Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Info please...

I have never "varmit hunted". I have interest in some long-range type shooting. Can one buy a hunt on prarie dogs or the like somewhere? Or can one find it on public lands? I would pay well for a good hunt that let me shoot several hundred times in a weekend, but I don't know if thats possible or not. Any help advice woud be appreciated.

several hundred shots in a full weekend would be a low average for a prairie dog shoot. you can usually bank on 200 shots per day on a decent town, even if its pretty shot-up. a fresh town on private land can grant enough shooting to burn you (and your barrel) out before the sun goes down.

this time of year is not good prairie doggin' weather, though. they will come up in the winter if it is a bright sunny day, but as of now, we have had 4 hours of sun since 24 dec - the dogs are all down.

prairie dog shoots are available on public or private land, and the shooting is pretty good in colorado, wyoming, montana, and s.d... i don't know about nebraska, or n.d., though. a little closer to home for you, i have heard stories of good shoots in texas and n.m. but have no firsthand knowledge if that is real or imagined - so i guess the first thing you have to do is decide where you want to shoot.

Thanks big time,

Tell me more about it please. Is prarie dog shooting a hunt where you must do some moving around...or do you find a set up spot and shoot from there? What is a typical length of shot?

pd's are the ultimate in target practice, and the best way to get to know your rifle, and your rifleman skills.

some people move around on a town to get closer shots, but most don't. i abhor the idea of moving around on a town. i like to find a spot that provides me a good vantage point where i can see most of the town. then, i go ahead and bring my cooler, laser, spotter, rifle, ammo, beach towels, and all my other gear to the spot (part of the reason i don't move), and just sit there and shoot all day.

shots are going to range from the end of your barrel to as long as the dog town is. some towns don't have a real good shape or are partly obscured by buttes, so shots can be held pretty short (500-600 yards). other towns will go on for miles, so 1000 yards and beyond are available. after awhile, the 10 and 20 yard dogs won't come up anymore. you can expect a ton of shots in the 200-400 yard range.

you are going to want to bring 2 rifles at a minimum. i suggest your go-to big game rifle and a highly accurate, very heavy 22-250, 222, or 223. shoot your big game rifle to get to know it and its ballistics really well (yep, i shoot prairie dogs w/ a 338 win mag). because of the volume of shooting, a heavy 22-centerfire is desireable. it allows you to spot your own hits and misses, among other things. a pair of rifles also allows one gun to cool off w/o forcing you to stop shooting. don't bother w/ a 22 rimfire. many ranchers won't let you on their town w/ a rimfire because the bullets ricochet so bad. and really, a 22 lr isn't much fun on a dog town. quality triggers w/ light pulls become more and more appreciated as the day wears on.

some people bring benches, or set-up benches in the back of a truck, or build a truck around shooting prairie dogs out of (very impressive rigs, really, and you don't have to expose yourself to stuff like cactus, chiggers, and prairie dog poop). but, since most of my big game hunting is done w/ a bipod, i shoot from a bipod on a dog town. you will certainly want some sort of a rest, though, whether that is a bipod, or portable bench, or whatever.

whatever scope you plan to use, make sure it is a good one. if you try to shoot w/ a cheap scope, by day's end (assuming the scope holds together) you will have a wangin' headache. there's a reason that specialized doggin' rigs have very, very nice glass on them... magnification is important, too, but glass quality is more so - if nothing else it will keep you from getting a debilitating headache.

i have never had a rancher tell me i couldn't shoot. that doesn't mean there aren't some out that will tell you no... so bring a case of beer (bud seems to be the preferred brand) and a cabela's gift card... the ranchers usually don't ask for anything in return, but its just good form.

big time...GREAT post, thanks.

Are you saying that it might be possible for me to head out to p'dog country, and just ask permission from land owners to hunt/shoot and do it for nothing more than a little gratuity?

I actually have 3 rifles I'd take. Steyr 7mmRM, Rem700 .280, and Ruger .243. From your advice Id load up some "game load" 140s or 150's in my two 7s and then Id put me some 80gr varmint pills to work in the .243. all three guns currently shoot sub MOA at 100yds with my game loads. The Steyr is a ragged hole gun with almost any load.

Im thinking that it will be EXTREMELY challenging shooting with my normal hunting optics. Leupolds in 3-9 or 2.5-8, and Zeiss 3-9. All decent glass, but low magnification for 500+ yd shots I'd have to guess.

This will also require more than a few nights at the reloading bench too!

What time of year is productive for the little critters? Seasons? Will I need a licence?

yeah, it is possible to find a rancher, ask, and gain access. don't know what your experience is w/ wyoming or montana or whatever, but keep in mind it is very vast country where than can be dozens of miles between houses - and the house sitting closest to the land you want on may very well not own that land (my brother, in virginia, refers to it as 'desolate' - i refer to it as 'perfect'). this can amount to an entire day spent driving, knocking on doors, driving some more and lots of cell phone use, if you are some place that has a signal. the flip side of that: last summer i went to a ranch cold, knocked, gained access, and was out shooting on a virgin town on my first try.

something to think about, though: gassing the dogs has become legal again, and i had a tough time this summer finding towns. in years past where there were some of the absolute best shooting available, this past summer was not even a single dog...

your rifle choices are going to wear you out in a hurry... fine choices to be sure, but even a 9.5-pound 243 gets fatiguing in pretty short order. if it were me, i'd pick up a remington 700 vls in 22-250, put a steel base on, steel rings, and scope it w/ something that has at least 12x on tap (might even think of something like hogging out the barrel channel and butt, and epoxying in lead shot). my first year of dogging i used a 700 bdl in 22-250 w/ a leupold 4-12 on it. it worked pretty well, but 400 yards was about all i could get - it was just too hard to pick the little buggers up beyond that (shape of a pepsi bottle, size of a coke bottle). my partner used a ruger in 223 w/ a tasco 6-24 on top... on our first all-day shoot, he was barely functional by 3:00, and was completely useless when it came time to leave at 10:00... he had a headache.

there's no need to replace your current glass just for prairie dogs, especially if you are ok w/ keeping those guns in the under-500 yard range. prairie doggin' is extraordinarily addictive, and if you don't put together a specialized rig before your first shoot, it won't be long after you get back before you have lilja on the phone and you're climbing on your gun smith's back!

you will need a small game license to shoot - probably cost ya $15 - 50, depending on state. unless you shoot tribal land. i don't know much about shooting on tribal land other than it is supposed to be outstanding shooting. you'll have to call the tribe and see what they'll require. tribal land can be thought of as sort of sovereign nations (and each tribe will have its own requirements). things get done differently there than elsewhere.

there is no set season on them, but as mentioned, its about like going after ducks or geese in january up here. sure, there's one or two around (literally), but that's it, and not worth the effort. best shooting times are going to be late spring or early summer... may - september is a realistic time. may can be cold and rainy, even snowy. same w/ september.

do not get caught out in a thunderstorm or blizzard. i built a 77 f-150, complete w/ a 500 hp 351w and 38" tires, and i've been stuck in both mud and snow. best to just not get caught in it. and blizzards are fatal quite often.

Check out the thread "Prairie dog hunts", beginning 10/18 in this varmint section of the Campfire.

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