CB11WYO
Well-Known Member
Got an itchy trigger finger last Friday so I called up a buddy, Adam, who has been wanting to get out for some Prairie Dogs this summer. We headed out early Saturday morning to the dog town and after re-zeroing his rifle at sun-up we were on the two-trackers meandering through the rolling sage hills and valleys.
The higher the sun climbed the more and more dogs began to appear. Adam was shooting a factory Savage Model 11 in .223 topped with Nikon BDC 3-9. Pretty accurate little rifle. I had my trusty 20BR, Rem 700 for the long shots. We both brought 10/22's for the close stuff.
The dogs were fat as pigs and thick as flies. So fat in fact that good hits at close range with .22 LR Winchester Super X hollow points yielded very little "visible reaction."
It didn't take long for us to grow bored with the .22's so we grabbed the big guns.
Hits with the .223 and 20BR to 350 yards and more were very common. Dog's could be spotted with the naked eye easily to 300 in the sun. Soon binoculars revealed many more, a loooong ways away. One in particular stood out very well on a mound without any sage brush. Adam had spotted him first and casually mentioned it to me. He knew I was into LR stuff but hadn't ever seen it in action. He acted a little surprised when I grabbed my rangefinder and called back "750 yards bro." He just looked at me as I grabbed the 20 and dialed her up to 750. We could feel only the very slightest whisper of wind and when I looked through the scope I could see very faint mirage moving right to left. I took a guess and clicked 1/2 MOA into the wind/mirage and settled in.
I let the first one fly and a tense moment later saw the dust fly right behind the standing dog's head. Dang it, I probably just gave him a hair cut, that was close. I clicked down 1/2 MOA and chambered another one. I put the crosshairs right in the center of his back and sent it. The wait seemed like too long, thought I missed him, then he doubled over, and flopped sideways. SCORE! I was ecstatic, Adam seemed impressed. Just for confirmation's sake we took a 750 yard stroll on over to the mound. There he was dead as dead, with a 55 grain 20 cal hole right between his shoulder blades Confirmed, a new personal prairie dog best... with a 20BR nonetheless. Good enough for me!
20BR, Rem 700, 26" tube
Leupy 4.5-14x, HS Precision stock
55 grain .204 Berger @ 3500 fps
The higher the sun climbed the more and more dogs began to appear. Adam was shooting a factory Savage Model 11 in .223 topped with Nikon BDC 3-9. Pretty accurate little rifle. I had my trusty 20BR, Rem 700 for the long shots. We both brought 10/22's for the close stuff.
The dogs were fat as pigs and thick as flies. So fat in fact that good hits at close range with .22 LR Winchester Super X hollow points yielded very little "visible reaction."
It didn't take long for us to grow bored with the .22's so we grabbed the big guns.Hits with the .223 and 20BR to 350 yards and more were very common. Dog's could be spotted with the naked eye easily to 300 in the sun. Soon binoculars revealed many more, a loooong ways away. One in particular stood out very well on a mound without any sage brush. Adam had spotted him first and casually mentioned it to me. He knew I was into LR stuff but hadn't ever seen it in action. He acted a little surprised when I grabbed my rangefinder and called back "750 yards bro." He just looked at me as I grabbed the 20 and dialed her up to 750. We could feel only the very slightest whisper of wind and when I looked through the scope I could see very faint mirage moving right to left. I took a guess and clicked 1/2 MOA into the wind/mirage and settled in.
I let the first one fly and a tense moment later saw the dust fly right behind the standing dog's head. Dang it, I probably just gave him a hair cut, that was close. I clicked down 1/2 MOA and chambered another one. I put the crosshairs right in the center of his back and sent it. The wait seemed like too long, thought I missed him, then he doubled over, and flopped sideways. SCORE! I was ecstatic, Adam seemed impressed. Just for confirmation's sake we took a 750 yard stroll on over to the mound. There he was dead as dead, with a 55 grain 20 cal hole right between his shoulder blades
Confirmed, a new personal prairie dog best... with a 20BR nonetheless. Good enough for me!20BR, Rem 700, 26" tube
Leupy 4.5-14x, HS Precision stock
55 grain .204 Berger @ 3500 fps
