go to Wyoming or Utah
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go to Wyoming or Utah
Getting excted! Barely more than a month away. I am loading all the 223 ammo for four shooters. Right now I have about 2000 rounds of that. I just received 500 more bullets and am waiting on brass. Will be using 22s and 223 ARs and a 223 loaner bolt gun. We will probably only shoot for a few hours a day as the boys won't be able to concentrate that long and it will save us ammo. I think we are going to Thunder Basin in Eastern Wyoming. Will likely stop in the Black Hills and see Mount Rushmore and also the Badlands either on the way there or on the way back. It's going to be a low key, fun, do whatever we feel like doing trip.
I've been on these sort of trips before.
Unless you have a well knowing local accompanying you on the trip, most of the time will be spent looking for good places to shoot rather than shooting. More successful trips follow the first one, which narrows the field and separates productive areas from unproductive. Same as with any other type of hunting or shooting. My counsel is to make sure you don't get first trip hopes up too high.
Good luck. Hope you have fun whatever happens.
Just over two weeks away and final preparations are being made. My son's friend came over with his dad's AR. I put an old tasco scope on it instead of the red dot sight he had and we got it sighted in. Got as much ammo loaded as I can afford and the camper is good to go except I need to repack the wheel bearings to be sure. Has anyone been out prairie doggin' that can comment on whether the pups are out yet and what kind of numbers you are seeing?
Shot both ND and and SD today. Pups are out. About 250 rounds of 17 HMR and 750 223 with about 85% hit. Started at 7am and finished at about 930 pm. Morning about 15 to 18 mph wind. After about 2 pm under 5 mph wind.
Cool! Where in SD were you? We haven't made any hard plans on where to go. If there are plenty dogs in Fort Pierre or Buffalo Gap public lands we could do SD. If we have to go to WY we can, just farther to driveOriginally Posted by M-Tecs
We were on very limited access private land in the central part of the states. Same owner on both sides of the border.
Weather and hunting pressure effects shooting greatly. When the pups are just coming out shooting is normally very good. For public land 100 to 300 round is normal. If my % drops much below 70% I reduce shot distance. Some like shooting long distances and are happy with low hit percentages. On really windy days we pack it in at the 50% hit mark.
They are out.
Last edited by dk17hmr; 06-10-2017 at 01:38 AM.
Doug
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Sticks and stones may break my bones but hollow points expand on impact.
Taxidermists are cheaper than surgeons....keep shooting
ΜOΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
Some people measure success in Minutes of Angle
Great pic dk17hmr! I'm getting excited, now. We still haven't decided whether we are going all the way to Wyoming, or just stop in South Dakota. I'm sure there are plenty of dogs in Thunder Basin, but we may be able to find enough in the Buffalo Gap grasslands to satisfy our needs. It's much less driving and closer to other touristy type things to do if we need a change of pace. I guess we will have to wait and see
Use your first trip as a scouting tourist vacation. After that you won't need to stop at the tourist things and you'll spent more time shooting.
Doug
.................................................. ........................................
Sticks and stones may break my bones but hollow points expand on impact.
Taxidermists are cheaper than surgeons....keep shooting
ΜOΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
Some people measure success in Minutes of Angle
Just as I said.....your first trip of this sort will see a lot more scouting than shooting unless you get lucky.
In 30 plus years of serious pd shooting I wish kept track of how many miles I put on scouting. All I know is it's a lot.
Of course I haven't been there before so I really have no idea what to expect, however, technological advancements have made scouting from my living room possible. Many state wildlife agencies provide maps locating known prairie dog towns. This in itself is wonderful, but who really knows if the dogs are still there until you lay eyes upon them.
Perhaps the most exciting tool is Google Maps/Earth. With just a web browser you can scan the aerial photography and coupled with maps provided by said agencies, actually see the dog towns and what sort of terrain and roads are available to access them. Google Earth even has a "Historical Imagery" tool that allows you to see all available satellite images they have available. Many areas have twenty years worth of images. This can give a better idea of which colonies are stable, growing, shrinking, or even gone. Obviously, these are not real time images and much can change in a short time, what with disease and eradication efforts. What may appear to be a sizable town may prove to be a bunch of empty holes in the ground. We will see for sure when we get there.
There is an app I found for my phone called Avenza Maps. It is free and many if not all of the National Parks/Grasslands have a free map for Avenza that shows actual boundaries of public/private lands as they are interspersed throughout these areas. The app works with the GPS of your mobile device and can pinpoint you on the map as well as allow you to place markers either of your location or anywhere you so choose. I have extensively studied the aerial photography by Google and located what I hope to be quite a few active, accessible dog towns and placed markers using the Avenza app. With a little luck, we can find some decent shooting even if we are really out in the sticks, as the Avenza app works even without cellular service because the map is downloaded to the mobile device and the GPS will work just about anywhere.
