Prairie Dogging in Hulett WY

[pmer]

Going on a trip to have some fun going after prairie dogs. I never been to north east Wyoming before so it should be fun all the way around. The only cast boolits I have with are some 200 grain SWC for a 1911. Otherwise I have one single shot and a repeater for reaching out there.

Scheez on Sunday I had trouble with a momma raccoon in the barn. I have a "lean to" shed attached to the barn. It has a small attic with a small flat door that is more like a cover. And there was good sized critter with 7 cubs up there. Afterwards I was able to see how it got in the attic and at the top of its roof line, between two roofs, was a 16 by 4 inch gap. I have it repaired now.

The cat food is always gone and a litter of kittens disappeared. And the cats weren't really in the barn any more either. I got a clue Sunday when I heard their sounds and chattering they do. So you might imagine I had some adrenaline going with a 870 in one hand and a hoe in the other pulling that door off the wall for the attic.

When the door hit the ground I thought I was going to have a big can of whoop **** opened on me but only two little ones were in view. So I went to a second story of the barn that had a close view of that door and I saw her move into view. She was a lot bigger than our 25 pound Boston terrier mix. I had a four yard "window to window" shot with a improved cylinder bore and 7.5 shot low brass ammo. Followed with 00 buck, the bird shot rolled her over. Then just had to rid the attic of the little ones. So I hope the hunting trip goes easier than last Sunday.

[longranger]

Don't fall in love with Wyoming nothing but wind,cranky cowboys and prairie dogs. Enjoy your stay in our beautiful no nonsense state.

[pmer]

Thanks

We have not seen many dog towns going through South Dakota. Are there many in your parts of Wyoming?

[Djones]

Good luck Pmer. I saw my first dog town last year bird hunting in SD. I couldn't believe how many prairie dogs there were!

I am sure you will have fun taking in the beautiful scenery.

[pmer]

We found plenty of dogs .

I had a green horn mistake. Had my ear plugs in and was two steps away from a rattle snake! It was coiled up but cast boolit helped things out. = be more carefull.

[bobob]

The Wyoming winds don't like flat landers. Besides, those cowboys have one leg shorter than the other so's they can traverse the steep mountainsides. What do they do when they want to go back the way they come? Can't do it. They just keep going in circles, round and round, till they find a dog town.

[reloader28]

Its pretty over there. We usually go turkey hunting on the mountain south of Hulett in spring.
If you get a chance, take a drive up to the fire lookout tower on top. You can see a LOOOONNNGG ways. I'm pretty sure you can see the Bighorn mountains from there. Theres a road just out of Hulett (towards Devils Tower) that goes up there. Its only about 20 miles or so and its a nice drive.

[pmer]

The wind isn't too bad so far. We tried some coyote calling this morning but no luck. Mange has thinned them out. The scenery is very nice out here. I'm using a .20-.223 and a .17 mach 4, they are both shooting real good.

[sw282]

Watch out for those snakes..l shot PDS there in 2005 near Laramie Wyo..Southeast Wyo..l stayed in the ''Virginian Hotel'' of 0wen Wister fame while there...Flew in to Denver and drove up giving me a chance to see a great country.. l think l saw more antelopes than PDS.. Twas my first experience of seeing wild animals running in herds...lf you get a chance to try shooting a Jack Rabbit. Good Luck!! They really are a reaL challenge running...

[pmer]

Attachment 141510

Heading back home. We had some wind yesterday. I was adding 2-4 minutes of windage. Depending on distance. Here is a pic of a lucky shot. 45 paces. Unique and a 200 grain SWC.

[dk17hmr]

2- 4 minutes is a calm day. Last weekend I went out and had 12 minutes dialed in on my 22-250 shooting 80Gr bullets. Dog towns around here aren't what they use to be, I quit shooting them at close range.

[pmer]

Thanks for all the comments. I barely touched the windage knob Tues. Wed. and Thursday but I was able to shoot into the wind for some of that. It was about a hour north, west of Hulett. We spent most of the time on a chunk of private land leased by the outfitter and the dogs were dumb to hunting pressure. The owner was going to poison them but didn't for some reason. The last part Friday we were doing some side wind longer range shooting but alot of my shooting was 250-400 yards. The .20 with a 40 grain boat tail did pretty good at those distances. Mostly shooting prone with a bipod, did some from a ATV but couldn't shoot as far.