Report on my Prairie Dog Hunt

Hey guys,

Thought I’d report on the prairie dog hunt I went on nearly 2 weeks ago w/ 2 friends. Our guide was Rebel Ridge Outfitters in Syracuse, KS, although the actual hunts were in SE CO. The trip there was fine, taking about 13 hours. We rented a 4’x8’ trailer from U-Haul since 3 hunters and gear take up a lot of space. We stayed the first night at Trail City Bed&Breakfast/ and the last two nights at Miles Court Motel The accommodations at both places were nice and reasonably priced.

Day #1 was sunny, but windy (mostly 10-15 mph). It was so windy the pop-up canopy caught a gust of wind and was blown away 30 yards before I caught it. We planned on hunting property A ( a new property to us) in the morning and property B (a property we hunted last year) in the afternoon. Shooting was good on property A. We relocated to property B in the afternoon and were disappointed to see there were no active prairie dog mounds. Last year we had a really good all day hunt on the same property. The guide said his best property had been stricken by the plague this year, but property B was supposed to still be good. We went back to property A and had another good hunt. Just before dark the wind really died and I had probably the busiest hunt I’ve had on a pd hunt I shot nearly #50 rounds of XP-100 in 6 BR alone. The ranges were fairly close (175-250 yds) so I had a pretty good hit rate. All day my XP 22 BR was hitting high. I shot a paper target at 100 yards and found it 5” high instead of dead on. I used the 6 BR the rest of the day.

Day 2 was really pretty w/ high in the mid 90’s, but minimal wind. We hunted a third property this day.The shooting was pretty steady in both the AM and PM. After adjusting the 22 BR scope, my hit ratio was back to normal. A lot of the shots were longer, commonly in the mid 300’s, but sometimes longer. My long shot for the day was approx. 340 yds. Unfortunately, we saw a storm brewing in the late PM so we had to come in a few hours early.

A few observations. The pop-up canopy is invaluable as far as I’m concerned. It enables me to function well in the heat and sun w/o significant fatigue.
I bought a new pair of 12X Vortex Daimondback binocs for this hunt. I really like them.
The guns all performed fine. One friend had not been on a pd hunt before. He mostly used my Stevens bolt action I converted to 221 Fireball, but shot my Savage bolt action 223 Rem some. I think he preferred the Fireball because he could see his bullet impact through the scope. My other friend shot a Remington 700 in 204 Ruger and it’s a heck of a pd gun. All my shooting was done w/ XP-100's, one in 22 BR and one in 6 BR. I really like both of them.
The days were extremely long w/ about 16 hours of sunshine. I feel sorry for the poor rancher/farmer in SE CO who works from sunup to sundown. ?
For long range shooting, I really like the Burris Ballistic Plex reticle I had on both 3-12X handgun scopes.

Approx round count for 2 day hunt: 221 Fireball #150; 223 Rem #27; 22 BR #122; 6 BR #63; 204 Ruger #297.

Setting up for a shoot.
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22 BR (black&gold) and 6 BR (purple&silver)
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Seeing over tall the grass
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