Successful prairie dog shoot

[Damon555]

The oldest son and I, my brother, his youngest boy and my buddy with his oldest son spent the last week up in North Dakota. Spent 3 days shooting in western North Dakota in what turned out to be the first annual Father-Son prairie dog shoot. It was also the best shooting that I've ever had in North Dakota on public land......have shot private land in Montana that was better but not by much. Plenty of rain this year has made it ideal for the dogs. Plus the second batch of pups was starting to come out.....lots of dumb targets.

We got out there last Saturday and shot that afternoon and the next three days.....the first day and a half was pretty windy. But that wasn't a problem for the 6XC shooting 105 grain Amax's. I had the longest kill as of then with a 416 yard shot with 20 MPH cross winds. When the wind died down the 223 AI and 204 Ruger were deadly......The 6XC did so well that my son and I shot up all the ammo that I had loaded up for that rifle......175 rounds or so. 400 yard shots with little wind were routine.

Needless to say my 416 yard shot didn't stand up as the long shot of the trip. My son, Dakota had a confirmed kill at 778 yards (with the 6XC of course)......Of course I took partial credit for the shot with great spotting!.....lol I can't let him have all the credit.....but young eyes and a steady hand sure make for very accurate shooting.

We shot A LOT! There's a lot of brass that needs cleaning now too.....A good problem to have!

Anywho.......here's a few pics

Here's my boy Dakota posing with the 6XC.....It may be ugly but it's a P-dog slaying machine!

Here's my brother and his son Cody living the good life in the shade of their snipers hide....

and last but not least here's how we were set up when it was time for some shade......

Everyone had a blast......shy kids came out of their shells, put down the video games and really enjoyed the time spent with their dads. We are already planning next years trip......

Life is good!

 

[snert]

Just plain awesome! "Kids came out of their shells, put down the video games, and really enjoyed time spent with dads" It doesn't get any better or more real.

 

[5spd]

Definately a great time with the family shooting up there.

 

[pirate ammo]

Just plain awesome! "Kids came out of their shells, put down the video games, and really enjoyed time spent with dads" It doesn't get any better or more real.

Definately a great time with the family shooting up there.

I read this stuff about family sometime,and I think back and remember why I have had no communication with mine for almost 50 years,,I'm glad that others do things together,,

 

[pirate ammo]

I read this stuff about family sometime,and I think back and remember why I have had no communication with mine for almost 50 years,,I'm glad that others do things together,,

I'm going to reply to myself..I left home at 16 and never looked back,,nothing to see,,do I regret it,no,40 years sailing the oceans as Master,,I missed the greater part of life of having a
family,,I dearly love my wife,but at this time of our lives kids are out,,I have gave up more right now than I ever have,,don't reply

 

[Damon555]

I made it to almost 43 before starting my small family....never regretted waiting that long.......I'd have been just fine on my own but fate gets in the way sometimes. Often wonder what it would have been like if I'd have stayed on my own. One thing's for sure....I'd of had a lot more spending money!....

Enjoy our hobby Pirate.....it has a way of filling a void and supplying us with some comradery.

......any way.....does anyone wanna help me clean some guns?......lol

 

[pirate ammo]

.....any way.....does anyone wanna help me clean some guns?......lol

hell,bring them over,don't have anything else to do,,done cut all the grass and WEEDS today,,tell you what it does to you to not have a home,,been there done that

 

[Damon555]

Prairie dogs weren't the only thing prowling the grass lands.

This guy was sunning himself right in the middle of our dog town. I tried for 5 minutes to get my son on the badger but he just could locate it. So I told him to get the heck out from behind the gun and I took the shot. He was facing me head on.....1, 32 grain V-max from the Remington SPS 204 anchored him right there.....I put another round into him for good measure and that was that. He had a buddy too that was hissing at us when we walked up to the hole (without a gun!!! Stupid me!). We didn't stick around long since these critters can do some serious damage!

There were also lots of burrowing owls, pronghorn, wild horses, jackrabbits (never got a shot at one) and buffalo running around out there......I love that place! Wish I could move back every day during the summer....The hottest it got was about 85 degrees and the humidity was non-existent. Being in Tennessee during the summer is just plain depressing.....but I guess the easy winters kinda make up for it.

Another great thing about North Dakota is the amount of public land to hunt on....if it ain't posted you can hunt it!!!!

 

[sw282]

Nice 6XC Damon... Glad y'all had a good time... What model/power Leupold is on the 6XC?

thanks
282

 

[LarryDScott]

Prairie dogs weren't the only thing prowling the grass lands.

This guy was sunning himself right in the middle of our dog town. I tried for 5 minutes to get my son on the badger but he just could locate it. So I told him to get the heck out from behind the gun and I took the shot. He was facing me head on.....1, 32 grain V-max from the Remington SPS 204 anchored him right there.....I put another round into him for good measure and that was that. He had a buddy too that was hissing at us when we walked up to the hole (without a gun!!! Stupid me!). We didn't stick around long since these critters can do some serious damage!

