- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Winter Olympics
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
Prairie Dog Hunts #2 & #3
Posted on 11/5/24 at 11:22 pm
Posted on 11/5/24 at 11:22 pm
Annually I go to the panhandle of OK for 2 or 3 prairie dog hunts every year. PD Hunt #1 was in May this year and it was good. Normally hunts #2 and #3 are in June and September, but this year they were pushed back to July and October. For both hunts I took my usual handguns: a 20 VarTarg I built using a McGowen barrel, Howa Mini Action, JTAC chassis stock and Vortex 6.5-20X rifle scope; a Remington XP-100 in 223 Remington Ackley Improved with a custom thumbhole stock and Vortex 6.5-20X rifle scope; and a Nosler Custom Handgun in 22 Nosler with a Shilen barrel and Bushnell 4.5-18X AR/223 scope. Of the three handguns, the 20 VarTarg is my favorite. Not only are the 32 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip and V-Max bullets very destructive, but I can usually also spot my own shots. I usually start the day with the VarTarg and move to the 223 AI with 50 gr bullets as the wind picks up. The 22 Nosler and its 55 grain bullet is reserved for higher winds. All three handguns have a suppressor.
For the July hunt I invited a local school teacher/coach, his son and his dad. They’ve been on number of pd hunts with me. They shot a variety of guns including 204 Ruger, 223 Rem, 22 Nosler and 243. I drove by myself after work Wednesday since they planned to arrive late Thurs. After sleeping a little the next morning, I spent the rest of the day looking for new towns and scouting the usual towns. I didn’t shoot much Wednesday, but it was a good shoot. The next 2 days I hunted with the rest of the party. Friday was a good day, but Saturday was very windy, gusting to 40 mph. Regardless, it was a good 2 1/2 day hunt. The weather was hot in the upper 90’s and there was no rain, but the wind gusted to the 30’s frequently. My biggest disappointment was my fault: my 223 AI fell off the floorboard of my truck onto the ground early on day 2. After that, I couldn’t hit anything. It was too windy to sight it back in so I took it out of the rotation. When I got home, I found out the 223 AI hit 5” to the left at 100 yards.
We had a good hunt Saturday, but when the action slowed in the afternoon I relaxed in my truck a few minutes before driving to a different pasture. When I turned the radio on, I heard the live broadcast of the assassination attempt on President Trump. It was really weird listening to the chaos of the live broadcast.
The three guys from Baton Rouge, LA who hunted with me in May also accompanied me for the mid October hunt. They left a day earlier than me, but spent all day driving to OK, stopping at nearly every gun store/pawn shop on the way. They bought 2 guns and hand loading supplies. We had a birthday party for my wife Wednesday night so I didn’t leave until really early Thursday AM. The shooting for them wasn’t very good Thursday with winds gusting to 45mph. I didn’t know what gale force winds were, but I found out. The wind was down a little on Friday (40 mph gusts) and ever “better” Saturday (only 20 mph gusts). Unfortunately, the last two days were overcast while pd’s like it sunny. There was no rain and the temperatures were very mild with lows in the mid-50’s and highs in the mid 70’s. Early on the second day I had an unfortunate incident with the 20 VarTarg. It was sitting on a bipod and sand bag on the rotating table in the cargo box of my truck. I dropped a cartridge so I reached down to pick it up. The table rotated a little just as the wind gusted, blowing the gun off the table onto the cargo box tool chest, then to the ground. I felt sick. Aside from a scuff mark on the scope, it looked ok. I shot it once at 40 yards and hit 5” low and 2” to the left. It was so windy I thought it’d be useless to try and sight it back in. Because of the wind, the 22 Nosler and 55 gr bullets got a lot of action. The next day the wind was calmer so I shot the 223 AI more while the VarTarg stayed in time out. Every mid-afternoon the Baton Rouge guys would go dove hunting. After they left Saturday for a dove hunt, I found a small area in the Wind Mill pasture loaded with dogs. There was tall vegetation between us, partly hiding me from the dogs. Since the shots were close (+/- 150 yards) and the wind was mostly at my back, I made a lot of shots in a short time. The Baton Rouge guys really like rabbits, so I shot one for them. Unfortunately, the 50 gr TNT bullet is not rabbit stew “friendly” at 50 yards. The Baton Rouge guys shot a variety of guns including 204 Ruger, 223 Rem, 22-250, 22 Mag and 17 HMR.
