Prairie Dog Hunt #1

“Oklahoma! Where the wind comes sweeping down the plain!” That was certainly the theme for my first prairie dog hunt this year. I usually go on 2 or 3 pd hunting trips every year. I just got back from this year’s first hunt. The drive to the OK panhandle went well. My brother in law traveled with me. He took his Savage bolt action in 204 Ruger. I took a Howa mini-action in 20 VarTarg, a Remington XP-100 in 223 Rem Ackley Improved and a Nosler Custom Handgun in 22 Nosler. All my specialty pistols have rifle scopes and threaded barrels. I used a SilencerCo. 300 Harvester on the XP and a brand new Dead Air Nomad-L on the Nosler. A friend from SW AR also hunted with us. This was his Inaugural prairie dog hunt.

Since we left very early in the morning, we were able to get in a brief hunt afternoon we arrived. With the wind gusting to 43 mph, there weren’t many pd’s to shoot at. At times I just had to get out of the wind and sit in the cab of the truck. Strong winds would become a recurring theme. We had very high winds (gusting 37-44 mph) all but the last day (when we had rain). We tried to line up with the wind in our face or at our back, but sometimes shots across the wind were necessary. I like to start my hunts with the VarTarg, but because of the stiff winds, I mainly shot the 223 Ackley Improved (50 gr) and the 22 Nosler bullets (55 gr). The morning of day #2 we visited the feed store looking for new dog towns. Our landowner doesn’t have as many dog towns as he used to, having sold one property and poisoned another. We met a rancher who offered his land to us to hunt the next day. We shot the new pasture the next day and found it to be a pretty good field. Although the rancher had seen 2 prairie rattlers the past 2 days at the new ranch, we didn’t see any. The new hunter joined us for the last 2 days of the hunt. Although it was his first pd hunting trip, he caught on quickly and was a pretty good shot with his Savage bolt action in 204 Ruger. The last day found us back at the new pasture. During a 30 minute span the last day, the shooting was as busy as I’ve ever experienced. Not only was the wind at our back, but the pd’s were young and seemed uneducated to gunfire. There were so many dogs, we quit spotting for each other and changed to “fire at will” mode. Unfortunately, a light rain set in that afternoon. Although the rain slowed to a drizzle just before dark, the pd’s didn’t come back out. The county had been in the middle of a drought, having received only 2” of rain this year. While the rain ruined the end of our hunt, the area had been blessed. It continued to rain all night and was still raining when we left the next morning.

It wasn’t perfect, but I’d say we had a successful hunt: despite the winds and rain, we had plenty of shots; we found a good, new town; we made some good contacts; I shot a lot of fire forming loads; and we introduced a new prairie dog hunter to the game. All told, I shot over 360 rounds. Almost half of those were the 223 Ackley Improved. I was pleased my equipment performed as expected. The hunt confirmed something I already knew: the 20 VarTarg is basically useless in the wind unless the wind’s at your back or in your face. As the wind picked up, I moved to the 223 Improved then the 22 Nosler. All shots in the 223 Ackley Improved were fire forming loads with 50 gr Hornady and 50 gr Speer spire points. In the Nosler I shot all 55 gr bullets, including a new one for me, the Speer TNT. In the VarTarg, I shot my standard bullet, the 32 gr Hornady Max. Short barreled specialty pistols can have a lot of muzzle blast, but both suppressors tamed the blasts nicely. I’m hoping to go on another hunt in June and possibly September, as well.

XP-100 in 223 Remington Ackley Improved

Nosler Custom Handgun in 22 Nosler