Had a good PD trip to South Dakota

Experiences and effectiveness in hunting with the 204 Ruger.
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glenn asher
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Had a good PD trip to South Dakota

Post by glenn asher »

We had a good trip to South Dakota, although the detour around Iowa added some time to the trip, the route thru Wisconsin and Minnesota turned out pretty good, as I'd never been through there before (I-90). Frankly, that's pretty country, too, but no PDs, so on we go.

We stayed at Shur Shot Lodge, outside Vivian, SD, a sorta new place, only been in the doggin' business a couple of years, they do mostly pheasants, deer and antelope, which are abundant around there. They made arrangements for us to shoot on the Rosebud Rez, where I'd been before, but it's so vast, I've always been in different towns, this was no exception.
Due to the rains breaking a seven year drought, the grass was higher and greener than usual for the 'Bud, but it had the usual high number of PDs running around. I shot my .204, mostly, this trip, as it was running right. I stuck with what the rifle liked, 32 VMs and BTs, with some 34 Dogtowns thrown in for giggles, and to see how they'd do up there. They aren't as explosive as the plastic tipped bullets, but definitely killed dogs real dead.
While eating lunch on the first day, I noticed something coming up thru the high grass, and got out the little CZ .221 Fireball. I don't like critters interrupting my meals, so I raised the rifle and popped a young jackrabbit. This was the first jackrabbit I'd seen up in SD, but this year seems to be a bumper year for jacks.
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glenn asher
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Re: Had a good PD trip to South Dakota

Post by glenn asher »

This is the result of a 32 Ballistic Tip powered by 27.3 Benchmark, it's pretty decisive, I think :lol: I had a few BTs left over from trying them out, and put some together for a field test. I also used the same charge of Benchmark for some 34 Dogtowns, which worked well enough, and shot to the same POI all the way past 300 yards (+2" at 100 yards). In fact, that zero/POI worked with the 32 VMs and 27.5 AA2230-C, too. I didn't mess with nuttin', just held on and killed dogs. I kinda like that, cuz I'm lazy.
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glenn asher
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Re: Had a good PD trip to South Dakota

Post by glenn asher »

We had some scary-looking weather the second morning, but looks were all we got, it cleared out and we went to another full-section pasture loaded with PDs. We really hammered them the second day, and the HMRs and .223s got workouts, too. I got a bunch of work at about the 440 yard mark, which is about as far as I care to shoot. We had a lot of EXTRA fun with the close up stuff, though, we had some pups on a pond dam about about 70 yards that got some really harsh treatment. Heck, they almost looked like muskrat holes in the pond dam. I considered that my best work, saving the dam from unholy rodents weakening the structure. :mad: These are NOT from the pond dam, though, just a couple of rats that liked the sunlight too much.
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glenn asher
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Re: Had a good PD trip to South Dakota

Post by glenn asher »

I won't bore anyone with any more dead rat pics, we all know what they look like :D but I can't say enough about Shur Shot Lodge, and Kenny and Stacy Booth, both younger kids who are doing it just right. They fed us extremely well (look at that first picture again, I LIKE food! :lol: ) breakfast, lunch and dinner, and kept the place neat, clean and it was an excellent experience, all the way around.
Very nice folks, I highly recommend the place. http://www.shurshotlodge.com

NO, I'm not making anything off this, I just think they deserve the praise.

[img][http://outcast.homeunix.org/uploads/lod ... de.jpg/img]
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glenn asher
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Re: Had a good PD trip to South Dakota

Post by glenn asher »

Hmmm, my pic hosting site is crapping out, here's more pics of rats and stuff, at another location, as it's easier to post pics there.

http://missouriwhitetails.com/forums/vi ... ?tid=60470
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Re: Had a good PD trip to South Dakota

Post by K_Hini »

I said you shoulda picked me up on your way I live a stones throw away from I-90!!

what does a guy have to pay for 3 days at the sure shot? I have them saved on m bookmarks thing. I was going to go out with my brother but he can't afford it now so I will be looking for something by myself with no trouble.

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Re: Had a good PD trip to South Dakota

Post by Rick in Oregon »

glenn: Hey bud, glad you finally got out and made the trip! That smile in the first photo sez it all: A good time was had! I'm sure the bunny feels otherwise though.....nice.

Memories from trips like yours last a lifetime. After a few days popping Skippy at various distances, don't you just love the 204? It sure has become my favorite rat caliber.

I'm glad the weather cooperated and the trip went well for you guys. Thanks for sharing.

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glenn asher
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Re: Had a good PD trip to South Dakota

Post by glenn asher »

Glad you're back, Rick! Hope you get to feeling chipper as soon as possible.
Yessir, the .204 was a hoot this trip. Most of the shots were right around the 300 yard mark, and that's coincidently where the rifle was sighted in for. It was simply a matter of how much windage to hold in the breeze, which was crosswind, of course ;) As dumb luck would have it, all three loads/bullets chronoed within about 30fps of each other, and hit at the same place all that way, too. I got lucky there! I could swap out ammo/loads/bullets and whack rats without dinking around learning new drops. I wish it was always that easy!

I did run into one problem, I was trying to guess how far out some rats were, as I kept hitting pretty low when trying for them. I messed around with the SF on the Nikon, and it kept coming up about 700 yards! So, I hollered for Rick Zordan, who had a range finder, and asked him to zap them, if he could get a reading. It came back 660 yards. No danged wonder the bullets were dropping like a rock! That's a long danged ways! I put up the .204 then, as I didn't have any 39s, and pulled out the .223, which I know pretty well :lol: and finally got a couple dinged over out that way. I had to do a lot of "come ups" on that scope, but I know it better than the .204. Oh well. All in all, the rifles did quite well, but I was sure pining for a good bench, Kenny provides benches, but they sure aren't BR Pivots...
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Re: Had a good PD trip to South Dakota

Post by Sidewinderwa »

Glen, way to go! Sounds like a fun trip. The pictures are great too. Looked like you were giving the rifles a work out.
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Re: Had a good PD trip to South Dakota

Post by Big_Bullseye »

Great pics Glenn -

So out of all 4 I belive rifles you brought (204's, .223 & a 221 fireball right?)

Which one was your go to gun?
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glenn asher
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Re: Had a good PD trip to South Dakota

Post by glenn asher »

My go-to guns are the Savage twins, the .204 and the .223, I had to write .223 on the stock to tell them apart :D Both got a good workout. I also took along another .223, but it was blued, so it doesn't make it as a triplet, same stock, different color, though.

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