goodgrouper
Well-Known Member
Ok, I have had some lucky shots this year but this one takes the cake. Uncle B and I were out prairie doggin this weekend in a very populated dog town on a rancher's private property, and the first place we wanted to shoot just happened to be right next to the rancher's house! So, we thought it would be a good thing to start out with the 17 hmr so as to not be quite so noisy because the rancher's wife was still asleep.
There were dogs everywhere catching the first rays of sun as we setup the shooting bench and the 17 hmr. We started to shoot quite a few around 225 yards and under, until I spotted a dog way out there that just had the look of a "good target". As a joke, I started shooting at this dog with the 17 hmr even though my Leica 1200 said he was 413 yards away! I guess I just wanted to see how much drop the 17 has at that range as I had never attempted a shot so far with it. Without a drop chart to go off of and since I don't know the bc of the 17 grain vmax, I held down the post about three quarters of the way and fired.
The first shot landed about 1 foot low and a little to the right. I couldn't believe I even came close! So I loaded another round, adjusted my aim, and fired. It hit about 3 inches left and about 3 inches low! I then proceeded to shoot a few more rounds (just how many I can't remember but there was quite a pile of empties in the sand) and on the last shot, Brian and I saw the 17 grain bullet smack the p-dog right upside the head!! He flopped over and wiggled for about 2 minutes before he stopped! I couldn't believe it, a 400+ yard kill with a 17 hmr!?!? It was funny because we both actually could plainly see the bullet had impacted in the head and we both called the shot at exactly the same time!
We then proceeded to pull out the big guns and shoot many, many other p-dogs while all the while going back and looking at the .17 kill with the spotting scope just to make sure he wasn't going to get up and dust himself off and run down his hole! He never did but after an hour or two, a golden eagle that had been watching all the festivities from the top of a "moon dirt" hill decided to swoop down and have another p-dog for lunch! I didn't want my trophy turned into bird droppings so I ran out to the dog as fast as I could go to scare the eagle off but I was too late. The bird had flown off and there was no sign of my dog where he had died.
I was so bummed that he had gotten away with my trophy, but then I looked down the closest hole to where he had been and sure enough, there was the remains of my dog!
In about 30 seconds the eagle had split it open from one end to the other and had eaten most of it! Then when I scared him by running towards him, the eagle dropped the remains of the dog into a hole as he took off.
I reached in and pulled him out (with a paper towell so as to not get what disease 7mmrhb had) and I could plainly see where the 17 hit him. The bullet actually went right into his eye and didn't even have enough energy to break the eye socket! It then glanced off downwards through his jaw and exited by his chin! It was amazing. It definetly would not have killed him at that range unless it hit the head.
That 17 hmr is an amazing little round. Definetly in the top 5 most fun guns I have ever shot. And who says it's not a long range cartridge!? I just pulled off a shot with it on a p-dog farther than most guys on other forums will shoot their 7 mags at targets the size of Buicks!
Here is the victim. Notice how the white tail p-dogs we have in Utah don't really make mounds. They just make holes.
There were dogs everywhere catching the first rays of sun as we setup the shooting bench and the 17 hmr. We started to shoot quite a few around 225 yards and under, until I spotted a dog way out there that just had the look of a "good target". As a joke, I started shooting at this dog with the 17 hmr even though my Leica 1200 said he was 413 yards away! I guess I just wanted to see how much drop the 17 has at that range as I had never attempted a shot so far with it. Without a drop chart to go off of and since I don't know the bc of the 17 grain vmax, I held down the post about three quarters of the way and fired.
The first shot landed about 1 foot low and a little to the right. I couldn't believe I even came close! So I loaded another round, adjusted my aim, and fired. It hit about 3 inches left and about 3 inches low! I then proceeded to shoot a few more rounds (just how many I can't remember but there was quite a pile of empties in the sand) and on the last shot, Brian and I saw the 17 grain bullet smack the p-dog right upside the head!! He flopped over and wiggled for about 2 minutes before he stopped! I couldn't believe it, a 400+ yard kill with a 17 hmr!?!? It was funny because we both actually could plainly see the bullet had impacted in the head and we both called the shot at exactly the same time!
We then proceeded to pull out the big guns and shoot many, many other p-dogs while all the while going back and looking at the .17 kill with the spotting scope just to make sure he wasn't going to get up and dust himself off and run down his hole! He never did but after an hour or two, a golden eagle that had been watching all the festivities from the top of a "moon dirt" hill decided to swoop down and have another p-dog for lunch! I didn't want my trophy turned into bird droppings so I ran out to the dog as fast as I could go to scare the eagle off but I was too late. The bird had flown off and there was no sign of my dog where he had died.
I was so bummed that he had gotten away with my trophy, but then I looked down the closest hole to where he had been and sure enough, there was the remains of my dog!
In about 30 seconds the eagle had split it open from one end to the other and had eaten most of it! Then when I scared him by running towards him, the eagle dropped the remains of the dog into a hole as he took off.
I reached in and pulled him out (with a paper towell so as to not get what disease 7mmrhb had) and I could plainly see where the 17 hit him. The bullet actually went right into his eye and didn't even have enough energy to break the eye socket! It then glanced off downwards through his jaw and exited by his chin! It was amazing. It definetly would not have killed him at that range unless it hit the head.
That 17 hmr is an amazing little round. Definetly in the top 5 most fun guns I have ever shot. And who says it's not a long range cartridge!? I just pulled off a shot with it on a p-dog farther than most guys on other forums will shoot their 7 mags at targets the size of Buicks!
Here is the victim. Notice how the white tail p-dogs we have in Utah don't really make mounds. They just make holes.
