What do you consider a good day for shooting prairie dogs?

CRE10

New member
New to the forum. Just curious what do you guys consider a good day for shooting prairie dogs? Do you go by round count? If so how many rounds? Atmosphere? Guide? Adventure?

I've been going to Rosebud South Dakota for 3 or 4 years now and have been thinking of mixing it up a little to go to a different spot. I'd say over 3 days of shooting from 700 to 4 or so we average 200 to 300 rounds.
 
A good day? I have had days where I got a couple hundred in just 2-3 hours time. Had to keep swapping guns as the barrels became sizzling hot. But I would be OK with 200 kills in a day. That's enough to call it a good day for me. Don't want to be too greedy you know.
 
If you mean 2 or 300 per trip that's really light, if 2 or 300 per day that's not terrible but could be better. Like Rusty said, when they are super dumb, never been shot at or pups you can torch a barrel in no time.
 
Originally Posted By: 204 AR Like Rusty said, when they are super dumb, never been shot at or pups you can torch a barrel in no time.

The first year I had my AR-15 Varminter my buddy and I got access to some land near Casper that had not been hunted in decades. The pooches had no idea what we were and had no fear of us. There could be 7-8 of them standing on a mound and you could just mow them down one after the other and they would just stand there. You could splatter them with the guts from the guy standing next to them and they would just stand there looking a bit bewildered. It was just incredible. When it finally slowed somewhat we could throw guns and benches into his Jeep, move about 200 yards set up again and start all over. What a day that was.
 
2-300 per day average. Average total per year over three days maybe 900-1100 rounds.

I'm going up about two weeks earlier this year to see if it's better.
 
Originally Posted By: jshAny day in a dog town is a good day. That thing called work sure gets in the way of my hobbies.

Exactly. I don't worry about how many I kill. It is always nice to kill a lot but a good day is any day you can get out to do it.
 
A good day is when I don't get the plague from crawling around from mound to mound. Or stuck fast in gumbo.
A normal good day is around 200 shots never was in to "Verified kills"
we do normally take a back up gun to let them cool.
 
A good p-d day many years ago was 400-500 rounds per day was the norm in the mid '80s. We rotated several rifles to allow them to cool down. We used Remington 700 .222 and .22-250 rifles.
 
Last edited:
A good Day 5-600 rounds. A medium average day 3-400, easily doable on the private ranches where they don't get shot at much. I don't worry about barrels anymore they're expendable items. I don't take any collector guns and most everything has had one or two barrels screwed on already.
 
I'm already scheduled to go to my same spot this year, but I may do some research for next year and head a bit further north to see if shooting is better.
 
I count number of kills, and number of shots. My best success rate is about 80%, that is including shots to the mid 300's. Most shots are in the 200 to 250 range, a few around 150, and a few beyond 300 to 350.
My lowest ratio, is usually around the 65% mark, that's on windy days with mostly longer shots.

I don't kill hundreds per day, some places there just aren't that many. But, I also don't go through hundreds of rounds either. Often when I am with others, they count it as a hit if the animal is gone, except that many of those times it was a miss and it just ran off. Those same people really don't shoot much, yet claim their success rate to be 90% or higher!
 
20 years ago, near Wood, S.D. 1500 rds. in three days. This doesn't include close stuff with .22LR, pistol, or .44-40 levergun.

Not even real sure of the populations around there now. Four of us hunted private ground, had a great time.
 
I don’t mind a bit more on the ‘hunting’ side of the equation, over total rounds fired. That means I often roam around, lean against something firm with shooting sticks.

I may sit a bit & wait for the closer dogs come up, higher percentage shots. The weather can be a wildcard, hoping for cooperative weather mid June.
 
My good day is how accurate was I. If I missed a bunch it's a bad day. Never shot on a big town of stupid prairie dogs so I've never had even a hundred round day but if I hit the majority of my shots, I'm good with it.
 
A good day is when you look in the shell box and 80-90% of the empties are, "dimple up".
I put them back neck up when I miss a dog.
No, you don't get to turn one over for a double.
Had one of those days today. Mother's Day Dogs.
 
jetman said:
A good day is when I don't get the plague from crawling around from mound to mound. Or stuck fast in gumbo.

Crawling around in a dog town, to eachs own I suppose.
Rattle snakes, cactus and ants ain’t what I want to crawl around with. The guys I hunt with would make sure I only did that once, lol.
 
I just got back from a PD hunt and the shooting was great, pretty much something to shoot at steadily, there was never a time a PD wasn't in view. I shot about 1200 rounds over three days. I had four rifles, ran out of ammo on my 20 practical half way into the second day, and was rotating between the other three to keep the barrels cool the whole time, it was great.

My partners that carried AR's shot about twice what I did. I could have shot more but didn't want to torch my rifles and I was shooting steadily. I really don't see how someone could shoot more than about 400 rounds a day unless they're just flinging them. I do try to discipline myself and make good shots, and I'll turn down a 150 yd gimme to try and get one at 550 yds because I love the challenge of longer range.
 
A good day of prairie dog hunting is hard to determine. I realize the OP is asking for our own individual opinions. I would have to say the hit% is way more important than the quantity. They go hand in hand of course, but I always try to shoot 60% knowing that I have to shoot well in the beginning when the dogs aren't scared and just peeking out of their holes from 250yds +.

Where I shoot you can sit in one spot for 30 minutes before you get a shot every 10-15 minutes. I've done it, but I'd rather crawl on my belly to the top of a hill and shoot without them realizing im there.

I suppose in a day if I can hit 60% of the shots I take, have a confirmed hit past 400 yds and kill 12 dogs an hour that's a pretty dang good day to me. Oh, and do it with handloads that I can look back at in satisfaction by their performance and accuracy. Sharing that moment with my daughters, son, father, brother or a pal is better than doing it solo.

Andy
 
Back
Top