Although the wind was not our friend, we had a good hunt and a good time. We all shot plenty of rounds and they each also got their daily limit of doves. We found a couple of new pastures to look at for next next year. During the winter I’ll be building a new gun, a 17 Remington Fireball, using a Howa Mini Action and JTAC chassis stock. It’ll basically be a little brother to my 20 VarTarg. I’m hoping for approximately 3700 fps with a 20 gr Hornady V-Max bullet. Everything for the build has arrived except for the 16” Pac-Nor barrel. I’ve pretty much narrowed down my choice of bullets for the other guns. The 32 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip, V-Max and Varmageddon are my go to bullets for the 20 VarTarg. The 34 gr Midway HP is good, but doesn’t reliably feed from the magazine. In the 223 AI, I’ll be pursuing the 50 gr NBT, Speer TNT and V-Max bullets. Since the 22 Nosler is my “wind gun,” it will be using heavier bullets like 53 gr V-Max and 55 gr NBT, V-Max and TNT bullets. The 50 and 55 gr Hornady SX and Speer spire point bullets just don’t seem as destructive as the others.
20 VarTarg
223 Ackley Improved
[/url]
22 Nosler
For the July hunt I invited a local school teacher/coach, his son and his dad. They’ve been on number of pd hunts with me. They shot a variety of guns including 204 Ruger, 223 Rem, 22 Nosler and 243. I drove by myself after work Wednesday since they planned to arrive late Thurs. After sleeping a little the next morning, I spent the rest of the day looking for new towns and scouting the usual towns. I didn’t shoot much Wednesday, but it was a good shoot. The next 2 days I hunted with the rest of the party. Friday was a good day, but Saturday was very windy, gusting to 40 mph. Regardless, it was a good 2 1/2 day hunt. The weather was hot in the upper 90’s and there was no rain, but the wind gusted to the 30’s frequently. My biggest disappointment was my fault: my 223 AI fell off the floorboard of my truck onto the ground early on day 2. After that, I couldn’t hit anything. It was too windy to sight it back in so I took it out of the rotation. When I got home, I found out the 223 AI hit 5” to the left at 100 yards.
We had a good hunt Saturday, but when the action slowed in the afternoon I relaxed in my truck a few minutes before driving to a different pasture. When I turned the radio on, I heard the live broadcast of the assassination attempt on President Trump. It was really weird listening to the chaos of the live broadcast.
The three guys from Baton Rouge, LA who hunted with me in May also accompanied me for the mid October hunt. They left a day earlier than me, but spent all day driving to OK, stopping at nearly every gun store/pawn shop on the way. They bought 2 guns and hand loading supplies. We had a birthday party for my wife Wednesday night so I didn’t leave until really early Thursday AM. The shooting for them wasn’t very good Thursday with winds gusting to 45mph. I didn’t know what gale force winds were, but I found out. The wind was down a little on Friday (40 mph gusts) and ever “better” Saturday (only 20 mph gusts). Unfortunately, the last two days were overcast while pd’s like it sunny. There was no rain and the temperatures were very mild with lows in the mid-50’s and highs in the mid 70’s. Early on the second day I had an unfortunate incident with the 20 VarTarg. It was sitting on a bipod and sand bag on the rotating table in the cargo box of my truck. I dropped a cartridge so I reached down to pick it up. The table rotated a little just as the wind gusted, blowing the gun off the table onto the cargo box tool chest, then to the ground. I felt sick. Aside from a scuff mark on the scope, it looked ok. I shot it once at 40 yards and hit 5” low and 2” to the left. It was so windy I thought it’d be useless to try and sight it back in. Because of the wind, the 22 Nosler and 55 gr bullets got a lot of action. The next day the wind was calmer so I shot the 223 AI more while the VarTarg stayed in time out. Every mid-afternoon the Baton Rouge guys would go dove hunting. After they left Saturday for a dove hunt, I found a small area in the Wind Mill pasture loaded with dogs. There was tall vegetation between us, partly hiding me from the dogs. Since the shots were close (+/- 150 yards) and the wind was mostly at my back, I made a lot of shots in a short time. The Baton Rouge guys really like rabbits, so I shot one for them. Unfortunately, the 50 gr TNT bullet is not rabbit stew “friendly” at 50 yards. The Baton Rouge guys shot a variety of guns including 204 Ruger, 223 Rem, 22-250, 22 Mag and 17 HMR.
