I got a late start on Sunday because I went to our church’s Harvest/Homecoming Breakfast and Worship Service. We got out of church at about 11:15 a.m. and I hustled home to get ready to go prairie dog shooting. I had been looking forward to this day for quite awhile because my son was going to go with me for the first time this year. I phoned him and asked him when he would be ready and he told me, he didn’t want to go along today, but maybe some other time!! He ran the sound board for a band that played in Watford City, ND Saturday night. They finished up their sets and the crowd passed the hat to collect money so the band would play another set. Well, that convinced them to play another set and after taking down all the equipment and loading it and hauling it home, he didn’t get to bed until 5:00 a.m. Sunday morning!!! Well, I guess when you hoot with the owls all night it’s difficult to get up and soar with the eagles in the daytime!
The clock said it was a little after 12 noon when I left town. When I arrived at the prairie dog town I wanted to hunt at I was pretty disgusted to see a herd of cattle spread out over the whole dog town. There really wasn’t anyplace to shoot without possibly hitting a cow or calf. I decided to head to another smaller dog town to the SE of this first one.
There were a few muddy spots on the trail to the next dog town, but I managed to negotiate them without getting stuck. I arrived at the place where I usually park. It is a spot close to the creek where a beaver dam serves as my “bridge†to the other side of the creek. I checked my watch and it was already 1:50 p.m.
By the time I got my sun shade up in the front window and bed sheets over side windows, my sandwich and water bottles out of the pickup, my rifle uncased, ammo out of my ammo carrier, Peltor Tactical 7 electronic headphones, and all my other gear together it was already 2:25 p.m. The rifle I would use this afternoon was my right bolt/left port Savage target action rifle in .204 Ruger. I had Fred Moreo of SSS time and true this actionâ€â€it is SWEET!!! I have a 26" stainless steel #6 contour Lilja barrel on it that has a 1 in 12 twist and three grooves. (I wish Lilja made a 1 in 11 twist.) I have a Nikon Monarch 6-24x50mm scope on this rifle with a fine duplex reticle and it has the side focus. It is a very nice scope. It wears the sunshade that came with it and I have an anti-cant level on the scope. The action and barrel sit in an H-S Precision Pro-Series 2000 stock that is tan in color with black webbing and I use a Harris 9-13" swivel bipod with leg notches and a PodLock.
I headed down the creek bank to cross the beaver dam. The water was very high so I decided I would need my chest waders to get across the rickety beaver dam. So, back up the creek bank I went, unlocked the topper, and took out my waders. Of course, I had to take off my hunting boots too. I ambled down the creek bank, slipped my back pack on, hung my boots around my neck and picked up my rifle to get that slung over my shoulderâ€â€NO SLING!!! OK, I have to head back to the pickup to get a rifle sling. I remove the boots from around my neck, take off the backpack, pick up my rifle and amble back up the creek bank, while wearing the clumsy chest waders, to get a sling from one of my other rifles. I put that sling on my rifle.
Finally, I get back down to the beaver dam, get the backpack on my shoulders, boots around my neck, and the rifle slung on my shoulder, pick up my stick I use to help balance on top of the rickety beaver dam and start the perilous journey to the other side of the creek.
I made it, but it seemed like it took me 10 minutes to get across taking tiny steps so I didn’t break through the branches and mud the beavers had used to construct their dam. I hiked to a spot where I could hang my waders up on a high tree branch and got them off and got back into my hunting boots. I checked my watch and it was already 2:57 p.m. and I hadn’t fired a shot yet.
I could hear prairie dogs barking up to the west of my position so I dropped my back pack and sneaked up to the top of the creek bank and all I could see was tall grass. I went back and got my back pack so I could get my rifle up high enough to shoot over the grass. I had a shell holder box with seven 39 gr. Sierra BlitzKing rounds in it. I am using Nosler brass in this Savage target action in .204 Ruger and the shells in this box were first line casings. I bought 100 of those and also purchased 150 of the factory second casings. The factory second casings weigh just a wee bit more, on the average, than the first line casings. This rifle shoots the 39 gr. Sierra BlitzKings into nice small groups using 27.3 gr. of IMR 8208 XBR. [Remember, work your loads up slowly and use the Hodgdon reloading data.]
I managed to go 4 for 4 from that spot. One of the prairie dogs I shot was only 35 yards from the end of my gun barrel. When the bullet hit I could see a big chunk of him come flying towards me in the scope. After shooting the 4th prairie dog the rest of them had gone underground so I got my camera out and headed over to the 35 yard prairie dog to take some photos. While I was walking over to the prairie dog, I spotted his right-front leg lying in the grass about 8 big steps from where his body was lying. I snapped the photo below which shows his severed right-front leg.
