Prairie Dog Outing in NoDak--Long 2-Part Story Gory Pics

[Silverfox]

Some of you may remember my problems with flyers when I was using Danzac coated 27.8 gr. Hammett bullets out of my Pac-Nor barreled .17 Remington back on June 4. I got the barrel cleaned up and thought I spotted a burr on the crown between the 8 and 9 o'clock position. On June 12, I traveled to Dickinson, ND and had my gunsmith cut a new crown on the barrel. Early on the morning of June 16, 2008, I headed down to the rifle range about 11 miles south of Williston. PERFECT WEATHER!!! Just a tiny hint of a breeze, sunshine—MOSQUITOES!!!! I was interested in seeing how the Hammetts shot and getting my scope adjusted properly. Well, the Hammetts bullets DID NOT give me the tiny groups I was getting with them earlier. So, I took out the 25 gr. Hornady HP reloads in brass that had the necks turned, but had not been fire formed and adjusted the scope so those bullets were hitting 1" high at 100 yards. I shot several more Hammetts after I got the scope adjusted for the 25 gr. HP, just to see where they were hitting. The first two shots were hitting about 1.15" high at 100 yards and .35" right. However, a third shot hit .808" high and .235" left. All three shots were good holds and good trigger squeeze???? I would shoot some of them if I ran out of the 25 gr. HP loads. I took 18 shots with the .17 Remington that day and did not clean the barrel before going out on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, June 17, 2008, I left Williston around 10:30 a.m. and got to the dog town area around 11:45. I fiddled around and got my Pac-Nor barreled .17 Remington out and dug out the 25 gr. Hornady HP ammo instead of the Danzac coated 27.8 gr. Hammett ammo for today. I got my elbow pads, electronic ear muffs, cold water to drink, etc., etc. and headed out for some carnage on the local prairie dogs. My first shot of the day bagged me a double!!! This could be a great day!



I sneaked into a low spot and located just behind the trees you see in the background of the photo to the left. I can skirt the dog town without being seen in that little dry winding low spot. I got into position and nailed 9 more prairie dogs—all singles—before I missed on shot number 11. Business slowed way down after that and in the next half hour I only took 5 more shots.
 
Here’s a photo of the last PD I shot just before I got back to the pickup. This was shot #17 on this part of the hunt. This guy was only about 85 yards away when I shot. I hit him just behind the left front shoulder and the bullet passed through his lungs—hence the bright red blood in the top of the mound in the photo.



I grabbed a piece of dead sage brush and dragged him out of the burrow for some photos of the entrance and exit wounds. Entrance wound photo!!!



Here’s a photo of the exit wound. Those little 25 gr. Hornady hollow points moving out at 4,055 fps really do a number on these prairie dogs!!!



I had managed to get one double and 15 singles and missed on one shot out of the 17 shots I took. I guess 17 dead prairie dogs for 17 shots isn’t too bad!!! I continued my trip back to the pickup.

I dragged out a sandwich and a cool soft drink and sat in the shade and looked over the portion of the prairie dog town I could see. It sure was barren out there. There was way less vegetation in and around the prairie dog town this year than I had seen there in previous years. The photo below is a view from just west of where my pickup was parked and you are looking almost straight west in the photo.



I ate lunch and then took out my S&W Model 686 in .357 Magnum and set up a couple of targets down in a wash with an old dead tree trunk for a backstop about 15 yards from my shooting position. I shot 6 shots of 125 gr. JHP .38 Special P+ ammo and the gun was shooting low. I loaded 6 rounds of 125 gr. JHP .357 ammo and took one shot. That hit way low too so I got out the little screwdriver on my Swiss knife and adjusted the back sight. I took shot #2 and found out I had adjusted it way too high. More adjustment. Shots 3 through 6 were pretty good for height and windage. About that time 5 men riding horses came through the little wash I was in. They wondered if I was stuck and where I was from. They wanted me to kill every last prairie dog in the town. I told them I would try, but I knew I wouldn’t kill them all. The leader of the group told me he’d give a million dollar reward if I could shoot and bring him the last prairie dog from that town. I told him his money was safe. I shot 6 more shots of the .38 Special ammo and then put the revolver away.

[Continued in post right below this one.]

