finally did it prairie doggin(i know) revisited

[sbrville]

Just a big thanks for the help on here on planning my prairie dog trip. Trip got cut short due to rain setting in up there but had a BLAST!! special thanks to JerimiahJohnson on here who set me up with where to go in Wyoming. We hit the Medicine Bow area and found the people out there to be great, made some good friends. We only got in one good day of shooting but we will be back. No pics or videos, to busy enjoying it. If you are thinking about it or have always wanted to do it like me, it will be everything you hoped for, go do it. We drove through Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska and saw dogs everywhere, so anywhere will work i believe. to be honest we saw the most dogs in the Denver suburbs,lol. anyway thanks again, SB

 

[DRob]

All the reports I've heard so far are that the populations which were reduced by drought, and in some cases plague, have rebounded significantly. We'll be heading west a week from today and have another trip scheduled in August. If the shooting is good next week I may go again in July.

Glad you had a good time. It's addictive!

 

[yote hunter]

Just a big thanks for the help on here on planning my prairie dog trip. Trip got cut short due to rain setting in up there but had a BLAST!! special thanks to JerimiahJohnson on here who set me up with where to go in Wyoming. We hit the Medicine Bow area and found the people out there to be great, made some good friends. We only got in one good day of shooting but we will be back. No pics or videos, to busy enjoying it. If you are thinking about it or have always wanted to do it like me, it will be everything you hoped for, go do it. We drove through Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska and saw dogs everywhere, so anywhere will work i believe. to be honest we saw the most dogs in the Denver suburbs,lol. anyway thanks again, SB

Need more info ! how many shooter and how many dogs killed and how long were the shots and what rifle was you all using ? Please inform us ... Very interested... Thx

 

[Lee11b]

along with yote hunter

 

[Bfish]

No kidding I am with yote hunter! We need some more details on the trip and some PICTURES!

 

[SmileDocHill]

I met with sbrville yesterday to sell him something...I assume he simply hasn't see the question posed but don't want to speak on his behalf. I'll just say it sounds like he was glad he brought more than one rifle option. If I remember correctly he was limited on his "prairie dogging" by the fact that his primary rifle's barrels were getting too hot so he had to switch to another rifle! After a very enjoyable 5 minute conversation I have resolved that going west to prairie dog hunt WILL BE my next vacation time spent!

I did an INGO search for prairie dog to even find this thread. My goal was to find more info on the subject and start the process of making a trip.

 

[sbrville]

Yeah sorry been busy. Me and one other friend went. We wanted to go to Wyoming, no real reason. Took ingoer JeremiahJohnson's spot and went in the Shirley basin area. But from the looks of things anywhere in eastern or central wy would have worked. Nice thing about Wyoming is no license needed and a ton of public land. If you want to do the public land deal you can get a map at most gas stations but they are outdated, the public lands haven't moved but the dirt roads have. We found them almost useless. Had a free trial on my phone for Blm maps and was a nice app but.........no service out there so it didn't work. Met a guy who let us borrow a sd card of his that went in our garmin(nuvo I think? Kind you use for directions in car), that was the way to go. I think the chips are $100. Gave us Blm ground and private owners names. Anyway, had a blast. Weather only let us get in one good day of shooting and really only set up on a couple towns. I'd say we killed around 100 a piece. And it's true what they say, you can shoot till your gun gets to hot. We used ar's for shots 200 yards plus. We set up on a town with dogs 300 to 500 yards and shot ar's a ton there. 17hmr was just perfect for anything closer. We took other guns but those were all we used. I will be going back.

 

[MRockwell]

I did an INGO search for prairie dog to even find this thread. My goal was to find more info on the subject and start the process of making a trip.

SDH, I've been going to SoDak since '99. I'm by no means an expert, but seeing how you're close, if you ever want to get together for coffee/lunch/etc. I would be glad to give you some ideas, my experiences.

 

[yote hunter]

Thx for the update sounds like a good time... Wish I could do that some day, would be a blast way better then just plinking at paper or steel targets here...

 

[DRob]

Just returned from our trip Saturday. The drought is over, the grass is up, the dogs have recovered from the plague of several years ago and are abundant and uneducated. Well, they were. The population is somewhat reduced and I'm hoping the lessons have been forgotten by the time we go back next month. I have brass to process.

 

[sbrville]

Nice. Where did you go?

