Eastern Montana is a long way from Durham, CA, but a good friend and I made the 18+ hour trek anyway. Heck, diesel is cheap right?

We made Bozeman the first night after 14 hrs or so on the road. Dropped by and met up with the 24hcf's own 6mmWasp on Monday mid morning. Great guy and I wish we'd have had a longer visit, but the Siren song of the P-dogs was a-calling!

The ranch where we had access is simply gigantic. My buddy had been there before but it had been several years. We shot prairie dogs the first afternoon, but it was clear we'd have to do some exploring for better opportunities, presumably further out from the easier access areas that had been shot a bunch.

Tuesday morning was spent trying to explore a few areas further out but was a bust for the most part as the dogs were extremely wary and went down as soon as we would get set up. We were a little frustrated but kept wandering around and ended up getting into them pretty thick on BLM land of all places.

As the week progressed, it became clear that the public land hadn't been shot as much and held more dogs.

We continued to explore new places in the mornings and shoot BLM in the afternoon. Shots were 200-350 at first, but we started setting up further out and taking longer shots in order to not spook the hole.

We both carried 3 rifles and approx 400 rounds for each.

I took the following rifles.


McWalnut .223AI

Bighorn Origin
Bartlein 2b 1-8" twist @ 21"
McM Hunter stock - Stealth M5 DBM
10x SWFA MQ
TT diamond
75 ELD's at 3,090 fps


M70 Coyote .223AI

Brux #6 1-7" @ 23"
10x SWFA MQ
40 Vmax Fire Forming Rem brass @ 3,700 fps


CHONK! .223AI

Bighorn Origin
Mullerworks MTU 1-8" @ 21"
KRG Bravo
Bushnell 4.5-18x LRHS2
TT Diamond
40 Vmax Fire Forming Rem brass @ 3,700 fps


20 Practical

21" Shilen
Bighorn TL3
McM A5 - Stealth M5 DBM
Vortex Razor Gen2 4.5-27x56 w EBR-2c reticle
TT Diamond
32 Vmax @ 4,100 fps



At the end of the week, I shot approximately 1,100 rounds over 3.5 days. I ended up shooting the CHONK! build the most at 600+ rounds. The LRHS2 is a great scope and with the great weather, I was able to make use of the higher power available. This is not something that happens often as the mirage always seems to screw with you, but with the awesome weather we had, it wasn't an issue at all to have it set on 16 power. Not crazy about the "donut of death" for wind holds at longer distances as it gets in the way, but dialing eliminated that issue. The KRG Bravo is great ergonomically and the tapered buttstock allows elevation changes rather easily. The M5 DBM also came in handy as the shooting was fast. 10 round MDT mags kept the bbl warm. Cleaned the Mullerworks out after 500 rounds just because. A few patches with Wipe Out Patch out and an over night soak and she was bare.

The McWalnut build with 75's was the long range poodle popper when the wind came up on Weds. Those 75 ELD's sure make a great sound when impacting the bigger dogs and goo flinging is rather impressive as well when compared to the much smaller gophers we shoot up in the North Eastern part of CA. We had a really great time with my Sig Kilo 3000's paired to a Kestrel with Applied Ballistics. One guy would spot the P-dog, walk the shooter into it, range and give dope. The shooter would dial and guess wind. Made for some great laughs as dogs were falling over at 500+.

The 20 Practical was rather underwhelming for me. The McM A5 is awesome from prone, but dang it if I don't hate it from a bench. It's heavy and cumbersome and the butt hook doesn't lend itself to elevation adjustments. The dang thing wouldn't fit in the Bog Pod deathgrip Tripod either which is rather lame. The Vortex Razor has a bunch going for it as far as long range capability but the reticle is REALLY busy, and trying to find a P-dog amongst the cactus when looking through all the clutter made it way too easy to switch to another rifle.

My old standby M70 Coyote with its new Brux did its usual thing with 40's buzzing 3,700 fps. The 1 pound trigger and BDL style floor plate sure leave something to be desired compared to the TT Diamond and M5 DBM of CHONK!, but the smooth action and overall familiarity of the old girl kinda makes up for any clunkiness.

Sounds like a blast!

Nice photos and write-up.

