Back from a prairie dog hunt!

FrayAdjacent911 · 08-03-2005, 02:54 PM

I just got back from my prairie dog hunt in New Mexico. Had a BLAST!

This is more for the gun nuts and hunters here. My rifle is a new Marlin 917VS in 17HMR. The pistol is a Taurus Tracker 22lr. Pics in the link below do contain some gore and gibbs, so browse at your own risk

Quote:

Well, today was the last day of the prairie dog hunt, and we had a BLAST!! We didn't see as many of the boogers as the guide usually says they see, but all in all, in two days, I bet I killed about 100 of them. Got about a dozen rabbits, and about 20-30 burrowing owls. Basically, if it moved and wasn't a cow or eagle, we killed it. Mike probably got about 10-30% more than I got, as his rifle was a little more versatile (see below) I'll get some pics sized and such when I get home.

The new rifle did real well! To anything within 100 yards, it's like a death ray. It's so accurate, it's stupid. I don't think I missed a shot within 100 yards. Now, at longer ranges, it opens up. Drop and windage start taking effect quickly, though I did get kills probably out to 220 yards.

Mike was using a 16" AR in .223 with Black Hills 50gr AMax loads. I am pretty sure he scored multiple kills out to 300-400 yards. .223 is a great round for p-dogs. Charlie, I bet your .204 would kick ass! The .22s the women were using did pretty well, even out to just beyond 100 yards. Mike's 12 year old neice was getting deadly with that 10/22!

We did a little work off of the bench (the guide had a trailer with an elevated platform about 6' off the ground with two benches that rotated 360 degrees, and a collapsable roof for shade. It was an amazing peice of work!) but the best fun was shooting from the truck. Moving around got us to different areas where the dogs dug in. Sometimes we'd get as close as 50 yards, with the occasional suicidal dog popping up even closer. The guide had a great idea by using those swimming pool noodles cut on one side to slide over the edge of his windows. The provided a good rest, and it was easy to adjust the height! Overall, our guide was extremely friendly, very accomodating and very flexible. I don't think we could have had a better host.

I went through about 800 rounds total. Oh, I also picked up a Taurus Tracker in 22lr (4" revolver). Only got about 70 rounds through it, and only one rabbit and one owl killed. It's a pretty nice little revolver. I think Mike shot near 1000 rounds. I still have about 1500 rounds of .17 left, so I'll just hang on to it until next year.

PICS

arcsine · 08-03-2005, 03:23 PM

Please tell me this is a really sick joke and idiots don't go driving around in a truck killing everything in sight just because they can.

skipdup · 08-03-2005, 03:27 PM

Who's the idiot? The guy "killing everything in site"? Or, the guy calling the guy with a gun an idiot?

- Skip

Jamie79SC · 08-03-2005, 03:28 PM

I'm a hunter and I've never understoon 'varmint' hunting either...

FrayAdjacent911 · 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by arcsine
Please tell me this is a really sick joke and idiots don't go driving around in a truck killing everything in sight just because they can.

Actually we do. And I think you're really not realizing how out in the middle of focking nowhere we were. There was literally nothing around us for miles. One road about a mile or two away. A few oil rigs probably 4 to 5 miles away. It was nothing like some idiots in south central doing a driveby. Sheesh.

Prairie dogs are to the prairie what rats are to sewers in New York City. They are pests, vermin, varmints, etc. They tear up the land, eat grass and such that cattle need, and cause lots of headaches.

Farmers poison them, firebomb them, whatever, basically killing them en masse, and they still could never dent the population much.

And yeah, if it wasn't a cow or an eagle, we shot it. We only hunted maybe 2 or 3 square miles of a ranch that is probably over 100,000 acres. The couple or three hundred critters we killed would barely scratch the surface.

Jamie, there are different types of hunting... Large trophy... food... small game... and things like 'varmint hunting'. Think of it more as 'population control' or 'pest control'.

kumma · 08-03-2005, 03:47 PM

Well guess now theres only 163 billion prairie dogs left eh? Sounds like a good time, better than plinkin tin cans and paper targets.