[Silverfox]

I stocked up on cold water and some treats and began a mile-long walk to the south end of the dog town. I walked on the east side of the hills that run along the east side of the prairie dog town so the prairie dogs wouldn’t see me. The wind was from the south and I wanted to get to the far south end of the town and work my way back up north. I was very disappointed in the low number of prairie dogs that were out and about. Where I normally see three to five young pups on most mounds, there were maybe one or two pups on very few mounds. There were even fewer adults. Someone has either been out here shooting lots of prairie dogs or there has been some poisoning or plague going on. It has been very dry in this country and maybe that has had some effect on PD numbers? Anyway, I spend 4 hours walking around spotting and shooting prairie dogs. I even tried two of the Danzac coated 27.8 gr. Hammetts. I hit with one shot and missed with the other.

This is a photo of me with one of the victims of my longest shot of the day. The area was on the extreme southwest end of the prairie dog town and this fellow just happened to be scolding me pretty loudly. This was only a 150-yard shot, but once again, the little 25 gr. Hornady hollow points really do a good job, even in a 10 mph crossing wind.



After this shot, I began walking and winding my way back toward where I had the pickup parked. It was hot and I was thirsty and needed a snack, so I headed for a lone green ash tree that sits near the south end of this dog town for a breather. Before I got to my shady spot, I had a nice fat prairie dog barking at me at about 125 yards away. I could not find a mound to get up on and if I lay down, I couldn’t see the target. I finally decided the only way I was going to get the shot off was to rest my padded sling on the top of a steel fence post and put the bottom of the forearm on that. I braced myself as good as I could and got the PD in the crosshairs and squeezed off the shot. The rifle jumped and I didn’t see the hit in the scope, but I could sure hear the WHUMP! when the bullet hit. I moseyed on over to the dead PD and took a couple of photos of the carnage that resulted from the hit. It blew his body about two feet back off the mound and opened him up like a can of sardines!!! You can see a very nice layer of fat built up inside his body in the right-hand side of the photo.


 
I finally made it to my tree and while I was resting, I had prairie dogs barking at me, so every once in awhile I would get up from my resting spot in the shade, draw a bead on the barker and give the barking offender a little 25 gr. HP sedative.

I finished up some chocolate chip bars and drank the rest of my water. I was rested up and there was one more spot that usually provides up to 15 or 20 shots that I needed to get to. I got up after my break and headed east to a large berm that you can sneak up on and get a nice vantage point overlooking this small prairie dog suburb. I spotted an adult and two pups about 125 yards away. I shot the adult and the two pups just stood around and I polished them off too.



Here’s a closer photo of Mom and the pup. Some of the pups in the town were quite small and others were fairly big. I wonder if they have two litters?? I have heard that they do.


 
I shot a couple more prairie dogs at this little suburb and then it was time to head back to the pickup. While I didn’t get the quantity of shooting I had anticipated, it had been a very good day. The winds were only blowing from 5 to 10 mph. The sun was shining and the temperature hovered around the 90º plus range all day. I wish my son could have gotten a day off from work to take some of those action shots he does such a good job on. He has a new 12.5 megapixel camera now that can snap a dozen photos so fast you can’t count them, so he should be able to get some great helicopter action with that new camera. It is a digital SLR and he says he got an excellent deal on it, yet it cost something like $2,200.00!!!!!!!!!!!!! One of the lenses he has is a $600.00 job and he’s looking to buy more. Say, if he has that kind of money to spend on a camera, why is he borrowing my Lilja barreled .17 Remington instead of buying his own????

Final tally of shots for the day: With the 27.8 gr. Hammett bullets I was 1 PD for 2 shots. With the 25 gr. Hornady HP loads I shot 44 total shots. I missed on 7 shots and got 36 singles and one double with the other 37 shots for a total of 38 dead prairie dogs for 44 shots. Of those 7 missed shots, four of them were right at the end of the day, when I was shooting too fast and the barrel got hot. I missed 3 shots that I could probably have made with a 22 long rifle!!! When the barrel gets too hot, the bullets tend to stray! No excuse, just a good reason!!!

Here’s a couple more views of the dog town. This first one was taken from the south end and you are looking to the NNW.


 
This last photo has you looking to the southwest. This part of the dog town usually doesn’t get shot in much because there is a fence line that the vehicle hunters don’t usually cross. On most hunts, I’d say we usually shoot 25 to 40 prairie dogs in this part of the town alone. It wasn’t’ a real good spot on this day. Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

[killman]

Looks like you had a great Day.