I, too, have spent many hours and drove many miles looking for game. I have walked into a foreign woods in pitch dark and planted my rear at the base of a tree hoping a nice buck will walk past. I do understand that you never know til you get there. But I have also learned that there are many tools available now that weren't available 30 or even 10 years ago. I am doing my homework as best I can to increase our chances of success. I hope to report back that my efforts were effective and we find plenty of prairie dogs. And if these tools help other people, that would be just fine as well. Yes, there are plenty of people that know where to find plenty of prairie dogs just like there are people that have their special fishing spots and would never divulge the location. If we find a super enormous dog town that is just loaded with the little buggers, I probably wouldn't tell either, but if I can find it, so can you!
Finding pd towns is not a problem nor is finding towns with lots of dogs. Finding towns that provide good shooting is a challenge.
What happens after the first shot is a good indicator.
Four days til we roll out! Changed just about every fluid on the truck; oil, coolant, tranny fluid, transfer case fluid, rear diff oil. New belts, air filter, throttle body cleaned, engine bay cleaned, interior cleaned. Have been loading guns, ammo, cleaning supplies, food, water, etc. in the camper. Can't wait til Friday!
Keep us posted and have fun.
Well, we are back!
We had a great time and I can't wait to go back, but there a few things that could have gone better.
We drove several hours Friday and all day Saturday. Just as we were getting close to Buffalo Gap National Grassland, my truck's rearend had had enough and burned itself up. We let it cool down and filled it back up with gear oil and limped to the grassland where we camped Saturday night. Since no one was open Sunday to look at the truck, we spend some time checking zeroes and target shooting, then set off down a two track where I had seen a dog town on Google Maps. It was our only option as we couldn't go very far or very fast in the truck.
We did find a dog town, but it was small and provided few shots. Still we had fun plinking at cans with 22s when the dogs were down. I got a kill shortly after we arrived, which happened to be the only confirmed kill of the day, but we all cheered as the dog did a nice backflip when hit.
Sunday evening we loaded up and traveled a few miles to the town of Philip, which had a Ford dealership who could look at my truck. The town had a golf course, lake, and campground 2 miles North of town. This would be our home until Wednesday when the truck was repaired. It was nice to have constant electricity, and long, hot showers, although the shower was a few hundred yards away in the golf clubhouse. I simply showered in the camper as it was less hassle than going to the clubhouse. Perhaps the best thing about this place was the swimming hole. There was a large lake that people would ski and wakeboard on but also a small, maybe 3/4 acre pond that was fed by a natural hot spring that poured 138 degree water into it. This gave the boys something to do while we were at camp and saved my ears from a bunch of whining about being bored. There were also a couple of frisbee golf holes that we played at using an aluminum pan lid since we didn't have a frisbee.
Monday, the shop looked at the truck and after searching around, found a rearend that could be delivered the next day. They had a beat-up Suburban they they loaned me (for free) that we could use until the truck was fixed. It wasn't anything special but had room enough for us and our gear, so off we went. Monday afternoon, as soon as I got back, we loaded up and went looking for prairie dogs. We traveled toward Wall then went South to the grasslands. Here we found several dog towns over the next few days that provided varying degrees of shooting quality. We wound up going back to the same one several times. It was quite a bit bigger than we initially thought, which allowed us to shoot at different parts of it on different days. There were always dogs visible, some closer than others. We had fun shooting at longer ranges and did get some hits and sometimes they would pop up close by in 22 range.
We definitely shot a lot more than we hit, but we expected that. Perhaps the most fun was the times we would walk out to see what we had killed. The pups would bark at us from holes close by and weren't too scared to show themselves. As we walked, we would scan nearby holes and often get a shot at close range. Using 22s, this was quite sporting, but also not good for confirming kills as they would usually fall back into the hole.
Wednesday late morning, I returned the Suburban, picked up the truck and we broke camp. We arrived at the aptly named "Scenic Overlook" of Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, just South of Wall. Breathtaking views of the Badlands and Grasslands were the norm here and we had beautiful rainbows that stretched across the whole sky after a small rain shower.
Thursday we left in the morning and drove to Mount Rushmore. After a few hours, we came back to our camp, loaded up the truck and went out to shoot prairie dogs again. It was cooler and breezy which was a welcome change from the hot, stale air the past few days. We shot better this day and all had multiple kills. My favorite moment was when my son shot a pup at close range with a 22 while we were walking. He went up to the hole to check and found it not quite dead yet. In his excitement, he was confused. He said "It's still alive! What do I do?" The three of us all yelled in unison "Shoot it again!" After he shot it point blank, we were all rolling with laughter at the scenario.
We took off Friday morning and camped just North of Kansas City, then made the final push home Saturday. It didn't initially go as I had envisioned, but when we arrived at the Scenic Overlook, it just seemed like it was all going to work out, and it did. I most certainly will go back and can't wait til I get the chance.
Thanks to all who have given advice and info on this thread. It certainly helped me, and I hope it can help others.
I can't seem to get any pics to upload but I will keep trying
Well if you make it to Cody WY you can shoot them on my place and I can show you a couple more towns.
Thanks for the invitation. I'm going to try and see if we can do it next year. Not sure how much farther west I want to go. It was a long trip to SD
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