AZ Prairie Dog Fun-- Trip Report and After Action Review

[benchracer]

TRIP REPORT

A good friend of mine and I had occasion to go prairie doggin' a couple of weeks back on the Big Boquillas Ranch near Seligman. My buddy took pics of some of our splatted dogs (which I am not going to post) and I focused my intention on killing dogs, so there won't be any pics this time around.

It was the first time either of us had gone out after prairie dogs, so neither one of us went into this knowing what we were doing. We drove up from Phoenix that morning and it was about 1030 by the time we found a likely looking spot and got set up. We ended up shooting until about 45 minutes before sunset and departed the ranch just as it was getting dark.

We both brought several rifles and quite a bit of ammo, but that proved to be unnecessary. Shooting opportunities seemed to follow a cycle of 20 to 30 minutes of furious PD (prairie dog) activity, followed by a lull of similar length. Even though the temps were in the mid-90's, there was never enough sustained shooting to heat our rifles to the point that we needed to switch to something else. A further contributing factor was that we only had one varminting bench between us, so we took turns alternating as shooter and spotter.

Had we both had a varminting bench, I suspect our round counts and barrel temps would likely have been quite a bit higher. As it was, my only rifle that saw the light of day was my 22-250, launching 53 VMAX's @ 3900 or so. I brought a total of about 300 rounds for it (150ish factory ammo and 150 handloaded rounds), firing exactly 50 of my handloaded rounds. My buddy mostly shot his 5.56 chambered MVP, also loaded with 53 VMAX's @ 3230. He also brought along a 22 TCM-chambered rifle, but never succeeded in busting a PD with it. He also tried his hand with a .327 Federal revolver, recording some near misses, but no hits.

Over the course of the day, we took about two dozen PD's (that we were able to confirm) at distances ranging from about 75 yards, at the closest, out to about 325 yards, where we dropped several PD's late in the day. In the early going, we were expending 6 or 7 rounds for each PD taken. As the day wore on, we got better at spotting them and got better at talking one another onto them when we did spot them. By the end of the day, we were dropping a dog with every second or third shot.

Before making the trip back to Phoenix, we stopped at Westside Lilo's Cafe, on Route 66 in Seligman, for dinner. Neither one of us had taken a break to eat anything since breakfast and we were both pretty hungry. We stationed ourselves on the patio outside and relaxed awhile, in the cool of evening, while we ate dinner. It was a pleasant place to stop, with a friendly staff. Definitely worth going back.

It was after midnight when we made it back to Phoenix, both of us plum wore out, but grinning ear to ear! What a great way to spend a day!

 

[benchracer]

WHAT WE DID RIGHT

I feel like we did a good job of coming prepared, even though we overpacked in terms of guns and ammo.

We brought plenty of bottled water and ice and took frequent water breaks throughout the day (the shooting lulls were perfect for that).

We made sure we had the ability to set up some shade for ourselves, which was critical to our comfort and enjoyment, and allowed us to stay out there all day. Our setup wasn't elaborate, but it was effective. We rigged a Kelty Noah's Tarp 12, using my buddy's truck on one side and PVC poles, para cord, and tent stakes on the other side. I consider this to be an absolute necessity. We wouldn't have lasted long without it.

Although there was probably some luck involved in this, I feel we chose a good spot to set up. Our location afforded large fields of fire with good backstops and a direction of fire away from cattle and buildings. We had just enough elevation to be able to cover an area that had a LOT of prairie dog mounds in it. The wind direction was in our favor, too, mostly coming from behind us.

I am glad my buddy brought his varminting bench. The vegetation and terrain made shooting from the prone position impractical. I couldn't get steady enough from the sitting position to hit the little buggers, though I scared a few of them. I wouldn't think of doing this again without a good portable bench. Though shooting sticks might still be worth a try, a bench is a much better choice.

 

[benchracer]

WHAT WE COULD HAVE DONE BETTER

TWO VARMINTING BENCHES! If we had both had our own benches, I believe we would have had a much more productive day.

Longer range zeroes on our rifles. We both were zeroed @ 200. After thinking things over, and running some calculations on JBM Ballistics, I think we would both have benefitted from zeroing at longer range. Had we been zeroed @ 300, for example, I think we could have been effective out to around 400 yards, without hurting us up close.

Prior planning and preparation. Neither one of us had a rangefinder. I should have printed some ballistic tables from JBM before we left the house. With ballistic tables and a rangefinder, we could have also filled out range cards that would have dramatically improved our speed and efficiency in getting on target.

It would have been nice to have arrived earlier than we did. We were under some time constraints, which limited us to some extent. If I had it to do over again, I would have made a weekend of it and camped somewhere in the general area, or stayed in a hotel. That would have given us more time to scout the area and choose a location to set up. Doing the whole trip in the same day was pretty exhausting.

Though I felt we did a good overall job of coming prepared, we could have pared the gear down a bit. We each brought three rifles and enough ammo to feed each one. We each could easily have been just fine with one rifle. For the pace of shooting that we experienced, 200 rounds per rifle would be way more than needed (but that is still what I would bring).