Then I set my backpack alongside his leg and hiked the rest of the way to his body and set my rifle down beside him and snapped the photo below:
The 39 gr. bullet had really decimated him. Parts were laying all overâ€â€some five or six feet behind, some to the left side of where he was sitting, and then there was his right-front leg that was about 25 feet from where he was when I shot him. Here’s total devastation:
I could see a bunch more prairie dogs off to the north and west of me. There were cattle to the west, so to avoid hitting a cow or calf I had to move to the northwest so I’d have clay buttes as a backstop. I backed off the top edge of the creek bank, down into the creek bottom, and headed NW. The prairie dogs have expanded the town to the west on a little peninsula surrounded by the creek on three sides. I got into shooting position and once again had tall grass to contend with. I set my backpack out in front of me again, and got my bipod up on top of that. It wasn’t the steadiest of rests, but I managed to hit three prairie dogs with three shots. I spotted some June berry bushes about 15 yards to the east of me and decided I would sneak over to those and use them as a backrest and use my stand I built to hold my FOXPRO and camera as shooting sticks. I used carbon fiber arrow, target tips, castration bands, and a round wooden plaque from Wal-Mart to build this tripod. It wasn’t as steady as my home-made shooting sticks, but it was all I had with me.
Here’s a photo of the plaque sitting in position so my FX5 e-caller can sit on it. You can see the feather end of the carbon fiber arrows and also the three castration bands that serve as a hinge point.
Below is a closer look at the wooden plaque all camo painted and the target tips on the ends of the arrows. The serve as good anchors even in frozen ground.
The small chunk of green rubber hose is placed over the ends of the target tips as illustrated below to keep the tips from stabbing me to deathâ€â€they are sharp!!!
It was about 4:30 when I got over to the June berry bushes and I was hungry so I set out my sandwich, a can of soda, a small bag of popcorn, and some cookie bars my wife had made for me. There were about 6 to 8 prairie dogs out to the north of me and instead of eating, I loaded a shell into my rifle, got the makeshift tripod under my rifle and shot a prairie dog. I loaded another round and shot a double on my very next shot, and just as I squeezed the trigger on the third shot the tripod moved a bit and I missed that PD, but I got a single with the fourth shot. I set my gun aside to let the barrel cool and took a bite of my sandwich.
Over the next 25 to 30 minutes I alternated between eating and shooting prairie dogs. The shots ranged in distance from about 50 yards on out to 100 yards. By the time I finished lunch, I had shot 12 prairie dogs. I wanted a little steadier rest for shooting at some prairie dogs that were between 100 to 130 yards out so I went to the prone position and crawled up to a prairie dog mound. I managed to pick off 5 prairie dogs for 5 shots. It was 5:20 p.m. and I had shot a total of 31 shots for the day. This area of the dog town looked deserted, so I moved to the east about 75 yards. I managed to get another double during this next volley of shots. When 5:40 rolled around I had shot a total of 38 rounds and most of the prairie dogs in this vicinity had gone underground.
Before I moved to another spot I wanted to take a couple of photos. Here’s a trio that I shot around this mound. The 39 gr. Sierra bullets were especially explosive on the top one and the one to the right.
I also decided this was about the last chance I would have to get a “Hero Photo†for my post on the Board and that photo is below.
I couldn’t help but notice that one of the prairie dogs in the photo above had some really green vegetation sticking out of his stomach and intestines that was also splattered on the entrance to his mound. See if you don’t agree that this stuff looks a little bit like guacamole. I wonder how it would taste on a tacoâ€â€Ummm GOOD?!?!?!
I decided to move to the north of this dog town across the butte that you see over my right shoulder in the “Hero Photo†above. There is a valley there that is surrounded by clay buttes on three sides. I got up to the top of the butte and could see dozens and dozens of prairie dogs and the longest shot from my perch would have been around 200 yards, but the longest shot I took was about 175 yards. I picked off a few of the real close ones and then stopped to let my barrel cool. I kept shooting two or three shots and then letting the barrel cool. After about 8 shots I spotted 7 or 8 prairie dogs with very dark fur out at about 150 to 175 yards. I took four shots at them and nailed four of them. The sun was getting lower in the west and I wanted to get back across the creek before it got dark, so I stood up and headed towards the four dark prairie dogs I had shot to take some photos of them. While I was walking to take the photos, there were several prairie dogs just sitting on their mounds looking at me. I got within maybe 15 feet of them and snapped some photos. Here’s a fairly normal colored PD and below that a dark-furred one:
Here are some photos of the dark furred ones I had shot earlier with the back fur in the top photo and the belly fur in the next one down:
I saw that the sun going down behind the buttes to the west and hurried to get back to my pickup. On the way there, a noisy prairie dog got a bullet for his barking. At the end of the day I had taken 50 shots. I had one missed shot, hit on two doubles, and 47 singles for a total of 51 dead prairie dogs for my 51 shots.
By the way, I timed how long it took me to get back across the beaver dam and if you remember, I said I thought it took me 10 minutes to cross over earlier in the afternoon. It took me only two minutes to get back across, so I might have overestimated how long it took me to cross the first time! It was another good day of shooting prairie dogs in good old North DaColder. I hope you enjoyed the hunt with me.
