Ranging prairie dogs with reticle?

[MainDish]

I searched for this, but was surprised to not find any threads. Can anyone comment on their experiences with range estimating prairie dogs using their mil reticles (or whatever reticle variation)?

I've been prairie dog shooting for about the last 10 years, using ARs, so ranging past 400 yards or so is mostly done by watching the bullet splash in the dust and using your follow-up shot. I got a new scope this year and I want to play with ranging the suckers optically. From what I can find, adults are 12-15" standing. That's quite a bit of variation to be using the mil reticle. In say mule deer hunting, the torso of adult bucks will have a smaller percentage of variation.

In the past, we have just identified them as adults or pups, but not paid too much attention to their height standing or length when horizontal.

I'm curious if anyone has experience that would lead me to quickly conclude if this is a good method to develop or a lost cause.

 

[pdog2062]

To work well you need to know the exact height of the dogs. Where we shoot some are the size of bowling pins and others are the size of salt shakers.Hard to judge them that way.

 

[wyowinchester]

I think your 12-15 is an over estimattion for p-dog heights. When their sitting on their mound looking around for danger, I'd say 10-12" is more accurate for an adult, 4-6 on the pups. My towns do not have very many 15" dogs. If you use 10" as an average it might make you calculations easier with the mil dot system.

 

[MainDish]

Good comments. Thanks guys. I'll make charts for 10" and 12". If the conditions are such that I can get some good bench time shooting with the charts, I'll definitely report back in late June with my findings. Sometimes after a few beers, with the dogs flying, and especially if the laser is working well enough, it's a bit difficult to focus on the more academic aspects of it.

 

[ShtrRdy]

I've been using 10" for height. The size varies like Wyowinchester says but this will get you close.