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Scope recommendations for Prairie Dogs

If you hunt around, you can find the Burris & Pentax 6-24 and 8-32 that are really great for shooting P. dogs. Also, a Burris Black diamond in the same power range are excellent, remember, you can always turn the scope power down.

One of the finest p. dog scopes ever made was the Baush and Lomb then later Bushnell 12x32 and the same in 6x24s.

For shooting p. dogs, the 1/8 Minute click adjustments is what I prefer over the coarser 1/4 that often end up being more like 1/3" adjustments.

I like thin cross hairs for shooting p. dogs because as the distance grows, the cross hair does NOT cover up the dog. A fine wire allows for precision shots where you can take the top of their heads off at 300+ where they often will lay in the top of their hole watching you.

On my H-BAR, I ran the Leupold 6.5-20 with the target knobs.

If you have 12 twists or better, I would urge you to run with a 55g Blitz king which I found to be the most explosive bullet in this class with the 53g V max being second place. I shot deer/hogs with the 55g Hornady Soft point and consider it to be the toughest of the bullets in this class with a 55g Sierra BTHP being second.
 
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I don't remember exactly how far this was, but I think it was 470ish?
March FX 4.5-28×50WA on a 6CM pushing 105 Hyb @ 3188fps.
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Just got back from my annual PD safari and over the years have tried many of the high end scopes brands. Buy the best you can afford because eye strain is real on the prairie and you will quickly appreciate quality glass with mirage from the heat and barrel. 18 - 20x is where my scopes end up.
 
Many yrs ago when l was hunting deer l bought a fixed power Zeiss scope. Twas an 8X with a 56mm objective. l had a couple other rifles with Leupold scopes. l decided to compare the 3 scopes. My closest neighbor was around 100yds away. l noticed he had a digital clock l could see from my front porch. That night l set the 3-9 Vari X2 @ 8power. The other Leupold was a 3.5-10 Vari X3. Set it on 8X also. With the VariX2 on 8x the clock showed up as a red blob. With the Vari X3 on 8 l saw 4 little blobs. With the 8X Zeiss l could read the time on thar clock... lt's either good OR cheap. Never good and cheap
 
I don't PD hunt but have two 22-250 rifles that I ground hog hunt with. Both have 6.5-20 Leupold scopes with the Varmint Hunter reticle. I've killed groundhogs out to 470 yards with them. My zero is at 200 yards, I shoot at 300, 400, 450 and 475 to learn my holdovers on the reticle. My Air Arms TX200 air rifle wears a Leupold 4.5-14 AO with the Varmint Hunter reticle. They can be found at reasonable prices too.
 
The rodents are disease spreading, crop destroying, hazard producing, nasty life style, high fecundity creatures. Imagine a world with millions of rodents encroaching on human habitat, like having hordes of them invading parks, school grounds, play grounds, and places having innocent vulnerable young humans susceptible to a variety of diseases like plague, hantavirus, leptospirosis, lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCMV), Tularemia and Salmonella. The rodent invasion would happen with no controls & protection from well intending humans that think the rodents are cute.

See an AR clean out 6-8 off one mound, thinking of getting a .223 Wylde, 24 inch upper for my AR.
Your invasion sounds similar to what it is here in S. Utah. Local dogs are protected by law as an "endangered species" so no hunting. They were ripping up cemeteries and the runway of an airport. Only enemy s a car, because if the little idiots are crossing a road when a car approaches, they will stop and stand upright daring you to hit them. Why the roads are littered with their remains.

Can't make a recommendation on a scope, but a gunsight on my windshield would be useful.
 
A nice variable, max 20 or 24, good glass, good adjustments. I have some Vortex 6-24X50 Viper PST's, Sightron 4-20X50 STAC's, & assorted Leupold's 18X & 20X. A 20X or more is nice, you can see bullet holes in paper easily at 200 & get a good view of targets. Current budget restrictions limit scope purchases to $400 & less. Euro optics is a good place to buy scopes.
 
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