Bolt guns for prairie dogs

[JeffreyDeGraff]

I’ve always been a bolt guy. The heavier the better. The way I shoot prairie dogs, weight is not an issue. We pull up in a field along side a prairie dog town and set up shooting benches, and use the same rests we use at the range. My rifles are mostly trued Remington 700’s. Some have custom barrels some not. They are all glass bedded and have aftermarket triggers, some have lead in the stocks to weigh them down. Average rifle weight is about 12 lbs. we use 17’s and 223’s for out to 300yds. 204’s, 22-250’s, and 220 Swift’s out to about 600 yards. Then we break out the heavy 6mm’s and 6.5’s to shoot the far away stuff. I usually bring about 8 rifles on a trip.


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[CodySPowell]

It's probably worth noting that we (the Prairie Dog crew Wes speaks of) spend rather little time at the bench. Our rifles are all entirely suitable for that but we move around a lot in the interest of efficiency as measured by hits/shot. The Prairie air is completely calm only when it's hotter'n blazes or colder than aitch. (Conditions as likely to drive US to ground as prairie dogs.) Average wind is 10-15 mph and like mountainous zones, it can be blowing right-to-left where you are and left-to-right where IT is. So to keep the hit count high we walk up the PDs, trying to keep shots down to about 200yds. We're human, we're shooters, so we reach out occasionally just to stay in the game but we recognize shots beyond 300yds carry greater risk of a miss. Once, in a still, target rich environment of very calm PDs, I managed 68 straight hits and with 3 two-fers and a triple, my PD count was higher, yet. Not the norm, however. And usually all PDs within 300 yds will go to ground by the time you've shot at 30 of them from a bench.

I need a phone app that keeps track of my shots and my hits for me.

That sounds like so much fun! My Grandparents had a farm and the ground squirrels became my duty to dispatch. I wish I had a number to throw out there, but I shot squirrels for years as a boy. Those were the best years as a kid. My dog, my rifle and countless acres to roam. [emoji16]

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[Muddydawg75]

I need a phone app that keeps track of my shots and my hits for me.

My shotgun has that.... GunPod2 bluetooths to my Beretta

[sagela]

My shotgun has that.... GunPod2 bluetooths to my Beretta

Wow, didn't know about that. Thanks!

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[sagela]

That sounds like so much fun! My Grandparents had a farm and the ground squirrels became my duty to dispatch. I wish I had a number to throw out there, but I shot squirrels for years as a boy. Those were the best years as a kid. My dog, my rifle and countless acres to roam. [emoji16]

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I remember going through bricks of
.22s on ground squirrels in California. Now you have to have a prescription or something to buy .22s there. Montana's worth the drive.

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[CodySPowell]

I remember going through bricks of
.22s on ground squirrels in California. Now you have to have a prescription or something to buy .22s there. Montana's worth the drive.

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That's what I hear. Maybe I'll find someone who knows the ropes to go with...

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[sagela]

Cody; "Just do it!" :>) MT dogs are still a problem for ranchers all over the NE parts of MT and coffee shops, post offices, gas stations in really small towns
contain people who know people - and a bit of polite conversation is about all that's needed to get referrals to places to inquire...before you know it you'll
have contacts too. My first trip 2 of us stopped along a highway and chatted up a guy fixing fence. An hour later we were established and shooting at a
place several miles down the road.

PDs are above ground from April through early November that I KNOW of. According to the Interweb they breed in March, nurse through April and the babies
start foraging on their own in May. So far, May is the earliest I've ever seen babies above ground so I tend to agree.
By the end of June all the PDs are about the same size, days are long and relatively mild and the roads tend to be dry...all my rancher contacts have recommended
"late June" as the time to show up.
Weather in April-May is often brutal; hail so large and hard it left bruises on my legs and battered the finish off my rifle and I almost couldn't see well enough to return
to the truck that had its lights on! October can be cold and snowy one day, warm the next. It is what it is. October, the rattlesnakes den up too, so they're moving around
to get 'home' and you can walk into a BUNCH of them in one area.


Last month's camp - nice day before, decent weather for 2 weeks after.

[CodySPowell]

Cody; "Just do it!" :>) MT dogs are still a problem for ranchers all over the NE parts of MT and coffee shops, post offices, gas stations in really small towns
contain people who know people - and a bit of polite conversation is about all that's needed to get referrals to places to inquire...before you know it you'll
have contacts too. My first trip 2 of us stopped along a highway and chatted up a guy fixing fence. An hour later we were established and shooting at a
place several miles down the road.

PDs are above ground from April through early November that I KNOW of. According to the Interweb they breed in March, nurse through April and the babies
start foraging on their own in May. So far, May is the earliest I've ever seen babies above ground so I tend to agree.
By the end of June all the PDs are about the same size, days are long and relatively mild and the roads tend to be dry...all my rancher contacts have recommended
"late June" as the time to show up.
Weather in April-May is often brutal; hail so large and hard it left bruises on my legs and battered the finish off my rifle and I almost couldn't see well enough to return
to the truck that had its lights on! October can be cold and snowy one day, warm the next. It is what it is. October, the rattlesnakes den up too, so they're moving around
to get 'home' and you can walk into a BUNCH of them in one area.


Last month's camp - nice day before, decent weather for 2 weeks after.

Awesome! Thanks for the info! Guess I'll keep loading up Zmax and plan a road trip next year. [emoji16]

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[JeffreyDeGraff]

That’s how my friend and I did so many years ago, up in the Texas panhandle. Took a week off drive up there and just started talking to people. We still shoot some of those same places 20 years later.


JTD

[Kbeaton]

I live in north central North Dakota and have been wanting to find a “dog town” to shoot on. We don’t have many in my area but there are a ton to the west. I guess I need to head west and start chatting up some farmers.


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