Prairie dog assasin

[Big Green]

And on top of all that I will admit without shame that it’s a hell of a lot of fun. Especially with a few good trash talkin friends.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I haven’t gotten the chance but a few buddies still in the Corps go west sometimes. If my work schedule allowed I’d love to join them. Nothing better than Marines talking trash and pulling triggers.

 

[Mowingmaniac 24/7]

OK - Thanks for the education regarding the need to shoot PD's.

 

[deemus]

How many rounds did you burn through?

Took 80 rounds, and brought home about 30.

The wind up there really blows hard, so at first I had to get used to the wind issue at 200+ yds. Once I got that handled it was on.

 

[tomballpa]

Got to do something this weekend I've wanted to do for a long time. Blasted a bunch of prairie dogs in Wyoming.

P-Dog hunting is on my bucket list. Maybe one day.

 

[EZ-E]

Seems like we got enough interest to maybe organize a hunt with a group of us.
I checked a few guide places on line looks like most charge around $250 per person, for one day & $450 for a 2 day hunt. You have to pay for hotel.

 

[Younggun]

That’s a big bill to shoot at burrowing rats.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SloppyShooter]

That’s a big bill to shoot at burrowing rats.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

IDK, When I see what some folks spend to punch holes in paper.....

 

[EZ-E]

That’s a big bill to shoot at burrowing rats.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My neighbor has been doing prairie dog hunts out of state for a few years.
We were talking about it a few months back & he was saying his Night Force Scope on his custom rifle was about $2k, but did say he head shot a prairie dog @ 970ish yards with it.

I guess depends on how much "play $$" you have.
I could never spend that much on an optic mo matter if i hit the lottery or not.

 

[avvidclif]

Considering the records for benchrest shooting at 1k yds I would say there was a luck factor involved. My precision rifle is feeling cheated, it only has a $1,000 scope.

Try a Schmidt & Bender for $6-8k if you are spendy.

 

[CyberWolf]

Historically here's one important and practical reason why: Prairie dog holes, especially at night, caused major "grief" to the practice of tending to and driving cattle from one place to another by horseback, especially to the cowboy's most important tool, the horse he rode on.

A broken leg on your only means of transportation when tending, and/or driving cattle could be the matter of life or death, not only to the horse, but to the rider who went down with the horse when its leg went into a prairie dog hole.

That's why old time rancher's in cattle country would open their gates to anyone who wanted to hunt prairie dogs.

Yep, times have changed ... but it's always something that was done in cattle country. A reason that is still valid in some parts of Texas.

YMMV ...

Having grown up depending on the livestock for clothes on our backs, food on the table, and a rare shopping trip to town, I'll tell you why these, and other vermin have become targets.

P-dogs aren't malicious. They're a nuisance and very costly to a rancher just the same. Uncontrolled, they'll strip hundreds of acres of vegetation. And, they carry diseases.

When a predator (coyote, bobcat....) goes on a hunt, they know where the dog town is. The coyotes will do their best to crowd and herd the chosen victim to that area. One wrong step and the pack eats well, the rancher loses revenue.

Many a good cow horse has been put down due to a broken leg from a cave in from a prairie dog tunnel collapse.

The tunnels become snake dens and rattlesnakes take over too.
Loose a few cows, a good horse, your dog to the snake bites.

I'll shoot prairie dogs. No need for eating them. No need for even picking the things up. Buzzards need something to do.

Yeah, they'll drag the dead back in the hole. Cannibals they are.

^these two posts are likely among the most clean/concise descriptions I've seen on this topic, having only left out the potential for human injury & property damage in more populated areas as well.

I recall a few years back there was a downright hilarious situation up here related to some folks from the left coast moving in to houses built immediately adjacent to huge fields/dog-towns, and then going into total river-of-tears meltdown after someone starting blowing them up with a Rodenator!

 

[Younggun]

Considering the records for benchrest shooting at 1k yds I would say there was a luck factor involved. My precision rifle is feeling cheated, it only has a $1,000 scope.

Try a Schmidt & Bender for $6-8k if you are spendy.

Yep. I used to think 2K was a high end scope until I started getting more serious about long range. 2K isn’t that much once you start really trying to get out there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[deemus]

Seems like we got enough interest to maybe organize a hunt with a group of us.
I checked a few guide places on line looks like most charge around $250 per person, for one day & $450 for a 2 day hunt. You have to pay for hotel.

We don't need a guide. We just go to Wyoming and get on BLM land. Free. And there is a ton of it. Getting there / staying there is the only cost.

No license required. The little turds are all over the place.

 

[SloppyShooter]

Took 80 rounds, and brought home about 30.

The wind up there really blows hard, so at first I had to get used to the wind issue at 200+ yds. Once I got that handled it was on.

What do you do with them when you get them home????

 

[EZ-E]

We don't need a guide. We just go to Wyoming and get on BLM land. Free. And there is a ton of it. Getting there / staying there is the only cost.

No license required. The little turds are all over the place.

Sounds like a trip that could be easily done on a budget if you can camp on BLM land.
16.5hrs from my place to Cheyenne,Wy.
Leave out Thusday at 3am & get there by 7-8pm.
I'd camp out for a few days, eat sandwiches & hot dogs & shoot prairie dogs to mid day Sunday. Then head back home, stop at a hotel in Denver on the way back for a shower, decent bed & meal. Be at work on Tuesday... it's only 3 days off work.

 

[deemus]

I shot around Douglas.

 

[deemus]

What do you do with them when you get them home????

Feed them to my snakes...

 

[EZ-E]

I shot around Douglas.

18hrs...still doable in a days drive.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

I shot around Douglas.

Dang, glad you shot around him...

 

[SloppyShooter]

Dang, glad you shot around him...

I didn't even hear the bullets whizzing by.