Although the wind was not our friend, we had a good hunt and a good time. We all shot plenty of rounds and they each also got their daily limit of doves. We found a couple of new pastures to look at for next next year. During the winter I’ll be building a new gun, a 17 Remington Fireball, using a Howa Mini Action and JTAC chassis stock. It’ll basically be a little brother to my 20 VarTarg. I’m hoping for approximately 3700 fps with a 20 gr Hornady V-Max bullet. Everything for the build has arrived except for the 16” Pac-Nor barrel. I’ve pretty much narrowed down my choice of bullets for the other guns. The 32 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip, V-Max and Varmageddon are my go to bullets for the 20 VarTarg. The 34 gr Midway HP is good, but doesn’t reliably feed from the magazine. In the 223 AI, I’ll be pursuing the 50 gr NBT, Speer TNT and V-Max bullets. Since the 22 Nosler is my “wind gun,” it will be using heavier bullets like 53 gr V-Max and 55 gr NBT, V-Max and TNT bullets. The 50 and 55 gr Hornady SX and Speer spire point bullets just don’t seem as destructive as the others.
20 VarTarg
223 Ackley Improved
[/url] 22 Nosler
3
Posted on 11/6/24 at 12:37 pm to TigerOnThe Hill
TOTH, I started this last night and didn't finish.
Great write up as always. Thanks for taking the time to write it. Always enjoy your PD hunt stories.
Great write up as always. Thanks for taking the time to write it. Always enjoy your PD hunt stories.
Posted on 11/6/24 at 8:19 pm to TigerOnThe Hill
Hope you actually eat them unlike most people. Any good squirrel recipe works great for prairie dog.
Posted on 11/6/24 at 10:33 pm to Buck_Rogers
quote:
Hope you actually eat them unlike most people. Any good squirrel recipe works great for prairie dog.
HaHa! A high velocity, fragile bullet doesn't make for a good pd recipe.
In addition, the Bubonic Plate is common in pd's, although I've not yet seen any reports of the Plague in pd's OK yet.
Posted on 11/6/24 at 10:55 pm to TigerOnThe Hill
I love your threads and your builds. I'm contemplating a 223 AI rifle build for fun target stuff. Any particulay brass to stay away from ? What about firing factory brass case ammo to fire form ?
Posted on 11/7/24 at 8:09 am to TigerOnThe Hill
Nice write up. Just curious why you use handguns instead of a stock?
Posted on 11/7/24 at 9:01 am to TigerOnThe Hill
Maybe use a less frangible bullet then. Besides, those ones in the pictures have plenty of good meat left. Typical prairie dog target shooters make every excuse of why they need to shoot them, then they make every excuse of why they can't eat them, and they still call it hunting. Don't be that guy. Respect the kill and cook it up and eat it. I promise that you won't get the Bubonic Plague.
Posted on 11/7/24 at 10:58 am to Bama Shadow
quote:
I love your threads and your builds. I'm contemplating a 223 AI rifle build for fun target stuff. Any particular brass to stay away from ? What about firing factory brass case ammo to fire form ?
