Heading to South Dakota

[Mike]

I'm rolling out to South Dakota this afternoon for a prairie dog shoot. I've never been there before, so I'm looking forward to a new experience. Digital camera is in the bag, so I'll post up some pictures once I return next week.

[broncsandwhiskey]

Good luck and cann't wait to see those pics. By the way I am from Custer, SD in the Black Hills and I was just wondering where you were headed in SD? Thanks and Ride Up!!!

[Mike]

I'll be near Winner, SD. It's about 250 miles east of Custer.

[Rick in Oregon]

Have a great shoot Mike. If you lived closer (much closer), I'd loan you one of my benches to get you by. You'll find a BRP eventually. Take plenty of sunscreen, H2O, shade, and of course more ammo than you think you'll need. Take an old towel to wet to cool your barrel also. It's gonna be a hot dog out there.

Ghave a grand time, looking forward to the pics. Warning: PD shooting is highly addictive!

[Mike]

Thanks, Rick! I know that a BR Pivot is sitting out there with my name on it. It's just been hiding very, very well. Midway still doesn't have them in stock either, but that will change at some point.

I went to Wyoming a couple of years ago and had a phenomenal time shooting skippy. This will be my first time in South Dakota, though. Hopefully the prairie dogs are plentiful, because I'm brining lots and lots of ammo.

Sadly, my .204 is out of commission for this trip. It's back home in Montana getting repair work done after that bad primer blew back on a factory load a while back (I think I posted about that here). I'll have to make due with a .17 Remington, .223 and .22-250 (along with a .22 for VERY close work).

[Rick in Oregon]

Sorry to hear about the lack of the 204 for the trip. The 223 will get most of the work done I'm sure, that is unless you plan to rebarrel the 22-250 when you get home.....

Have fun, come home safe.

[Mike]

Sorry to hear about the lack of the 204 for the trip.

Me too.

Cooper wanted to check it over though, so I sent it back to them. I'd rather have them make sure everything is fixed properly rather than get out in the field and find out that something isn't quite right. Then I'd be really, REALLY unhappy. Once I get the gun back, I'll have a whole new thread talking about that situation...

For now, it's happy thoughts and good times in South Dakota.

[Mike]

I'm back from my trip to South Dakota and will attempt to post some of the pictures this evening. Until then, I'll offer a review of my experience.

As I mentioned, we went to an area about 25 miles outside of Winner, SD and shot on reservation ground for the first two days. While the reservation ground had plenty of dogs, they were VERY skittish. These dogs had seen a lot of action and knew exactly what was up every time we drove out into the fields. Our "guide" mentioned that the dogs were hunted very heavily the prior weekend, since it was a holiday (Memorial Day). That certainly didn't help us much, but I never got the feeling that our "guide" (yes, I put that in quotes for a reason ) tried very hard to put us on fresh ground.

On the third day, we went out to a private ranch that we obtained permission to shoot on the previous night. The ranch had several dog towns, but they were quite small and due to the location of cattle and terrain we were forced to set up very close to them. This made for very slow shooting. However, I had a great time talking with the rancher and hearing stories about his property.

Looking back, I would not return to this area again for a shoot. Paying a "guide" to take me to places that have been shot up every week was a complete waste, but we didn't have any choice on the reservation ground. For anyone considering such an arrangement, I would HIGHLY recommend going in early May. The weather may be a bit more risky, but the dogs won't be shot up nearly as much.

Perhaps there are better private ranches in the area, but we didn't happen upon them this time around. I still had a great time and loved seeing South Dakota for the first time, though. It's beautiful country and there are some very nice people out there.

[Rick in Oregon]

Mike: Glad to hear your trip went fairly well and that you got home safe. Prairie Dogs: Right you are, and precisely why I don't shoot them any more, greatly preferring ground squirrels.....much more stupid, stay up while you're shooting, too dumb to bail down the holes when they see our trucks arrive and benches getting set up: perfect willing targets! (Plus we've got them here in unlimited numbers, no long drives to contend with either.)

[Mike]

Mike: Glad to hear your trip went fairly well and that you got home safe. Prairie Dogs: Right you are, and precisely why I don't shoot them any more, greatly preferring ground squirrels.....much more stupid, stay up while you're shooting, too dumb to bail down the holes when they see our trucks arrive and benches getting set up: perfect willing targets! (Plus we've got them here in unlimited numbers, no long drives to contend with either.)

Great, now I'm going to have to trek out to Oregon to see this for myself.

How can I convince my wife that we should move West? I've always been fond of northern Idaho, but parts of Oregon are very nice as well. My wife says that she'll write and might visit during the warmer months if I move out there.

[Rick in Oregon]

Mike: You don't need to come all the way to Oregon, as MT, WY, and ID also have good populations of Skippy and his pals. There is more alfalfa crop loss to these little buggers than all the deer, elk, rabbits and other critters combined, so most ranchers want them gone and will usually grant permission to shooters.

I'm still laughing about your wife comment, totally understand. Believe it or not, 35 years ago when I came down out of the woods in BC, I moved right here for one reason.......varmints and great hunting.

So if you move to where there's lots of squirrels, say Idaho for instance, she won't have to travel as far in the summer to see what you've been up to!

So......where's those pics of your shoot??

[Mike]

Rick: I didn't realize that there were ground squirrels in WY. I had a great time shooting prairie dogs in eastern Wyoming, but I assume that area is too arid for ground squirrels since I didn't see any alfalfa fields. I'll have to look further into this for next time!

Idaho will be a problem for me right now (aside from my wife's desire to be under palm trees). It's not exactly the most prosperous place for career growth and would likely be a destination for us later in life. Or, as I tell my wife, a secondary home for me to play around on with the guys.

I'm working on the pictures now. Hopefully I can figure it out. I have the images on my computer, but as I understand the sticky on this forum, I must upload them to a web site like Photobucket before I can post them. I'm doing that now...

[Mike]

Ok, here we go...

[broper]

mike,
I live in s.w. Idaho and the winters aren't as bad as in Mo. I started shooting ground squirrels the last of Jan. But you are right about the work situation. I'm retired.

[Mike]

But you are right about the work situation. I'm retired.

If I'd have only been born rich instead of being incredibly handsome....