Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints 2013 Gopher/Sage Rat/Prarie Dog/Rock Chuck/Porcupine/Coon etc Killing Thread

Why will nobody visit poor 'flave?


Travis

Took my brother-in-law out today, first time out this year. I've been working a lot, and I'm not a big prairie-dogger anyway.. It was super windy but we hit a few. All I could see was this one's head. All gone

single and double by the boss and his hummer.





I doubled up a pair of pups with the 204



hummer from the new hummer....

Probably because when we drive that far to get away from it all, we try to avoid the "Big Cities" like Havre.

Love the rig! All you need now is an umbrella for some shade, and a rear mounted cooler. Can't imagine it any better....

Way cool Don! Nash got 2 cowbirds with one shot out in the fresh cut hay field a couple days ago.. No pics though.

Got this 'hog yesterday. A fuzz over 200 yards,with my .243.

one less onion-muncher in the garden.....

I work per diem in a neighboring town, today I brought my table and rifle and sat the field for awhile. It clouded up and got windy but I managed to hit a couple. I thought I hit 4 but could only find two. I'm happy with the performance of the 40gr vmax out of my 223 so far though. Both were ~ 180 yards.

This was the first one I hit, first time he just crumpled. I figured he was dead but a few minutes later thought I could see him moving his head. The second shot made him airborne and is what I believe did the damage. Pretty much inside out:


Just a head and an ass left of this one. I didn't find the other 80% of him:



I'm very new to the prairie dog thing, but this sh*t is fun.

yer hooked now.......

Am feeling a bit like a cowboy poet this a.m. So I penned a title to the poim of the day. I'm stuck coming up with more than the title, before coffee......
I title it, 'Plinked a Pair of Pepper Pickers'




Its 60-70 yards to the garden from the porch. One was inside, one was outside the fence. I gave no quarter to either. 'Insider' was saved for last as he had no escape, save for the gate. He only showed his head. Big mistake.... Bugged ol' Bugs one good eye right out.

Montana 2013
One of my goals for this trip was to get the right conditions for a 1000 yd shot. The first day out (Wed. June 12) we set up on a long range town that was flat for several hundred yards then uphill to several mounds with short grass around them. My first hit was at 378yds then hit 3 with 2 shots at 501. We kept shooting farther and farther later in the afternoon but the hits were few with the wind 15-20 and switching directions. The good thing was we were shooting into the wind, so the windage holds were not large just different each shot. My shooting partner was shooting a .243 then his new 6.5-.284 and I was shooting my Ruger No.3 .219DW PDK with the 8tw Shilen and 75gr A-Max at 3200. We were alternating shots on a co-operateing dog when Mike said "you hit him in the but". I was up 23.0" on my 6.5-20x40 Leupold from a 200yd zero which the chart showed to be 950yds. After a few more shots at a farther mound where I was up 27" on the scope, Mike offered to walk out and find the hit since I was haveing a hard time walking with my bad knees. I directed him to the mound with a walkie-talky radio and he says " blood but no body". The distance was 915 yds. No blood or body at the farther mound which was over 1000 yds. I got a hit at 915 and several chances at over 1000 and a whole afternoon of long range shooting, so I was a happy camper.
The next day I shot a town where my longest shot was a little over 300. I hit about 50 dogs with 57 shots including a triple. Tried some 32gr Z-Max and 32gr Varmageddon Nosler's as well as my usual 39gr BK's in my No.1 .204 Wasp. It was like shootin fish in a barrel, and a whole different kind of fun with all the blow-ups and pieces flying.
Thur. night more heavy rain, so Fri. was spent on main gravel roads scouting, talking to ranchers. Saw 3 bull Elk about 4-500 yds from road. Watched them through the bino's for a while. Huge racks covered in velvet. Enjoyable day even though we didn't get to shoot.
The town I shot Sat. was pretty well populated but not very large. Shot my No.3 .204 Wasp most of the day. Shot off my bench then moved around shooting off my aluminum ironing board then shot sitting off a monopod. Fairly high percentage on 122 shots out to about 450yds. Beautiful day, sunny, mid 70's, not much wind.
Sun. was spent on a couple of towns where the shooting was slow. Tried some 5-600 yd shots in a 20-25mph cross wind without much success, so ended my last day at the small town that I had shot on Thu.
Another goal this year was to take more pictures, didn't happen. I guess I don't have a photographer's mental apptitude, I just don't think to take pictures. I did get a pic of this circle of rocks that we found on the prairie. There was two other circles where the rocks were more scattered than this one. We speculated that teepees were here at sometime, but don't have any idea how long ago. We were almost 20 miles off gravel on two-track.


Took this pic in Zortman while walking from restaurant back to cabin. There were two young mule deer feeding beside road the next evening.


Mike and I traveled together on the way out to Montana. We stopped at the Scheels in Iowa City and Cabelos in Owatano,Mn, Mitchel,S.D.,Rapid City,S.D., and Billings,Mt. He had a gift certificate and some points on his card to spend and was looking for a used 30-06 size 700 for a donor rifle. He found a few that would work, but didn't buy. Found some reloading supplies at all locations and CF ammo, but no rimfire.
Headed home Mon., Mike stayed another week. Stopped in Billings at the first self-serve car wash and removed several layers of dried gumbo from truck. Drove through a couple of downpours around Gillette,Wy. that helped clean out wheelwells and under truck. By Tues. evening was crossing Mississippi river at Quad cities, decided to drive on home instead of another night in motel. Drove 1110 miles from Rapid City to Kokomo,In in a little over 17 hr.
Maybe next year I'll get that 1000 yd dog with body and pictures.
Dave

this youngster chewed on his last onion.....

219DW, sounds like we almost crossed paths, as i was in the same area but south of you guys, also shooting p-dogs for 3 days, we had wonderful weather and great shooting the first 2 days, but 3rd day the wind just about blew us away, we did make some good shots but only one at just over 1100 yrds and i felt it was a lucky shot it was just that dogs day to die.all of our other long shots missed by a mile or were close enough to make p-dogs move or duck into their holes.you cant beat the beauty of that country and the cool mornings, like you i had a long drive home, from there to s.tex. but it was a great trip. and i got to meet some great people along the way. rio7

huntsman22, no fair sniping from the front deck. rio7

all's fair in love, and war.....

they just don't learn....

In keeping with Don's garden pest theme of late I finally caught this little bastid that's been cropping the tops of my matter plants the last few nights.


Dispatched him with my trusty Crossman.

Do barmints of the boyd woyld fall in the 'etc' category? Some acrobats of the air, were turned into denizens of the dirt this mornin' alla the leetle browning. I hate starlings and collareds....