204 or 223 for Prairie Dogs

[alnpar]

l saw an ad posted by ''10 Gauge Outfitters'' offering prairie dog/dove combo hunts for August & September.
Sounds tempting but ''l ONLY'' shoot prairie dogs. A couple of my IHMSA silhouette buddies do elk/prairie dog hunts or mule deer/prairie dog hunts. Both hunts are strictly HANDGUNS

Just can't bring myself to lay out $670 per day for and outfitter. They should be paying the shooters to rid them off the property! Maybe I'm just old school! Not spending that kind of money for a rodent I can't/Won't eat!

 

[1mechanic]

Just can't bring myself to lay out $670 per day fore and outfitter. They sho8uld be paying the shooters to rid them off the property! Maybe I'm just old school! Not spending that kind of money for a rodent I can't/Won't eat!

Yes that's the way it should be or let the shooters shoot for free. But too many have paid for something that shouldn't be paid for.
You have to pay for your weapon, ammo, your time and to be able to rid the owner of a pest. Welcome to Sherwood Forest.

 

[Xjetmech]

Had to jump in with my 2 bits worth: I started varmint hunting back in the '70s, in northern CA, and northern NV. for ground squirrels, coyotes, and crows. Went with some friends to Montana, on PD hunts, up near Malta, and Havre. At that time the BLM office in Malta, kept large map books of the PD towns in the area. The local ranchers would welcome you like "long lost Rich kin", when you told them you wanted to shoot a few "dogs". I was shooting a .222, on a Small BSA Martini action, with a Hart stainless barrel, and a 6mm Rem, on a small ring '96 Mauser, with a Douglas barrel. {still have them both} The .222 with 52 or 53 gr Sierra HPBTs, was good out to about 250-300 yds. until the afternoon Montana winds started blowing, the 6mm, with 87 gr Hornady BTs was good to about 350+yds. None of us had a chronograph in those days. I still love that .222, if you can't find brass for it, you can make it out of .223s. The 6mm, can be be mace from '06, or 7mm Mauser brass. A little work, but the PDs don't know you're saving money!

 

[Turkeytider]

A question for you PD hunters. As far as I know, PD`s live in wide open spaces with few, if any, objects ( trees, buildings, big rocks, etc., etc.) around. Also as far as I know, range finders need something to bounce off of in order to give you a range reading. If all that`s true, how do you determine range so you can dope your scope? LOL! As you can tell from my question, I`ve never been anywhere near a PD town!

 

[Stugots]

A question for you PD hunters. As far as I know, PD`s live in wide open spaces with few, if any, objects ( trees, buildings, big rocks, etc., etc.) around. Also as far as I know, range finders need something to bounce off of in order to give you a range reading. If all that`s true, how do you determine range so you can dope your scope? LOL! As you can tell from my question, I`ve never been anywhere near a PD town!

I took my new Revic Acura BLR10b Ballistic Rangefinding Binoculars out Prairie Dog hunting with me last (late) spring and they worked Great. I have them mounted on a QR attached to a heave/solid tripod with a ball head and was able to lock in on them with no problem. Using a hand held range finder (which did not have near the quality of the rangefinder electronics that the Revic have) it was a bit of a crap shoot! Buy once Cry once!

 

[Turkeytider]

I took my new Revic Acura BLR10b Ballistic Rangefinding Binoculars out Prairie Dog hunting with me last (late) spring and they worked Great. I have them mounted on a QR attached to a heave/solid tripod with a ball head and was able to lock in on them with no problem. Using a hand held range finder (which did not have near the quality of the rangefinder electronics that the Revic have) it was a bit of a crap shoot! Buy once Cry once!

 

[bubbadad]

Hi. I am looking at getting a prairie dog gun and am looking at a 204 or a 223 for caliber. I am leaning towards the 204 but am curious how the 204 does in the wind and it's effective range. Thanks

Where is home for you? I hunted pd for about 7 years in north dakota . Traveling from southern indiana. I used 17 hmr ,204,22-250. My 204 was good to 600 yards. Now 70 years old and lost a leg so no more trips. But still have 700 plus loaded rounds of 32 and 34 grain loads wanting to be shot again! What i am saying is if close enough to me , i

 

[bubbadad]

I would sell them cheap.

