Ammo for Prairie Dog hunt

It's been my experience that my 10/22T (accurate little bugger) is all but useless over the pdog fields, except when the pups first come above ground during late May-early June.
In all but that situation, you'll find that even a barely noticible wind, combined with the average range, put the .22 LR way out of it's element.

If you've never shot pdogs before, you'll be amazed how quickly you start to consider 200 yards a slam-dunk, and 300-350 yards "average" range. As unlikely as it sounds to those that have never done it, after a bit of time working over pdog towns, even the 500 yard hits barely register unless there were some unusual circumstances or conditions surrounding the shot.

Quite often during the 1 1/2 hour drive home, I find myself clearly remembering mostly the misses.....though I may have killed 400 pdogs that day, the hits don't stay in the memory banks very long....but the misses sure do. Usually, the mental image of a hit pdog has vanished by the time the next round is chambered.

If I was traveling, I personally wouldn't bother with a 22 rimfire.

Mike
 
Quote:
Rustydust Im bringing my 17rem for sure but Its a toss up on the 223 or the 22-250. Never shot any critters with the 22-250. As you well know the 223 has shot too many to count including the coyote we got. My 22-250 like your swift is a bench gun set up for long range. Im thinking I might bring it. Also Russ what ya think about taking my 10/22??? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif



Bring it if you got the room, but you wont be using it much. After the shooting starts, there aint going to be any dogs in 22 range for sure. I dont plan on bringing mine.

And you will get not be handicapped by not having your 22-250 that much. It does toss a dog better than your 223 will, but after watching Billy nail 500 yard dogs with his accurized AR-15 by "walking" the shots to the animal a couple of years ago, that when I made up my mind to make one for myself. With a good scope and proper holdover a 500 yard hit is not out of the question at all with a .223.

I plan on bringing my bolt gun 223, my AR, and my 17 Remington. I may bring with Swift, but then again, may not.
 
On my first PD hunt I made the error of bringing a .22 WMR. I Fired it twice and then the PDs went down for a 200yd circle around us. We have to drive nearly 1800 miles to find a PD colony and as such tend to stick with the .223 Rem and a larger caliber or two. We take the larger guns because we can't pick and choose the weather and it seems that no matter when we plan our hunt....the wind will be 25+ mph for at least part of the time. Because our cargo space is limited we also try to standardize equipment between us and only bring one cleaning kit, one tool box, etc.
 
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