Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Prairie dog info

I have been invited to a hunt in SD in July. I have never been and would like some info. I have lots of rifles to choose from but, I am thinking of using two of my 700 Varmint specials one in 222 and another in 22-250. I have also considered taking a vintage Winchester 52b in 22 LR. My questions are these. Under the best conditions how many rounds per day will I need to load? Is a really good 22 useful? Are my rifle choices good ones? What ranges can I expect to shoot? I decided on these calibers, because I have the most brass for these. Any input would be welcomed.

Those should work fine. It is hard to say how much ammo you will need, as it toally depends on how many prairie dogs are in the area you'll be shooting. We go to Arizona and the dogs are fairly scattered, so I will go through 100-300 rounds in a weekend. I use a .17 HMR, a .223 and a .22-250.

The best suggestion I have is to ask those who invited you!

Expect to shoot 250-325 alot.

Take a good set of binoculars, and sun tan oil, Large umbrella to block the sun if you can or park in a way that you can be in the shade of your truck.

Take a cooler with plenty to drink with ice.

I try to set up between 2 or 3 small towns at 200+ then shoot at one, and they'll go down underground in 10-15 minutes. When that starts happening I turn my shooting table to the next group. If you find 3 groups like this you can almost shoot continously.

Take a cleaning kit to clean your rifles, I'd sight in for 200 yards.

Spot

I'd take all 3 you mentioned. Sometimes you can get some shooting under 100 yds and can use the 22LR for that. Shoot 20+ with one gun, shoot with the other while the first barrel is cooling down...
Ranges could be up to 400?? Or however far you can shoot. I agree with C.H. - ASK whoever invited you on this & how many shots/day especially.
I will be shooting in western KS in may or june with my bro & BIL. I plan to take my 223, 22-250, 22LR (and my 30-06 loaded with 110 Vmax for fun.) I have 650 rounds loaded in 22-250 for 2 guns (me and bro both have one) and I'll probably try to load 7-800 for my ar15. I know I won't go through all of that, but it doesnt' hurt to have too much. would SUCK to run out!!

Don�t bother taking the 22LR. One of the most frustrating prairie dog shoots I have had was with a 22LR. When you get close enough to actually hit one, it crawls away to die in its hole. Your �short� shots will be at 150 yards. You will enjoy shooting your .222 Remington the most. I used to take one gun, a .22-250 Rem, to shoot prairie dogs when I flew. At the end of the day I would actually have a sore shoulder. A 300-round day is a very fast-paced day. That is shooting one round every 1.6 minutes without a break. On my most recent prairie dog shoot I took four rifles, a .22 K-Hornet, a 20 VarTarg, a .204 Ruger, and a .223 Remington. It was a four day shoot and I shot all of the ammo I took for the .22 K-Hornet and the 20 VarTarg. The .204 Ruger was shot about 100 times and the .223 Remington about 50. We each averaged about 250 rounds a day. Whatever you take to shoot I am sure that you will enjoy the experience.

I agree with VL dont take the 22LR, On my last p-dog hunt we used the 17HMR's for hours before switching to the centerfires.
B

The 22lr isn't a prairie dog round. About all the 22lr. is any good for is close shots out the window. It'll kill a pd but there's nothing to it, all they do is go plop and fall over. And I don't often use a 22Mag on pd's except for the occasional targets 25 to maybe 75yds.....even then a .17AH explodes them a lot better. Take your centerfires. You're out there to have fun so use a centerfire and make something happen when you hit them.

I took rifles in 22lr, 17hmr, 22 hornet, 204, 223, 22-250 and 243. I shot the 223, 22 hornet, 22-250, 204 and 243. A mixed bag of rounds fired, with the 22-250 shot the most. 100 to 250 rounds total per day. I would rather shoot tha eat. Leaveing the 12th of may for an east of the rockies tour/pd shoot.
Allan

By July the prairie dogs will be muzzle blast smart. The 22 is at best 75 yard rifle but I have used the 22 LR in the spring when the pups first come out. I started shooting prairie dogs in 1949 when I was given a 22 rifle. I traded off a Sako 222 Rem which was a big mistake. I shot a lot of prairie dogs with it back in the 60s. I would use up about 200ea 222 Rem rounds each per day. The 22-250 Rem is a fine round but the barrel gets hot fast so I use it for a few long shots. Over the years I have tryed out various varmint rounds. The 222 Rem and 22-250 Rem is a good set to use. Now I use a 17HM2, 17 HMR, 17 Fireball, 17 Rem, 204 Ruger, 221 Fireball, 223 Rem, 22-250 Rem, 220 Swift,and 243 Win rifles. But I,m an old gun nut whos ben trying to controll the prairie dog population for 60 some years.

257robertsimp: Anymore I am happy when I have shot 200 - 300 rounds of centerfire ammo in a days Prairie Doggin - in fact I kind of limit myself to around that number anymore.
I no longer shoot at Praire Dogs that are closer than 200 yards distant - unless I am on a ranch where the Prairie Dogs are a definite incumberance on the rancher - then its banzai all out.
I have shot as many as 600 - 700 centerfire rounds at Prairie Dogs, in a day, in the past.
Of course to do that I would sleep out on the prairie adjacent to the towns and get at the Prairie Dogs with the rising of the sun and stay at it all day - no chasing waitresses in town at breakfast time and again at lunch time and dinner!
In other words a lot depends on when you wake up and whether or not your crew drives back to town for lunch and dinner and wastes even more daylight eating in a cafe for breakfasts.
I would take the Winchester 52 along just for some added class to your arsenal.
In July the Prairie Dogs may be getting "smarter" and longer ranges MAY be the rule of the day depending on previous Hunting pressure on your Hunting areas.
You can shoot them as far out as you want but the minimum distances in a seldom Hunted town are usually 40 to 50 yards or so.
Be prepared to having to shoot out to 400 yards - and that is still possible with your carefully sighted in with and familiarized with Remington 222 Varminter.
Best of luck to you - bring sun screen, bug repellant, a camera and lots of bottled water!
Personally there are TWO places I don't want to be in July - one is in Hell and the other is in South Dakota - their temperatures are quite similar.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

In July your rifle barrel can get almost too hot to hold onto from just sitting in the sun without firing a shot. Takes no time to heat up when firing and forever to cool down.

I would be cool to get a crew of out in Western KS all at the same time.

Shoot all day, and BBQ and have a few beers at night.

Spot

"I have shot as many as 600 - 700 centerfire rounds at Prairie Dogs, in a day, in the past." VarmintGuy [/quote]

Let's see - if 700 were shot in a 12 hour day with no breaks for anything whatever that would be one almost per minute for 12 hours straight. If it were a 15 hour day that still would be one every 1.2 minutes.

I have shot a lot of target rich dog towns but this seems to me that this would be a nearly physical impossible. I am doubtful of this statement, are you sure that your finger didn't slip on the number keyboard?

drover

I shoot a ton of pds and I can just about anytime I like. I'd call BS on the 600-700 in a day. Try it.

I have watched two fellas come out to the farm with a total of 8 AR rifles, four bolt rifles and 3000 rds. of ammo. In four days of continuous daytime shooting they managed to use most, but not all of their ammo. A realistic number is 300-400 tops and that is a whole lot of shootin. Personally I'm good after 200 or so.

Going there and doin that....two weeks from tomorrow.

On an exceptionally good trip I shot 2800rds centerfire in 6-1/2 days. The lowest day count was about 275, the highest more than 600. It can be done if you have a bunch of rifles and targets everywhere. This was mid-80's, there may not be shooting like that anymore.