 

[Turkeytider]

I took my new Revic Acura BLR10b Ballistic Rangefinding Binoculars out Prairie Dog hunting with me last (late) spring and they worked Great. I have them mounted on a QR attached to a heave/solid tripod with a ball head and was able to lock in on them with no problem. Using a hand held range finder (which did not have near the quality of the rangefinder electronics that the Revic have) it was a bit of a crap shoot! Buy once Cry once!

Whew!! $2600 or thereabouts! LOL, more power to you brother, but I don`t hate ANY rodent that bad or feel THAT great of a need to make carrion for the buzzards! Do appreciate the reply. Guess you have to step up considerably from my hand held Nikon!

 

[Cemetery21]

how do you determine range so you can dope your scope?

The prairie dog mounds will reflect a signal out to a certain distance. Many ways to do it, but I just range some objects when setting up in a new field. Then I rarely pick it back up. I know relative distances so I hold accordingly. Also, I never dial a scope. I eventually learned to build/shoot rifles where I can see the impact. Most times, the wind is pretty consistent, so if you can see a miss, you can adjust your hold. Knowing distance helps, but you have to hold or dial for the wind anyway. Bigger recoil, you need a spotter.

 

[Turkeytider]

The prairie dog mounds will reflect a signal out to a certain distance. Many ways to do it, but I just range some objects when setting up in a new field. Then I rarely pick it back up. I know relative distances so I hold accordingly. Also, I never dial a scope. I eventually learned to build/shoot rifles where I can see the impact. Most times, the wind is pretty consistent, so if you can see a miss, you can adjust your hold. Knowing distance helps, but you have to hold or dial for the wind anyway. Bigger recoil, you need a spotter.

Wish we could see misses at our club range, but it`s difficult. particularly at 400 and 500 yards. The berms are not bare earth and generally stay soft. No " puffs " . Pretty much rely on a ballistics calculator to dial in dope.

 

[Stugots]

Whew!! $2600 or thereabouts! LOL, more power to you brother, but I don`t hate ANY rodent that bad or feel THAT great of a need to make carrion for the buzzards! Do appreciate the reply. Guess you have to step up considerably from my hand held Nikon!

Ttider, I ended up paying $2,250.00 delivered to my door. The Revic has HD glass which is very very good! As I said though, the randefinder/software apps is 2nd to none (with the exception of military grade rangefinders) and works every time!

 

[RegionRat]

A question for you PD hunters. As far as I know, PD`s live in wide open spaces with few, if any, objects ( trees, buildings, big rocks, etc., etc.) around. Also as far as I know, range finders need something to bounce off of in order to give you a range reading. If all that`s true, how do you determine range so you can dope your scope? LOL! As you can tell from my question, I`ve never been anywhere near a PD town!

You ask an excellent question.
This topic, and wind, are two of the several challenges of PD hunting.

You find yourself needing to steady the rangefinder and also using indirect readings on nearby objects to bracket the range when the distance gets too far to use the PD for a return.

Things like grass at a grazing angle to the target can frustrate you if you try a straight shot.

If the ground nearby fades away, you find yourself unable to range that target directly. This is when the other objects or nearby terrain become important.

With many calibers, taking a 500 yard shot without a good range is throwing away the shot. If the terrain hides the impact, it is a waste of the shot.

Rookies tend to spend lots of time to learn how to go from the binos, to the target in the scope. It helps when the binos are the rangefinder to help skip an extra step. I like the Sig and Vortex units for starters since rookies tend to do better with them when combined with a wide variable scope that I can dial down for them till they acquire the target, then I zoom them up.

Bracketing the range on nearby terrain with a more blunt return is a necessary skill on many hunts. You learn to estimate the target by using other nearby terrain that offers a better reflection with less uncertainty.

Learning to run the rangefinder and the different modes is important. Some models will run a scan mode where you can oscillate the rangefinder on objects to verify the return. These modes can help but they also suck down the battery.

PD hunting used to be done without rangefinders before they became common, but if folks were being honest they would admit their stats on shots past 350 yards were poor. Estimating range on targets was and is an important skill, especially when the rangefinder can't get a good return on the PD.

A beginner can roll with an inexpensive rangefinder, but they won't stay that way for long once they see what a better unit can do, and the bino units help with their speed onto the target too.

When you are shopping, pay attention to a parameter called beam divergence. It represents the angular spread of the beam. The smaller that angle is, the better. If the spread is too wide, you can't get a return in those bad situations.

 

[Cemetery21]

No " puffs "

Yes, I've been in a few situations like that - a little grass with no puffs makes it tough. I'm usually holding more wind than elevation so knowing the distance isn't enough data.