Tim Hancock · 08-03-2005, 04:59 PM

Shooting varmints such as woodchucks, rats and prairie dogs in rural farm areas is no different than setting mouse traps, using a fly swatter and placing poison ant baits in urban settings. These little potlickers and their holes and tunnels damage crops and occasionally can cause livestock to break a leg.

I grew up in a rural community and nearly everyone in the community appreciated it when the bean field eating woodchucks were taken out.

I can't help but get a big smirk on my face when I hear or read about someone (that probably swats insects) start ripping on someone who engages in varmint control.

So continue the flame job as I am getting some good snickers out of it! (sorry, but this is just too funny) I better get out my fire extinguisher after this post!

vash · vash's Garage

......or the animal rights activist that preaches she/he will never hurt any living creature/children of God, that sprays her 50 cats and dogs with some flea killing spray.

where in new mexico? never shot a woodchuck, but jackrabbits quake with fear... weatherby .257. call it deer hunting tuneup.

FrayAdjacent911 · 08-03-2005, 05:15 PM

Vash, just outside of Lovington. We stayed in Hobbs, as it is a little larger town.

We were literally in the middle of nowhere out there. The field we hunted in was probably 12 miles outside of lovington. If someone got lost and picked the wrong direction to walk in... you could go a hundred miles without finding so much as a road!

emcon5 · emcon5's Garage

I made a couple P-dog trips to Montana. The number of P-dogs on the ranch we hunted was staggering. The foreman said that they had lost the use of about fifteeen thousand acres to the big honkin' rats.

We shot for three solid days, and didn't make a dent in the population. A year or two later the plague rolled through and all but wiped them out.

Tom

Erakad · Erakad's Garage

While in North Dakota, we would hunt "Dak Rats", a smaller version of the p-dog (I think also called a Robinson's Ground Squirrel). Anyway, another horror story to farmers and ranchers...eat crops, destroy grazing, etc. I know of a security forces troop that broke his femur (yes femur) when he stepped in a Dak Rat hole while jogging around a missle site. The base (at that time) even allowed us to hunt them on the golf course with air guns. Off base, we hunted with 22's (scoped), and did our best to rid the state of the pest...ahhh, but couldn't even dent the population

alf · 06:35 PM

What is interseting to me is that you got a guide. Are there varmint hunting outfitters? Do you use the meat and hide? Rabbit Stew and Elmer Fudd keeps coming to mind

Added: What does a 5.56 do to a varmit?

alf

einreb · 08-03-2005, 06:38 PM

If you want a challenge, try 'Prairie Dog Tipping". Those S.O.B's are really tough to catch sleeping.

-bernie

Jeff Higgins · 08-03-2005, 07:12 PM

Ah, you bring back fond memories, Matt. It's been too long since my last prairie dog safari. My best buddy that I used to go with passed away unnexpectedly almost five years ago now.

We used to head to a ranch in Montana that an aquaintance of his owned. I'll never forget his advice on what to bring on our first trip, where we would be shooting for four days: Minimum of 300 rounds of ammo. Per rifle. Per day. Bring AT LEAST three rifles if you don't want to be sitting around alot while others are shooting. So, 900 rounds per day was his minimum. I thought he was joking. I wound up darn glad I listened, though; I brought just over 4,000 rounds to feed through three rifles. I ran out early on the fourth day. Holy crap I had never shot so much in my life. The next year, the same areas held even more of them, if you can believe that. He shot over them most of the year and simply could not keep up.

My rifles were a custom Ruger Number 1 with a 28" Lilja barrel, 12" twist, in .220 Swift, with a Leopold 6.5-20; an out-of-the-box Remington 700 Varmint with the 26" 14" twist barrel in .223 with a Leopold 4.5-14, and believe it or not, a C. Sharps '74 in .45-2.6. The Swift launches a 60 grain V-Max at just under 3900 fps with a case full of Reloder 22. The .223 uses the 50 grain V-Max and H4895 to get 3300 fps. The .45-2.6 launches a 545 grain Jones Creedmoor at just over 1300 fps with 90 grains of Swiss 1.5 Fg black powder.