 

[SmileDocHill]

SDH, I've been going to SoDak since '99. I'm by no means an expert, but seeing how you're close, if you ever want to get together for coffee/lunch/etc. I would be glad to give you some ideas, my experiences.

I'll take you up on that.

I liked the idea of being able to do this as almost a camping trip. Almost every non family vacation I've ever done is a hiking, canoeing, or other outdoor style trip. Even my favorite shooting event (appleseed) I do by camping between the two days. This just sounds like the perfect storm: Low budget, road trip meets camping trip, meets unknown distance reactive target shooting event! This WILL be my next vacation.

Is there a season you have to go in? A time of year to avoid?

 

[CountryBoy19]

Funny this came up, I was just in SD a couple weeks ago and we discussed the possibility of dog hunting with our friends out there... I've got a cheap place to stay and a connection to numerous ranches with dog problems... just have to figure out when to go...

 

[DRob]

Nice. Where did you go?

Assuming you were asking me, and with apologies for the slow response, we were in NE Colorado shooting on private land. Our good fortune is that both the ranchers do not allow shooters they don't know. We would not have been granted access if they were not members of my brother's church. I'm going back in 3 weeks and taking a grandson along. We also have booked a SD shoot in mid August.

 

[MRockwell]

I'll take you up on that.

I liked the idea of being able to do this as almost a camping trip. Almost every non family vacation I've ever done is a hiking, canoeing, or other outdoor style trip. Even my favorite shooting event (appleseed) I do by camping between the two days. This just sounds like the perfect storm: Low budget, road trip meets camping trip, meets unknown distance reactive target shooting event! This WILL be my next vacation.

Is there a season you have to go in? A time of year to avoid?

Hey SDH, Did you get my PM?

 

[MRockwell]

Assuming you were asking me, and with apologies for the slow response, we were in NE Colorado shooting on private land. Our good fortune is that both the ranchers do not allow shooters they don't know. We would not have been granted access if they were not members of my brother's church. I'm going back in 3 weeks and taking a grandson along. We also have booked a SD shoot in mid August.

DRob, I got your PM, returned you message. Let me know if you got it.

 

[sbrville]

Well I think we determined by this thread the pdog population is bountiful anywhere out west. Shot a groundhog the other day and was wondering when his other 50 friends where going to pop up lol. I'm pretty sure this is going to be an annual thing for, just leave whenever I get a break in field work once a year. To the veterans, is the shooting good all summer? I wouldn't mind seeing about an antelope tag next time and doing one trip later in the year for both before harvest. Thanks. SB

 

[sloughfoot]

I am going to Laramie WY next week on a bus charter. After I drop off the church group for their 5 day hiking adventure, I am on my own for 5 days. I am planning on taking a scoped 10-22, a 22 pistol, and lots of ammo. I figure that will give me plenty of shooting opportunities? I don't know how many guns or how much ammo I can hide on the bus.

Or is a scoped AR15 in 223 a better all around option? Along with the 22 pistol?

I am kind of thinking that maybe walking down roads outside of town with the 22 pistol and a backpack will show lots of targets?

 

[CountryBoy19]

I am going to Laramie WY next week on a bus charter. After I drop off the church group for their 5 day hiking adventure, I am on my own for 5 days. I am planning on taking a scoped 10-22, a 22 pistol, and lots of ammo. I figure that will give me plenty of shooting opportunities? I don't know how many guns or how much ammo I can hide on the bus.

Or is a scoped AR15 in 223 a better all around option? Along with the 22 pistol?

I am kind of thinking that maybe walking down roads outside of town with the 22 pistol and a backpack will show lots of targets?

If you plan to prairie dog I'd at least take 1 gun with a bit more range. I've never been prairie dogging (yet) but if you want lots of targets in-range you need a longer range...

IMHO an AR broken down into upper & lower, stowed in a tennis racket case or duffel bag would be much easier to conceal than a .22 rifle (unless that also breaks down).

 

[Punkinhead]

I only went prairie dog shooting once, but my thoughts are you'll want something with more range than a 22LR. We got a few shots on dogs under 100 yds but the closer ones got smart pretty quickly and we took most shots from 250-450 yards. An AR will be fine if you have an accurate one - run of the mill AR's aren't capable of hitting a target that small at those distances but if you've got once with a quality barrel it'll do the job. If you use an AR you'll want a brass catcher.