After shooting gophers the PD's seem almost gigantic don't they.

I generally have a couple of thousand gophers down by the time we go to PD camp the first part of June. When I first start shooting the PD's my thoughts are "these things are so big that I should never miss one" - but we all know how that works out.

Glad you had a great time - I feel sorry for folks who don't have gophers and PD's to shoot.

drover

There were a bunch of pups out so when you saw a big one, it looked like Godzilla!

Very cool! LOVE Hi-volume shoots!

I've had some high volume shoots that were WAY higher volume, but none as satisfying in regards to body mass and carnage!

It was a pleasure meeting you and Sol. Glad you had a good shoot, and thanks for the ammons!

gets me excited to go back out there too shoot some more sun dogs ! nice pictures,Pete53

Likewise Mike!

So that was you, just east of us making all that noise?

Thinking so.

Sounds like fun😊

Sounds great, we’re heading out mid June. I think I have enough ammo ready. This could be the last year with the usual gang, one’s off to the military in August.

Seems like fuel prices are still trending up some, even eating from the Walmart deli won’t be enough to offset the $$. Oh well, when the weather & dogs cooperate, it’s more fun than deer or grouse hunting.

I like to be mobile, move around the prairie as things dictate, portable shooting setup.

I'll be in NE Wyoming in July.

A good varmint shoot is my fav hunting! I really like hunting birds, bucks and bulls, but whacking varmints is the ultimate!

Hope you have a safe and memorable shoot with the usual gang sourdough!

Good stuff, Higgy!

How did the new elbow shooting pad work out for you? I forgot mine at home when I left the house at 3:45AM to drive East for assassinating Belding ground squirrels.





We had a couple days of just decent shooting on a property that had alfalfa that was a tad bit tall. Spent a lot of time on the bins looking for heads and shoulders in the food plot, then going to the 17 HMR for smacking them. The wind get’s sporty at 12-15 MPH when you’re slinging a 17 grain Vmax round.

The best shots I made weren’t the farthest, which was 221 yards. It was the shots made between 150-170 yards in the wind. Fun stuff!

The 3rd day we hit Squirrel Mecca on a 1000 acre property that hadn’t been shot much and the ground cover was thin for about 350 yards around the edges of the taller alfalfa crop in the middle.

We sat in one spot for 5 hours and just blazed ground squirrels with HMR’s out to 185 yards.

The Mecca Property had mostly mature sage rats. The largest ones were fat and of similar size to a medium Pdog. When I would smack a big one, it was impossible to get that 3’ to 4’ foot Air Jordan effect with just an HMR. It was more like a ‘Thud’ with a gut bomb, but only a 1’ft lift off. Not anything spectacular.

This trip was more of an exploration and scouting trip to meet some new ranch owners and find good shooting properties. I came well prepared to negotiate shooting terms with a few bottles of booze and a cooler full of elk summer sausage and pepperoni as goodwill offerings. I went home without the booze and my cooler empty. Mission accomplished.

On my return hunt in a few weeks. I’ll only bring one rimfire, a 17 WSM, the rest will be centerfire rifles. That’ll make them fat ground squirrels fly.

The tools -

Zeiss Victory RF 10x42

Cooper LVT 17 HMR sighted in with a 1.5” high @ 100 on a Vortex Diamondback 4-16x42. ‘Boo the scope’



Ruger Precision 17 HMR zero’d with the same 1.5” high on a Leupold VX3 4.5-14x40. ‘More scope Booing’




The shooting grounds




Target carnage -








🦫

I'm not booing any of your scopes.

Nice Beave!

Those times when you don't have to move because the shooting is so good are THE best!

It's amazing you killed any though, what with your choice of scopes and aiming oil! LOL

Always wanted to do a p dog shoot.
Nice write up

OSU, the wife and I just got back Sat. (yesterday) from NE Wyoming, Newcastle area. We had a fairly good week, weather kept us in the motel for 1.5 days. Not sure of what's normal but we did see a ton of speed goats.

I suspect it'll be hotter than we want it to be in mid July. Have to watch where you walk and I'll likely wear snake chaps. We do a lot of bench shooting but also walking around with shooting sticks and rimfires. We'll be north of Gillette.