The alarm clock went off waaay too early this morning and I jumped out of bed and started to get ready for my first prairie dog hunt since June 28!!! I did some heavy lifting back on June 27 that I shouldn’t have done and wound up with a pinched nerve in my back and from June 29 through the first week of July I was in such pain that I couldn’t get more than an hour or two of sleep each night. I decided it was time to visit the chiropractor and his “adjustments” have seemed to help. I’m not completely healed, but going 41 days without pulling the trigger on a prairie dog was too much to stand so I ventured out for some prairie poodle shootin’ time this morning.
Back in November of 2013, I had purchased a used Remington 700 BDL with a laminated wood stock, and a decent 6-20x50mm scope, but the barrel had seen a considerable amount of wear. My son and grandson used the rifle last summer and got by, but I decided to install a brand new 24" stainless steel Lilja 1 in 9 twist 4 groove Remington Varmint contour barrel chambered in .17 Remington. I sent three dummy rounds in neck turned Nosler brass and seated with 25 gr. Hornady V-Max bullets to Pacific Tool & Gauge and had a reamer built with a .197" neck. When my gunsmith finished the barrel install I drove down to his shop and broke the barrel in using his indoor tunnel and then had him remove the barrel and send it in to have it given the Melonite treatment. I have been working on trying to find a good load for that rifle this spring and early summer. I also installed a Leupold VX-III 6-20x40mm scope I had on hand that has a fine duplex reticle. The suppressor is a GEMTECH Trek-Ti and it is quite effective. Anyway, I had 64 rounds loaded for this morning hunt using a load of 23.4 gr. of Varget pushing the 25 gr. V-Max bullets out of the muzzle at about 4,098 fps and shooting fairly small groups using virgin Nosler brass. Here’s a photo of the rifle and a satisfied recipient of a 25 gr. V-Max projectile.
I parked the pickup at 7:45 a.m. and began getting all my gear together. I had a bunch of prairie dogs that were begging to be shot, so I just lay down alongside the pickup and nailed five prairie dogs before I got my gear ready. I finally got everything in my back pack and swung that over the fence. I shot one more PD before I decided to leave the backpack there and walk west and shoot a few PDs up on the side hill. I could see some horses off to the west so I walked back to the pickup, crossed the fence and began walked in an easterly direction stopping and picking off prairie dogs as I walked along. I walked 25 yards from the pickup before I set up on a PD mound and fired of a couple shots. I found a PD mound overlooking a hillside that was infested with PDs. I must have shot 10 shots from that one position. I only had 14 shells in the first box and opened up a box of 50 reloads. By 9:17 a.m. I had taken a total of 23 shots and nailed 23 prairie dogs. Most of the shots were from 100 to 130 yards and the wind was just barely a whisper.
I used PhotoShop to cover up the carnage in the two photos below here, but believe me, there was enough damage to prove fatal to the prairie dog!!!
Here’s a look at the entrance wound and exit wound on one of the prairie dogs. The 25 gr. V-Max seems to be real explosive both on entrance (the first photo) and exit (the second photo).
I walked further south and set up on another hill side and nailed 6 PDs with 6 shots there before moving on to the west to a dry stock dam and set up on the top of the big berm. I shot 10 shots from there and nailed 10 more prairie dogs. It was time to reload the magazine and the shell holder so I moved off the berm and got to my backpack to load up on ammo. When I got my supply of ammo it was almost 10:00 a.m. and I figured I needed a short nap so I took a 30 minute “power-nap”. There were only 25 rounds of ammo left to shoot before I took a break for lunch. I could hear some screeching sounds, almost like a baby rabbit crying. I got up and looked around and I saw two large raptors, I think they were turkey vultures and they were feasting on the PDs I had shot.
The shooting was pretty good but there weren’t any opportunities for doubles today. At 10:45 I took a break and had some ice cold water, some spindle pretzels and a chocolate chip cookie. I was ready to shoot some more prairie dogs. At 11:00 a.m. I started walking to the southwest and paused to take some photos of blossoms.
By now I had shot 50 shots out of the 64 loaded rounds I had with and hit on all 50 shots. The longest shot was a paltry 183 yards, but it was one of those prairie dogs with real dark fur. So I trudged up there to take some photos. Here’s what he looked like.
While checking out the dark fur PD, a blue moth/butterfly landed near some of the guts and stayed still long enough for me to snap a couple of photos. I have never seen a moth/butterfly this color before and if anyone knows anything about them, please let me know. It was a little smaller than a quarter and is pictured below:
At 11:09 I discovered I had lost one of my brand new Nosler casings!!!! I walked back the way I had come and checked spots where I had stopped to shoot prairie dogs, but never did find the casing. I shot PDs during my search and by 12:16 I had shot the last of my 64 shells. I started back for the pickup, but this time I had my camera out and snapped a bunch of blossom photos and photos of dead prairie dogs.
Here’s the “Hero Photo” of me with the rifle and the PD with the dark fur.
