It takes a bit of doing to get to this little dog town. When you finally get your vehicle parked, you have to wade across a creek that isn’t very deep, but about 20 feet across. The bottom is very muddy and you sink into the mud about 6 to 8 inches on almost every step. The water only comes up to below my knees, but I was very happy I brought my chest waders along to make the fording of the stream a “cleaner†operation. I got to the other side and got the waders off and put my boots back on. I hung the waders in a big, old box elder tree and left them there. Then, there is a little climb to get up out of the creek bottom and up to the land where the prairie dogs live.
I was on my belly, working forward so I could see the prairie dogs on the east end of this dog town and took my first shot at 9:45. I had 5 customers right off the bat and probably should have taken the shots a bit slower to keep the barrel of my .17 Remington with the super match grade 1 in 9†twist, 3-groove Pac-Nor barrel cooler, but I got carried away. I had to wait about 15 minutes before I took shots 6 through 10 from that very same spot. Here’s a photo of my rifle and a prairie dog that was doing his annoying barking at me and only showing me his head. He paid the price for getting my attention!
Here’s a closer look at the kind of “decapitation job†these 25 gr. Hornady HPs do when hitting the junction where the head meets the neck!!! A skull emptying experience!!!
After shot #10, the PDs in this little end of the town were skitterish, so I backed down to the creek bottom and hiked in to the west a few hundred yards.
I crept up the bank so I could see the PDs and was greeted with a view of dozens and dozens of prairie dogs, none of them were more than 150 yards away!!!! I would shoot until the barrel got pretty warm and then back off down the bank and sit in the shade of some chokecherry bushes and green ash trees and let the barrel cool off. I shot a total of 18 prairie dogs from that one spot.
You may have noticed how dark the belly was on the decapitated prairie dog. There are quite a few real dark prairie dogs in this town. Below are photos of another real dark one. The first photo below shows the entrance wound
and the photo below here shows the exit side!!!
I kept working my way west along the creek bank and finally, at around 12:45, I was getting hungry so I began walking back to my waders to make the creek crossing to my pickup for some lunch and to replenish my water supply. By this time it was about 85 degrees out so I needed to keep drinking water to keep from getting dehydrated. I got back to the pickup around 1:10 p.m. I had shot 47 shots with my 25 gr. Hornady HP load which has a muzzle velocity of 4,055 fps. You may not believe this, but I had not missed a shot during that string!!! I hit 46 single PDs and had 1 double for a total of 48 prairie dogs down for 47 shots. None of the shots were more than 150 yards and the majority of them were 100 yards or less. Like the song says, “That’s My Kind of Town.â€Â
I made it across the creek safely and got my waders off and my boots back on. While I had been on the other side of the creek during my morning hunt, I had spotted a beaver dam that looked like it could be used to cross over the creek instead of using waders to get across. I drove my pickup west near that spot on the creek and took a closer look. Sure enough, that dam was a great “bridge†to the other side. At least in dry weather, that should be a great place to cross the creek. I even found an old plank and placed it across the top of the dam for a more level surface for walking. I hid the old plank up in some bushes in case I want to us it in the future.
I checked out a spot to park my pickup and found a very old box elder tree that would afford a tiny bit shade for my vehicle. I cleared out all the broken branches from the ground around the area so I would not puncture a tire. Then I drove my pickup over there and parked it. It was close to 1:30 and I needed to eat and get back to the job of shooting prairie dogs.
[Continued right below here in the first reply.]
Thanks for taking us along on your hunt! Great pictures to go with it. Have you tried any of the Barnes Varmint Grenades yet?