I've always been intrigued w/ the Ackley Improved concept. I have a number of JD Jones handgun cartridges that use the same concept. Although I'd always wanted a 223 AI, I didn't get it until 2 years ago. I've got nearly 1000 pieces of brass fireformed for it. One could use factory rounds, but it might be expensive if one needed a lot of brass. A good fireforming load will be just as accurate as a full power load. I hunt w/ the fireforming loads. I've used all Starline and Dogtown brass for gun. Dogtown is Midway USA's store brand and is made by Nosler. I've been pleased w/ the quality of these two brands, as well as most other new brands I've loaded in other guns, including Sig and PPU. Hornady is not as consistent. Norma has a good rep, but i haven't used it much. I no longer use Remington and Win unless I have no choice. Of course, Lapua is THE gold standard. I check neck concentricity for pd hunting loads and cull any pieces >0.0025" variance. Out of 100 pieces, with Lapua I usually lose a couple and <5 w/ the other brands. Rem and Win run close to 20/100 culls. The key to getting nice fireformed loads is to use an adequate charge that fills out the shoulders the first time. The FF charge should be near max for the base/unimproved cartridge.
Posted on 11/8/24 at 4:45 am to TigerOnThe Hill
Biggest plus for me in going AI is not having to trim brass. I REALLY hate trimming brass. I made all my 280 AI brass from 270 brass by necking it up in a 30-06 die then necking back down in the 280 die to make a false shoulder. Then about 10 grains of Titegroup, corn meal, then sealed it off with a piece of paper towel. Came out really nice and 270 brass is everywhere and cheap.
Posted on 11/8/24 at 10:37 am to Bama Shadow
quote:
I REALLY hate trimming brass.
AMEN!!
Posted on 11/8/24 at 6:00 pm to Buck_Rogers
quote:
Maybe use a less frangible bullet then.
Nope. Usually there's also cattle in the pastures we shoot as well as fences, fence posts and other structures that should not be shot. I maintain a good relationship w/ the landowners so I'm welcome to return. To avoid the risk and complications of ricochets, I require a fragile bullet for all the hunters in my party. I like beef, but I want to buy my beef on a trip to the store, not on a trip to hunt pds.
quote:
Besides, those ones in the pictures have plenty of good meat left.
Not really.
quote:
Typical prairie dog target shooters make every excuse of why they need to shoot them, then they make every excuse of why they can't eat them, and they still call it hunting. Don't be that guy. Respect the kill and cook it up and eat it.
A quote like this comes up frequently, so I'll address it. A pd hunt is a typical "animal control" "nuisance" or "predation" hunt. I'm pretty sure everyone here has been on a similar hunt where they didn't clean and cook the game, such as possum, armadillos, nutria, hogs, crows, coons, rattlesnakes, etc. Maybe you clean, cook and eat every armadillo you kill, but I will not personally demean you or anyone else who doesn't. I can respect the game w/o cleaning, cooking and eating it.
quote:I don't seek medical advice from social media. Yeah, catching the plague from handling pds is unlikely, but it can happen. Why take unnecessary risks? If you've ever looked at pds you'd know they're flea-bitten. That's where the plague comes from. When the plague infects a pd town it has a 90% mortality rate and takes about 10 years to recover.
I promise that you won't get the Bubonic Plague.
Posted on 11/8/24 at 11:46 pm to jdavid1
quote:
Nice write up. Just curious why you use handguns instead of a stock?
That's the same question I sometimes ask of my bowhunting buddies and the answer is pretty similar. I started by looking for an extra challenge w/ a 44 Mag Ruger Redhawk, but quickly progressed to the T/C Contender when I bought my brother in law's Contender w/ a 35 Rem barrel. I put my deer rifle down about 5-6 years later.Now I've killed deer/hogs w/ 14 different handgun cartridges. Less that 10 years ago I moved to bolt action handguns. Now it's just a part of who I am. I hunt squirrels frequently w/ a 22LR rifle. I built 2 rifles for pd hunting (a 221 Fireball and 20 Practical) for friends to borrow on a pd hunt if they don't have a pd gun. I shoot them every now and then myself.
Page 1 of 1
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News