What terrific advice and insights from all these experienced PD hunters!
I'll offer you a different, inexperienced perspective. I wanted to do a PD hunt for decades, never had the chance. My adult son and I did a 3-day hunt just before covid erupted. I guarantee that you and your son, his friends and dads will remember this for a lifetime!
We shot maybe 500-600 rounds in 3 days, with 222mag and 6mm Rem. These are just old-fashioned varmint rifles, a M700 and a Mauser varmint/sporter, with good 6-24X scopes. We had a guide, and he was able to dope the wind and give us ranges. The hits were everywhere from 50yd to over 350 yds, and we were far more successful/accurate than I ever expected to be. My son bagged 81 in our last half-day! The wind was a real factor, shooting 40gr 22's and 58gr 6mm's. Next time I would load 55's and 75's, maybe even 87's. knowing the range and wind is far more important than flat trajectories. Spotting for one another, we both got the hang of it, but without the guide, I would take a reliable range finder and Kestral.
The spectacular hits included numerous doubles and a few triples! Terrific action, with maybe 2 moves each day to fresh towns. I had also taken an M1A and a 357 lever action, but we did not shoot 50 rounds from those. I really liked the 6mm for this work, next time I'm confident we could hit a few at 400 and beyond. I would hesitate to shoot anything with more recoil; by the end of the day I was preferring the 222mag (much like a 223 for those unfamiliar...).
Where we were, the dogs were not spooked by the unsuppressed noise nor by our presence, outside of 200-250 yds, and even when they hid down the holes, they came back up by the time the barrels were cooling.
Enjoy! Whatever you choose to shoot, it will be more fun than a barrel of monkeys!
