Nebraska 2011 trip
Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2011 7:02 pm
I’m late getting our Neb. Trip posted, but it has been a very busy summer around here. Back on May 26th, Clint, Lucas and I headed for Nebraska to meet up with our friend Dave to shoot some prairie dogs. Due to some work schedules, we weren’t able to leave till around 7 pm and drove through the night and met up with Dave at his mother’s house around 4 am. We all laid down for a while to catch some sleep to wake up a few hours later to light rain.
We ate and headed out to one place and ended up sitting in the vehicles for a while for it to quit. Around mid morning the rain quit and a few dogs started coming out. We got in a few shots and eventually the sun came out and so did the dogs. The wind made it hard to hit anything out past 400 yards and made some 300-400 yard shots interesting.
The second day started with a light mist but we wanted to get out to this other place before someone else got there. There was a dog now and then that would come out and we would shoot them but it wasn’t till later in the morning before they really started coming out. Around noon, two trucks showed up on top of one of the hills to the north in the pasture and sat for awhile watching us. It was some guys wanting to shoot the area. They finally left only to show up on the hill to the south of us. Six guys got out and stood there for a while then one of the guys drove down to talk to us. They decided they would shoot one of the draws we were already set up on. The town isn’t very big and we could cover the whole area from where we were set up but it didn’t seem to bother them. We looked up on the hill at times and concluded they drank more beer than they did shooting dogs.
The weekend was cool and damp and one afternoon it warmed up enough for a while that we got down to our tee shirts, but not for long. The dog town and the population was down from last year and other people have started hitting the area. We’re not sure how much longer we are going to have a place to shoot. Lucas was breaking in his new CZ 527 American in .204 and his new Rem. (ISP model 799) in 22-250. We wanted him to take the first shots with them and he told us he wasn’t a very good shot but he hit five of the first seven he shot at out beyond 150 yards.
Here's where we were setup and could shoot up four different draws.
Here's some of the country we were shooting.
Here's me (on the cell phone), Lucas and Dave as we were taking a break.
Here are a few dogs Clint shot with his Savage M12FV in 22-250 out past 300 yards. Little targets, aren't they?
Here's his Ruger in .204.
The story wouldn't be complete without a few dogs posing for the camera.
Here's Lucas out checking some of his hits.
The weekend before we left, I was checking my guns and was shooting my Savage M12VLP in .204 with 32 grain Hornady's at the 100 yard back stop. I had just got it dialed in and was going to zero it at the 200 yard back stop when I noticed a dark spot on an old target at the 100 yard back stop. A fly had landed on it so I thought I would take a shot at it. I cranked the scope up to 24X and the instant I shot, I saw a
splatter on the target. Flies really are made up of blood and guts and here's the proof. The squares on the target are 1/2".
We ate and headed out to one place and ended up sitting in the vehicles for a while for it to quit. Around mid morning the rain quit and a few dogs started coming out. We got in a few shots and eventually the sun came out and so did the dogs. The wind made it hard to hit anything out past 400 yards and made some 300-400 yard shots interesting.
The second day started with a light mist but we wanted to get out to this other place before someone else got there. There was a dog now and then that would come out and we would shoot them but it wasn’t till later in the morning before they really started coming out. Around noon, two trucks showed up on top of one of the hills to the north in the pasture and sat for awhile watching us. It was some guys wanting to shoot the area. They finally left only to show up on the hill to the south of us. Six guys got out and stood there for a while then one of the guys drove down to talk to us. They decided they would shoot one of the draws we were already set up on. The town isn’t very big and we could cover the whole area from where we were set up but it didn’t seem to bother them. We looked up on the hill at times and concluded they drank more beer than they did shooting dogs.
The weekend was cool and damp and one afternoon it warmed up enough for a while that we got down to our tee shirts, but not for long. The dog town and the population was down from last year and other people have started hitting the area. We’re not sure how much longer we are going to have a place to shoot. Lucas was breaking in his new CZ 527 American in .204 and his new Rem. (ISP model 799) in 22-250. We wanted him to take the first shots with them and he told us he wasn’t a very good shot but he hit five of the first seven he shot at out beyond 150 yards.
Here's where we were setup and could shoot up four different draws.
Here's some of the country we were shooting.
Here's me (on the cell phone), Lucas and Dave as we were taking a break.
Here are a few dogs Clint shot with his Savage M12FV in 22-250 out past 300 yards. Little targets, aren't they?
Here's his Ruger in .204.
The story wouldn't be complete without a few dogs posing for the camera.
Here's Lucas out checking some of his hits.
The weekend before we left, I was checking my guns and was shooting my Savage M12VLP in .204 with 32 grain Hornady's at the 100 yard back stop. I had just got it dialed in and was going to zero it at the 200 yard back stop when I noticed a dark spot on an old target at the 100 yard back stop. A fly had landed on it so I thought I would take a shot at it. I cranked the scope up to 24X and the instant I shot, I saw a
splatter on the target. Flies really are made up of blood and guts and here's the proof. The squares on the target are 1/2".
One of my shooting buddies shoots yellow jackets at 22 yards with his pellet gun, just to keep his shooting skills up to par!