Alas, we do take a lot of crap from the uninformed when they hear what we are doing. It sounds wasteful and obcene in the extreme until you actually see what is going on out there. With the natural balance of things just a bit off these days, these pests are out of control. Their natural predators have been reduced in numbers and no longer have an impact on the population. Other contol options are strictly regulated and in some areas, like the one we hunted, pretty inneffectual. We are kidding ourselves if we think we are having any kind of impact by shooting them, but it does give us something to do. Anyway, congratulations on your trip; I'm glad you had a good time. I might have to plan another some day.

FrayAdjacent911 · 08-03-2005, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by alf
What is interseting to me is that you got a guide. Are there varmint hunting outfitters? Do you use the meat and hide? Rabbit Stew and Elmer Fudd keeps coming to mind

Added: What does a 5.56 do to a varmit?

alf

Well, the guide had the kick butt trailer, a nice truck, and knew where a couple 'dog towns were.

Since the plague had affected either the area we were in, or pretty close to it, we didn't even touch the dead dogs. The rabbits might have been good eating, but we weren't there for meat. Just for sport.

And the 5.56 was pretty devastating. The closer the target, the more explosive. A few threw guts up probably 20 feet in the air. The one dog that the shaved head guy is holding is one that Mike and I hit simultaneously. It was pretty shredded...

FrayAdjacent911 · 07:34 PM

Jeff,

Thanks for the recoup, you should get out and get some. I had a great time, and will definitely do it again. We kicked around going up north somewhere... Nebraska or something.

I really dig my 17HMR. It's just stupid accurate probably out to 120 yards or so, and is still good enough to make kills past 200. I would really have liked to have a .223. A semi works great for followup shots. I'll probably look into a 20" or 24" flattop upper for my AR15 and top it with a nice variable power scope. I was going to borrow a buddy's T/C Contender in .223 (20" barrel, I think), but I think the reloading action would have you searching for your target all over again! The AR has a decent advantage being semi with little recoil.

The same buddy I was going to borrow the rifle from got a 204 Ruger barrel for his son's T/C. It looks pretty dang explosive. I have a video he took comparing a 22lr, 223 and 204 vs 12oz coke can. I'd actually like to see if someone can/does make an AR upper in 204 Ruger. I think the case dimensions are similar enough that it might work...

We were discussing hog hunting, as that's another good non-game type hunting we can do here in Texas. Mike is a police officer, and has instructed out at Front Sight, and a couple other tactical schools, so he really likes the AR15 platform. I really respect it's versatility, too. So we discussed larger calibers that are made for AR15s like the 458 SOCOM and the 50 Beowulf. The 6.8 SPC came up, and might be adequate for hogs, but the first two should be absolutely devastating on any game in the whole dang state! I'm going to eventually get an upper in one of the three for use hunting hogs and other game.

Sheesh, and people say you can't hunt with an AR15!

campbellcj · 08-03-2005, 08:42 PM

I'm generally not big on killin' animals (at least if I'm not planning to eat them) but I am truly on the verge of breaking out the (high-power) pellet gun and setting up a hide in my back yard, which has rabbits, gophers, squirrels and rats a' plenty. The grass is devastated in several areas right now due to the effin' critters.

B D · 08-03-2005, 08:47 PM

Cue the banjo and fiddle...

RickM · RickM's Garage

Didn't I see a show about a guy who drove around with a Vacuum tanker truck and sucked these things out of their tunnels? Too funny.

Where's the hoover? I need to get that freakin woodchuck in my side yard......

FrayAdjacent911 · 08-03-2005, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by RickM
Didn't I see a show about a guy who drove around with a Vacuum tanker truck and sucked these things out of their tunnels? Too funny.

Where's the hoover? I need to get that freakin woodchuck in my side yard......

Yep... there was some lady in Colorado that did that. Until they found she was selling the suckers as pets out of the country... at least, that's what I heard.

That's only one of the methods of controlling them I've heard. Flooding them out, burning them out, smoking them out, simply poisoning them...

I like the shooting thing. It's just hella fun. The longer range shots really can be a challenge.