Every summer I try to go on two prairie dog hunts. This past May I went on a hunt at the Kiowa National Grasslands northeast of Clayton, NM. Our hunting group had a good time. Originally I was scheduled to go on a June hunt with Rebel Ridge Outfitters, but the guide had to cancel it due to extremely low numbers of dogs from an ongoing outbreak of the plague. Consequently I decided on a second trip to the Kiowa.

The hunting party consisted of a friend of mine (two prior trips), his son (first pd hunt) and his dad (one prior trip). The son turned 13 on the first day of hunting. The trip west went well. We checked into the Days Inn and grabbed some supper at the local Dairy Queen. After a quick breakfast the next morning at the motel, we drove out to the grasslands. We decided to hunt a dog town my friend and his dad had hunted last July. The weather was a cool 70 deg when we started out, but quickly warmed up to the mid 90’s. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The wind was mostly quiet, but sometimes gusted to 12 mph. We shot this dog town all day and had a good hunt. We set up the pop up canopy and it helped us manage the heat a great deal. Unfortunately, the son and his grand dad both had failures with their AR 15’s so that both guns were out of action the rest of the hunt.

Day #2 was also a beautiful day, reaching a high of 101 deg. We decided to hunt a different pd town none of us had hunted before. As navigator, I had us take a wrong turn that delayed us getting to the dog town. The “roads’ (actually two track trails through pastures) are not marked and the sections are mostly unmarked. The shooting at this town was a little slow so in the PM we moved back to the town we’d hunted the prior day.

After the problems with the AR’s, the son and grand dad both shot my 221 Fireball a good bit. I built the Fireball from a Stevens M200 a few years ago to be used by guests on pd hunts. After 2 days of hunting, the 13 year old (his birthday was on the first day of the hunt) thought the rifle was magical! The 221 works so well because it’s accurate, flat shooting, has minimal recoil and very little muzzle blast. This was the virgin trip for a new gun of mine, a 20 Practical (20 caliber bullet in 223 Rem brass) rifle. Muzzle velocity is only about 100 fps less than the 204 Ruger. Like the 221, I built the Practical on a Stevens M200 action, but w/ a Shilen barrel. I usually hunt w/ XP-100 handguns but shot the new rifle a lot so I could see how the project turned out. I still shot my XP’s some. The 22 BR was hitting high so I didn’t shoot it as much as I did the 20 Practical rifle and the 6 BR handgun. Unfortunately, the 6 BR fell off the shooting table the PM of the second day. Once I started shooting, my spotter said I was hitting to the left. After missing one to many easy shots, we set up a target and at 100 yards it was 3.5” to the left and 3.5” high. I made adjustments and it was back to dead on at 100 yards.

I was pleased with all my equipment. The 20 Practical is a winner. I built it as a second “guest gun.” I’ve always used my son’s 223 Rem Stevens as a back up guest gun, but since he’s graduated from college and starting his own life I figured he’d probably eventually reclaim his 223. With a muzzle velocity of 3900 fps the 32 gr Varmageddon plastic tipped bullet was very destructive and very flat shooting. Unlike shooting my XP’s, with the Practical I was able to spot most of my own shots, get back on target quickly and find targets very quickly. My brother in law made new base for the rotating table that attaches to a metal plate in the truck cargo box. The set up was very stable and provided elevation over much of the prairie grass. The set up worked really well.

I enjoyed both hunts this year on the Kiowa National Grasslands. I’m hoping the pd populations will rebound soon on the nearby Rita Blanca National Grasslands in the near future.

Fireball set up on rotating table in cargo box.