SmallCaliberCentral

I messed around Williston for a while last Friday morning waiting for it to warm up just a wee bit. It was in the low 30s in the morning, but the sun came out and it started to warm up a bit. I got to my hunting spot around 11:20 and got all my gear out of the pickup and headed out east of the pickup at 11:35 a.m. Shooting was pretty good, not a lot of customers, but somewhat steady shooting. The first place I set up I shot 5 shots in a few minutes and had 5 dead prairie dogs. Closest shot was about 130 yards and longest was 225 yards. The old Savage 12VLP and the 39 gr. Sierras were doing their job. The photo below is one I shot at 150 yards.



I shot 19 shots in a row before I saw a bullet hit way low and left of the intended target. I have never had one of these 39 gr. Sierras explode on me before. During the course of the afternoon, I had three more bullets disintegrate for a total of four during the day. I walked way in to the SE to where my son and I had made some 325 to 350 yard shots during deer season in November 2007.

The photo below is a little collection of PDs I shot at distances from 75 yards on out to 200. The wind had picked up to 10+ mph with gusts to 15 mph by now, but I was still hitting them in the crosswind. I continued to hike to the SE and would stop and shoot a shot or two before all the PDs would disappear. They had been shot at many, many times before. I still had enough shooting to keep me happy.


 
I got out to about as far as I was going to travel to the SE and got up on a small butte and made a couple of very nice shots with the wind at about 90º to my bullet path. The PD in the photos below was 195 yards away and slightly below me. He was facing to the NNW, which was to my left and my wind deflection and drop chart said the wind would deflect the bullet a little over 3.5" at that distance. I held the crosshairs right in front of his left rear leg and squeezed off the shot. The bullet hit and the PD was spun around so his tail was now to the NNW and his nose was to the SSE. I noticed a piece of the bullet jacket sitting on his fur by the exit wound.



The entrance wound was pretty traumatic for him too as you can see by the photo below.



The wind must have deflected the bullet a bit over 4 inches!!! It is hard to believe the wind pushed the bullet that far off line, but it happened!!!

Here's a view of the PD, rifle and countryside looking to the NE of where I made that 195 yard shot.



I continued my walk, but this time I headed in the direction that would take me back to my pickup. I could see many praire dog mounds that had been destroyed and there was a huge hole going down where the prairie dog's smaller tunnel holes had once been. I assumed it must have been a badger doing all the damage. I would soon find out that I was right about the badger!
 
On my walk back I saw a fairly large shape off to the SW of where I was walking. It was by a PD mound. I stopped and put the scope up to see what it was—it was a young badger chomping on one of the prairie dogs I had shot. I haven’t shot at a badger in years, so I figured I pop this guy and check the inside of his hide to see if it was prime. I sneaked to a little rise where I could get the scope on him and ranged him with my Leica 1200 range finder. He was 146 yards away. About the time I got myself down in shooting position, he picked up the PD in his mouth and started to amble away from me. I got the crosshairs on his heart lung area and squeezed off the shot. He tipped over right on the spot.



I couldn’t see the badger in the screen on my camera so I had to guess at about where he was. I guess I got the photo with him almost dead center for horizontal. The photo below was with the camera zoomed in a bit and taken from about 100 yards away from the badger.



I walked closer and I could see that he still had the dead prairie dog in his jaws.



He was a pretty, young badger and when I started skinning him, his skin was still a wee bit blue, so I just left him out there. I don’t think he would have fetched much money since he wasn’t prime and he was pretty small.
 
Here are a couple more photos that show a closer view of his grip on the PD.



 

Here’s a photo I took after I moved him around so you can see the countryside to the north of where he was when I shot him. He didn’t let go of the PD even though I jostled him around to get him situation for this photo.



I had a good day. Not counting the four bullets that disintegrated, I took 43 shots at prairie dogs and one shot at the badger. I had 4 missed shots, got one double and 38 singles for a total of 40 prairie dogs and one badger with those 44 shots. Two of the missed shots were over 250 yards away with a pretty stiff crosswind. I was having trouble seeing where the bullets were hitting on those long shots. I am quite sure I shot right over the top of the prairie dog on one of those shots. I'll have to get the scope adjusted for the new reloads now that I have the barrel cleaned and ready to go. I want to get out after prairie dogas at least one more time before I start calling coyotes.

Silverfox,

Thanks for sharing your hunt and with pictures too. Pictures sure make the story.

Great photos and story. I'm getting the fever all over again!

Excellent post and great shooting! Sounds like ya had a great hunt!

A great hunt and amazing photo of the badger. What bullets did you use ?

Talk about a last meal! What a great shot! That badger died happy though. Gary

Thank you for the nice compliments gentlemen. It definitely was a fun day.

Yotecallr-- I was using 39 gr. Sierra BlitzKings that day. I frequently use the 40 gr. Nosler BTs and they seem to give the prairie dogs more lift, but don't shoot quite as accurately as the 39 gr. Sierras.