There were also lots of burrowing owls, pronghorn, wild horses, jackrabbits (never got a shot at one) and buffalo running around out there......I love that place! Wish I could move back every day during the summer....The hottest it got was about 85 degrees and the humidity was non-existent. Being in Tennessee during the summer is just plain depressing.....but I guess the easy winters kinda make up for it.

Another great thing about North Dakota is the amount of public land to hunt on....if it ain't posted you can hunt it!!!!

Temp w/lack of humidity in the north west is a good thing.
It makes you hate coming back east. Humidity has been brutal in KY this year. The only draw back to the Dakotas is their long cold winters. LDS

 

[Damon555]

Nice 6XC Damon... Glad y'all had a good time... What model/power Leupold is on the 6XC?

thanks
282

It's a VX-3i 8.5-25x50 with the varmint reticle. Great glass if you're gonna be staring through a scope all day. All my varmint rifles would wear one if I could afford more but at the time of purchase they were over $1000.....which is a big ol' chunk of change for me! The best part of this scope is the fact that the hash marks are just about perfectly spaced for my 6XC load.....if it's sighted in at 100 yards the lines are pretty darn close to 100 yard increments.....sure makes it easy....no knob twisting needed.

I just counted the empty cases from the trip....Looks like my son and I shot around 400 times in 3 days....Not bad at all considering that there were 6 of us shooting in and around each town. The 6XC was shot the most followed by the 204.

 

[Randall Hardy]

Father and son time is the best! My son is 31. Over the years I have been talked into many hobbies that I wouldn’t have done if it were not for my sons interest, ie; snowboarding at 40, wake boarding, now prairie dogs and golf. Enjoy your time with your boys.

 

[Ken]

ditto Randall

 

[Damon555]

Father and son time is the best! My son is 31. Over the years I have been talked into many hobbies that I wouldn’t have done if it were not for my sons interest, ie; snowboarding at 40, wake boarding, now prairie dogs and golf. Enjoy your time with your boys.

Agreed. Hopefully some of their youthfulness will rub off too!

 

[snert]

Father and son time is the best! My son is 31. Over the years I have been talked into many hobbies that I wouldn’t have done if it were not for my sons interest, ie; snowboarding at 40, wake boarding, now prairie dogs and golf. Enjoy your time with your boys.

Flyfishing for me...kid got me into it.

 

[Damon555]

At this point I think that the only thing that might interest my oldest sun is girls and video games. But as time goes by and we do more shooting together he is starting to warm up to the sport. He doesn't like all of the peripheral activities involved though.......such as all the reloading and the load work ups.....luckily I enjoy that part of the sport just as much as the actual time in the field shooting......a win-win for me.

My youngest son on the other hand is going to be involved in the shooting sports right from the start.....but at 5 years old he's too young to have the patience required to sit still and really concentrate. He's been asking dad to buy him a "Cricket" rifle ever since I mentioned it to him a few months ago. The seed has been planted, now it's time to nurture its growth and keep him on track to safely learn how to handle and respect firearms.

 

[Randall Hardy]

At this point I think that the only thing that might interest my oldest sun is girls and video games. But as time goes by and we do more shooting together he is starting to warm up to the sport. He doesn't like all of the peripheral activities involved though.......such as all the reloading and the load work ups.....luckily I enjoy that part of the sport just as much as the actual time in the field shooting......a win-win for me.

My youngest son on the other hand is going to be involved in the shooting sports right from the start.....but at 5 years old he's too young to have the patience required to sit still and really concentrate. He's been asking dad to buy him a "Cricket" rifle ever since I mentioned it to him a few months ago. The seed has been planted, now it's time to nurture its growth and keep him on track to safely learn how to handle and respect firearms.

I know your position, I bought my grandson a cricket for his first Christmas. Gramma thought I was a little early, she is right I also bought him a quad when I found out she was pregnant. Just planning ahead is my response.

 

[Rick in Oregon]

The best part about this post is the fact that the OP took those kids out for PD's, and they actually DID put down their silly phones and games to enjoy life and the great outdoors! Maybe there IS hope after all!

Thanks for sharing the adventure.

 

[LarryDScott]

The best part about this post is the fact that the OP took those kids out for PD's, and they actually DID put down their silly phones and games to enjoy life and the great outdoors! Maybe there IS hope after all!

Thanks for sharing the adventure.

Rick its not only kids that cant put down their silly phones,
it grownups also. People are obsessed w/them. LDS

 

[Damon555]

We're all on the same page here! Thanks guys. I look forward to more trips like this.....I suppose the kids will be all grown up before I know it and hopefully take up the hobby themselves!

Oh, and my wife hates the fact that I never have my phone on me....lol....I'm tired of being available to everyone 24/7.