had all the comforts of home including satellite TV. We were greeted by the rancher and family and had dinner with them that evening. These folks were great people who made me feel welcomed. I was excited to see what the next few days would bring.
We woke on the morning of our first day out with our guide. We had checked the weather for SD prior to leaving and the weather appeared favorable. However, after having a quick breakfast and a 40 minute drive to the p-dog town, what we found were winds gusting up to 47 mph. This was something I had no experience with being from an area with usually 5-15 mph winds. The guide had us setup behind a wind break in the field which helped cuts the winds. We quickly learned that we had to figured the wind out as the wind was 90 degrees to us. The dogs were up and we started glassing. We were both using 223s. I was shooting 55 gr ZMAX behind 25.0 gr of Benchmark for a velocity of 3,280 fps in a 26" 1/12 twist barrel. My buddy was shooting factory Fiocchi Extrema 40 gr VMAX which was screaming out of his 26" barrel. He was getting 3,720 fps. He tried heavier bullets later and he didn't seem to like them as well. The Zeiss scopes with the Z-Varmint reticles were the ticket as we had confirmed that having the magnification on mine at 12.5x perfectly matched the BDC.
We shot through the day until everyone was fatigued. Even having good glass in your binos and scopes will make for a weary afternoon. The dogs throughout the day were mainly in the 100-300 yd range. The shooting was fantastic and the guide was excellent as he stayed with us all day and spotted and ranged for us. The benches he provided were excellent. However, after having a few hunts behind me, there is absolutely something to having a bench that can spin 360 degrees. If I did more of this type of hunting, I would seriously consider purchasing one.
The weather on the prairie is unpredictable at best. In looking at the weather before leaving home, they were expecting highs of around 85-90 deg every day. We packed for warm weather wearing clothes that were lightweight but also protected from the sun. I had the foresight to pack a light rain jacket as the 3rd day of our hunt was almost a wash out with rain. We were able to get out around 2pm and hunt until 7pm. However, it was 65 degrees outside and windy. If going out, expect cold and hot.
At the end of our 3-day hunt, we were tired and dreaded our 1,500 mile journey home. However, we made some new friends and we came away enriched in our thinking of what it takes to perform an on your own hunt. Having little time for vacation for us, the guide was the way to go. I realize many do not like this approach. However, I don't mind helping those that are attempting to accomplish their ranching dream and are trying to make ends meet. Now, back to work and reminisce.
We started our adventure with a hunt in the Fort Pierre National Grasslands. After doing my homework and research, we had a plan. We made it out to Ft. Pierre and immediately starting looking for dog towns. After a little glassing, we found what we were after. Below is a picture of our first stop.
We hunted until about 7 pm that evening and was having a blast. While the dogs were shy, we figured we shot about 50 rounds each b/t the two of us over about 4 hours. As we came back to the gravel road, we ran over a piece of metal in the road. This was a downer as we now had a flat and had to find the spare tire on the van. After an hour of this, we headed into Ft. Pierre for dinner at 9:30pm. It was still daylight as we were eating.
After getting a new tire the next morning (tire couldn't be patched), we headed out for another 1/2 day of hunting before heading West to meet with our guide on a guided 3-day hunt. On this 1/2 day hunt, we decided again to try the Ft. Pierre National Grassland on a different dog town. This time, we had about a 1.5 mile jaunt back to a dog town. This was a decent sized dog town. It had been shot over quite a bit and the dogs were once again shy. We shot about 60 rounds each that day before heading out. Dogs range from 150-500+ yards.
After a two hour drive West, we ended up at our destination. This was a guided 3-day hunt and the rancher put us up in his ranch house next to the family house. This place had all the comforts of home including satellite TV. We were greeted by the rancher and family and had dinner with them that evening. These folks were great people who made me feel welcomed. I was excited to see what the next few days would bring.
We woke on the morning of our first day out with our guide. We had checked the weather for SD prior to leaving and the weather appeared favorable. However, after having a quick breakfast and a 40 minute drive to the p-dog town, what we found were winds gusting up to 47 mph. This was something I had no experience with being from an area with usually 5-15 mph winds. The guide had us setup behind a wind break in the field which helped cuts the winds. We quickly learned that we had to figured the wind out as the wind was 90 degrees to us. The dogs were up and we started glassing. We were both using 223s. I was shooting 55 gr ZMAX behind 25.0 gr of Benchmark for a velocity of 3,280 fps in a 26" 1/12 twist barrel. My buddy was shooting factory Fiocchi Extrema 40 gr VMAX which was screaming out of his 26" barrel. He was getting 3,720 fps. He tried heavier bullets later and he didn't seem to like them as well. The Zeiss scopes with the Z-Varmint reticles were the ticket as we had confirmed that having the magnification on mine at 12.5x perfectly matched the BDC.
We shot through the day until everyone was fatigued. Even having good glass in your binos and scopes will make for a weary afternoon. The dogs throughout the day were mainly in the 100-300 yd range. The shooting was fantastic and the guide was excellent as he stayed with us all day and spotted and ranged for us. The benches he provided were excellent. However, after having a few hunts behind me, there is absolutely something to having a bench that can spin 360 degrees. If I did more of this type of hunting, I would seriously consider purchasing one.
The weather on the prairie is unpredictable at best. In looking at the weather before leaving home, they were expecting highs of around 85-90 deg every day. We packed for warm weather wearing clothes that were lightweight but also protected from the sun. I had the foresight to pack a light rain jacket as the 3rd day of our hunt was almost a wash out with rain. We were able to get out around 2pm and hunt until 7pm. However, it was 65 degrees outside and windy. If going out, expect cold and hot.
At the end of our 3-day hunt, we were tired and dreaded our 1,500 mile journey home. However, we made some new friends and we came away enriched in our thinking of what it takes to perform an on your own hunt. Having little time for vacation for us, the guide was the way to go. I realize many do not like this approach. However, I don't mind helping those that are attempting to accomplish their ranching dream and are trying to make ends meet. Now, back to work and reminisce.
