Prairie Dog Blind?

A

arkhunter1

New member
I am going on my first Prairie Dog hunt this week, and the landowner says that there are tons of dogs. The problem is that they are all 300 yard plus. Real shy of vehicles and shooting benches. Has anyone ever set up inside of one of these popup blinds? Are dogs any less scared of them?
 
300+ is optimum for pdogs. I generally try to set up around 300 yards from the most active part of a dogtown. The problem with getting much closer, even if you can, is that the report of the rifle bothers them more. At 300 or more, the guns don't seem to spook them as much.

If you're uncomfortable shooting 300, just go for it. That's what pdogging is all about. You'll gain more long range experience and knowledge in a single decent day of pdog shooting than you will in four lifetimes of sitting in a deer stand in Arkansas. I should know....I spent 40 years in deer stands in Louisiana... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

As far as the blind goes.....don't bother.

Mike
 
Prairie Dogs seem to pick up vehicle vibrations as much as seeing them... So stop the vehicle and take your time getting set up... lay out the rifles, break out some water bottles and adjust the shooting tables/benches...relax and enjoy the experience...

We've never found the need for blinds (on a hot summer day, you'd bake anyway)...Those PDs are "Sun Lovers" and won't stay down very long if the sun is shining bright... If you set up to play the wind/breeze so you don't have to continually adjust for windage...it makes it a lot easier..

This is one of our typical set ups... the cheap beach umbrella from WalMart is worth it's weight in ammo...

JulyPDTrip-06006.jpg


The long distance shooting is what it's all about anyway...

We take and use .22lrs for anything under 75yds and .17M2s for out to 150yds...the center fires are for the longer shots..

This is my son-in-law's swivel rest and his NEF .223... He forgot to load his umbrella and after an hour,,he was getting pretty red...He had never shot anything over about 40-50 yards and once he found out that he could pop a PD at 250+yds,,,, he was having the time of his life....

JulyPDTrip-06005.jpg
 
Thanks. I just got nervous when I saw the wind forcast is 35mph. I like shooting long range 300-500. We dont have wind much where I shoot, and my targets tend to be larger than a PD.

We are excited. We are hunting on private land and the guy said he has approx. 800 acres of active pds. I just wish all my reloading supplies hadn't doubled in price. Thanks.
 
If reloading supply cost is a problem, I would be happy to donate some. Of course I would want to shoot them!

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
I shoot a lot of prairie dogs here in Wyoming and two things
I can tell you. 1) after you get set up give it 15 -20 mins.
Pdogs are like antalope , they want to know what you are up to. So give them time to get use to you being there. And number 2 is they most scared of shadows because of hawks.
Take it for what it is worth but most of all have fun. I know I do.
 
Quote:
I shoot a lot of prairie dogs here in Wyoming and two things
I can tell you. 1) after you get set up give it 15 -20 mins.
Pdogs are like antalope , they want to know what you are up to. So give them time to get use to you being there. And number 2 is they most scared of shadows because of hawks.
Take it for what it is worth but most of all have fun. I know I do.



All the above is true.
After they get scared they will stay down for a while.
I bring a bucket of KFC to take up the slack when things slow down.
Give them 1/2 hour and they come back out.
Shoot for another hour and they will stay down longer.
I usually pick up and move to another town when this happens and start again.

I haven't used a pop-up blind, but I have used camo netting
 
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Don't need a blind. Here we can't shoot the little buggers until Mid June. The weeds are as high as the Dogs. I look for a higher spot so I can look down on them. Sure they see me, but after a few minutes they come up and stand tall looking for me. We don't have big towns here, so after a dozen or show shots we must move to another spot.
 
Quote:
I shoot a lot of prairie dogs here in Wyoming and two things
I can tell you. 1) after you get set up give it 15 -20 mins.
Pdogs are like antalope , they want to know what you are up to. So give them time to get use to you being there. And number 2 is they most scared of shadows because of hawks.
Take it for what it is worth but most of all have fun. I know I do.



Yep we usually take our time and set up tables, chairs, have some water, spend a little time surveying the area with binos. We shoot lot of farm areas and pds are accustomed to vehicles and activities going on around. Give them a bit of time and they all come out to see whats up.

Never thought about using a blind, after the first shot they pretty much know the gig is up and you'll get a bunch of divers and runners. Lucky for us there are plenty of stupid ones that just can't "not look"...like a train wreck, they just have to see. As the year wears on they become less curious and many will dive down when we are still moving in the truck. The more they have been shot at the more mobile you have to be.
 
Prairie Dog Blind?


Nope they see pretty well /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

t/c223encore.
 
Nice ride Onionskin; gives me some ideas the Mrs. wouldn't approve. One thing to keep in mind about a blind is having one that isn't to inviting for buzztails to shade up in,beside or under. A big blind would get small in a hurry if a rattlesnake invited himself to join me!
 
Thanks again. I just talked to a guy that was hunting this weekend. He said lots of pups and dumb ones to go around. We will see this FRIDAY and SATURDAY.
 
That ugly brake is a JP Enterprises unit. It does work well. I use that brake on two different rifles, the one shown, and a 22-250; just move it to the one I'm shooting. The rifle in the picture is a 22BR, with Shilen barrel, running 50 gr. speer tnt's at 3700 fps. Pretty wicked. I just put a Holland brake on a barrel yesterday, and it looks nice; hope it works as good as it looks.
 
"I bring a bucket of KFC to take up the slack when things slow down." Words to live by, original recipe can solve a lot of issues.
 
UPDATE: I got back Sunday. We killed 400+ and had blast. By the end anything inside 350 was dead. My longest was 471. I got two in a row at 445. Thanks.
 
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