It was a great day. I was EXTREMELY PLEASED with the accuracy I was getting with this rifle, especially since I was shooting brass that HAD NOT BEEN fire formed yet!!! I was also very happy that I didn’t hurt my back crawling around in the PD town. Other plus factors were that I had fun shooting some prairie dogs and even got a “power nap” out in the North Dakota sun. I arrived back at the pickup at 12:55 and by 1:02 I was driving away from the PD town. I stopped by the landowner’s home and thanked him for letting me shoot and then headed back to Williston. LIFE IS GOOD!!!
Back in November of 2013, I had purchased a used Remington 700 BDL with a laminated wood stock, and a decent 6-20x50mm scope, but the barrel had seen a considerable amount of wear. My son and grandson used the rifle last summer and got by, but I decided to install a brand new 24" stainless steel Lilja 1 in 9 twist 4 groove Remington Varmint contour barrel chambered in .17 Remington. I sent three dummy rounds in neck turned Nosler brass and seated with 25 gr. Hornady V-Max bullets to Pacific Tool & Gauge and had a reamer built with a .197" neck. When my gunsmith finished the barrel install I drove down to his shop and broke the barrel in using his indoor tunnel and then had him remove the barrel and send it in to have it given the Melonite treatment. I have been working on trying to find a good load for that rifle this spring and early summer. I also installed a Leupold VX-III 6-20x40mm scope I had on hand that has a fine duplex reticle. The suppressor is a GEMTECH Trek-Ti and it is quite effective. Anyway, I had 64 rounds loaded for this morning hunt using a load of 23.4 gr. of Varget pushing the 25 gr. V-Max bullets out of the muzzle at about 4,098 fps and shooting fairly small groups using virgin Nosler brass. Here’s a photo of the rifle and a satisfied recipient of a 25 gr. V-Max projectile.
I parked the pickup at 7:45 a.m. and began getting all my gear together. I had a bunch of prairie dogs that were begging to be shot, so I just lay down alongside the pickup and nailed five prairie dogs before I got my gear ready. I finally got everything in my back pack and swung that over the fence. I shot one more PD before I decided to leave the backpack there and walk west and shoot a few PDs up on the side hill. I could see some horses off to the west so I walked back to the pickup, crossed the fence and began walked in an easterly direction stopping and picking off prairie dogs as I walked along. I walked 25 yards from the pickup before I set up on a PD mound and fired of a couple shots. I found a PD mound overlooking a hillside that was infested with PDs. I must have shot 10 shots from that one position. I only had 14 shells in the first box and opened up a box of 50 reloads. By 9:17 a.m. I had taken a total of 23 shots and nailed 23 prairie dogs. Most of the shots were from 100 to 130 yards and the wind was just barely a whisper.
I used PhotoShop to cover up the carnage in the two photos below here, but believe me, there was enough damage to prove fatal to the prairie dog!!!
I walked further south and set up on another hill side and nailed 6 PDs with 6 shots there before moving on to the west to a dry stock dam and set up on the top of the big berm. I shot 10 shots from there and nailed 10 more prairie dogs. It was time to reload the magazine and the shell holder so I moved off the berm and got to my backpack to load up on ammo. When I got my supply of ammo it was almost 10:00 a.m. and I figured I needed a short nap so I took a 30 minute “power-nap”. There were only 25 rounds of ammo left to shoot before I took a break for lunch. I could hear some screeching sounds, almost like a baby rabbit crying. I got up and looked around and I saw two large raptors, I think they were turkey vultures and they were feasting on the PDs I had shot.
The shooting was pretty good but there weren’t any opportunities for doubles today. At 10:45 I took a break and had some ice cold water, some spindle pretzels and a chocolate chip cookie. I was ready to shoot some more prairie dogs. At 11:00 a.m. I started walking to the southwest and paused to take some photos of blossoms.
By now I had shot 50 shots out of the 64 loaded rounds I had with and hit on all 50 shots. The longest shot was a paltry 183 yards, but it was one of those prairie dogs with real dark fur. So I trudged up there to take some photos. Here’s what he looked like.
While checking out the dark fur PD, a blue moth/butterfly landed near some of the guts and stayed still long enough for me to snap a couple of photos. I have never seen a moth/butterfly this color before and if anyone knows anything about them, please let me know. It was a little smaller than a quarter and is pictured below:
At 11:09 I discovered I had lost one of my brand new Nosler casings!!!! I walked back the way I had come and checked spots where I had stopped to shoot prairie dogs, but never did find the casing. I shot PDs during my search and by 12:16 I had shot the last of my 64 shells. I started back for the pickup, but this time I had my camera out and snapped a bunch of blossom photos and photos of dead prairie dogs.
Here’s the “Hero Photo” of me with the rifle and the PD with the dark fur.
It was a great day. I was EXTREMELY PLEASED with the accuracy I was getting with this rifle, especially since I was shooting brass that HAD NOT BEEN fire formed yet!!! I was also very happy that I didn’t hurt my back crawling around in the PD town. Other plus factors were that I had fun shooting some prairie dogs and even got a “power nap” out in the North Dakota sun. I arrived back at the pickup at 12:55 and by 1:02 I was driving away from the PD town. I stopped by the landowner’s home and thanked him for letting me shoot and then headed back to Williston. LIFE IS GOOD!!!
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