 

[benchracer]

MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS

Based on other prairie dog hunting reports I have read, I had some expectations that turned out to be off base:

First, I expected the action to be fast and furious. Instead, it was slower than I expected and cyclical. The difference might simply be the location, since AZ is not known as prime PD territory. Maybe things are different elsewhere.

I also found shooting PD's to be more difficult than I had expected. Rather than blowing dumb, unsuspecting little rodents neatly from the tops of their dirt mounds, we spent the day spotting them in the grass and on the move. They were aware of our presence and often darted from concealment to concealment. In retrospect, I have come to regard this as a pleasant surprise. The reality of the situation made for a challenging outing, with a much increased fun factor.

Red Mist was another expectation of mine that was dashed upon the rocks of reality. I really thought that my 22-250 would produce some red mist and air time. Though it was an emphatic killer, it produced neither air time nor red mist. Interestingly enough, the most dramatic kill of the day was produced by my buddy's MVP. Despite a difference in mv of around 700 fps, there was little difference in observable impact between the 5.56 and the 22-250. The real difference between the two was that the 22-250 was easier to shoot in the wind and at longer distance.

Under the conditions we experienced, I came away with the distinct impression that a person could do quite well with a 3-9 or 3-10 magnification hunting scope (though I would still want parallax adjustment). My buddy had a Nikon 6-18 on his rifle and I had a 6-24x Midway special on my rifle. Though it didn't surprise me that mirage forced us to keep the power on our scopes turned down, I was surprised that we both ended up staying around 8x pretty much all day, not because of mirage, but because we needed the field of view to find and engage PD's, who were often on the move. Even more surprising to me was that I never felt handicapped by the need to remain on low magnification. Quite the contrary, in fact. Though I am quite satisfied with my choice in optics, it was a revelation to me that high magnification wasn't really needed.

As a corollary to this, I brought my spotting scope, but quickly abandoned its use in favor of my Steiner 8x30 Predator binoculars. The binoculars were much more useful, something that came as a bit of a surprise to me.

 

[benchracer]

ONE FINAL THOUGHT...

After the trip was over, as I was thinking about what could have been done better, I got to looking around for portable shooting bench ideas and found the following on Accurateshooter:

Shooting bench plans | Shooters' Forum

 

[Dosh]

Racer, we hunt elk on the Boquillas every year. Never tried their PD hunt , but they have a coyote hunt every year that we've attended several times. Helps with the antelope population. Westside Lilo's is our top breakfast spot, we have to tell them to put less food on the plate, there's too much to eat it all. Many hunters are not happy with the Boquillas Hunter fee, but we think it keeps the crud out that cut fences, litters, leave gates open and shoot up water systems. Since the fee started there have been less hunters, but better quality hunters.

 

[benchracer]

Racer, we hunt elk on the Boquillas every year. Never tried their PD hunt , but they have a coyote hunt every year that we've attended several times. Helps with the antelope population. Westside Lilo's is our top breakfast spot, we have to tell them to put less food on the plate, there's too much to eat it all. Many hunters are not happy with the Boquillas Hunter fee, but we think it keeps the crud out that cut fences, litters, leave gates open and shoot up water systems. Since the fee started there have been less hunters, but better quality hunters.

I am still fairly new to Arizona and still getting things figured out. I have heard that Unit 10 is one of the top elk hunting areas (I believe the Big Bo is in unit 10) and a difficult draw. I think it's cool that you are able to hunt elk there yearly. Seems like good country. Since I moved here, I have talked to some avid hunters. The consensus seems to be that AZ has a well-managed elk herd, but drawing a tag in a good area is difficult. One of the guys I talked to told me he has only drawn two tags in 35 years.

The coyote hunt sounds like a good time. I don't have any experience coyote hunting, but am interested in the idea. I will have to keep an eye out for those hunts.

I don't mind the fee to hunt on the Big Bo and it's no surprise to learn that it has had a positive effect on hunter conduct there. I really enjoyed getting to hunt on the ranch and was surprised to note that there didn't seem to be much in the way of other varmint hunters. The entries in the sign-in log seemed to back that up, as well.

Relative to PD's, my only real issue on the Big Bo is that it is only open to PD hunting for about two months. I have heard there are some PD towns on public land in the Seligman area and plan to do some scouting some time in the future. It would be nice to have shooting opportunities at other times during the year.

 

[budlight]

I've been PD hunting now for over 40 years. when i was a kid i was given a 26 inch 22-250 and taught how to hand load. As i got older I got a custom 270 with a 26 inch barrel 100 and 110 grain bullets red mist critters with chrono speed of 3500 and 3600 or the 100 gr.

it takes Horse Power. these days I use my Rem 700 SPS varminter in 243 win and it has been a PD killer. Spring is the best time because you have the younger dumb ones.

I use optics like 8X32 60mm and 10X40 power 60mm and you are right that during the day heat waves play havoc on long shots. I take my laser range finder and sometimes walked out and had to range find my Quad from various locations out in the colony.