Hunting & Fishing Prairie Dogging annual trip

[jonaddis84]

Finally that time of the year for the long awaited annual trip to shoot some prairie dogs. Its been our goal to get some good footage after our first year three years ago. Last year involved a gopro mounted to an electric RC truck, that one didnt pan out as the dogs were pretty skiddish about it, even if we just left it by a mound for awhile.

This year we went lower tech and I just made up a scope mount for my Galaxy S3, works much better. I just machined a tube that fits tightly around the PST eyepiece as theres several PST's being used. The majority of shots are from a 6-24 MRAD if youre curious.

Just thought Id share some of the cool vids and pics I was able to get. Were on day 3 tomorrow so Ill update it with more as I get them.

Rifles being shot are
22-250
6BR
6mm Rem Ackley
204 Ruger
6.5 Creedmoor
223 Rem
308 Win

We usually end up with some new calibers every year between the 6 of us, I always keep coming back with my 22-250 shooting 53gn Vmax though as it seems to have the best percentage of explosive hits. The 95gn VMAX out of the creedmoors has been impressive though, but still a few just dont expand or something. The 110 VMAX out of the 308 can be the most explosive, but again, a few non expansions seem to happen.

95 vmax pdog - YouTube

95 vmax creedmoor kill - YouTube

This was the 6BR and 6 Rem Ackley at same time
Adam and Craig twofer - YouTube

This was my first attempt at taking a shot through the camera on the 22-250, harder than it would seem as the mount had to be pretty long to get the right eye relief, therefore I cant shoulder the rifle at all, just have to bury the stock into the rear bag really well and go for it. The mount really just works best for filming other guys shots
285yd dog - YouTube

 

[jonaddis84]

Couple screenshots I was able to pull out of the videos.

Galaxy S3 on tapatalk

 

[wvlapua]

Awesome videos...Thanks for sharing.

 

[jonaddis84]

Galaxy S3 on tapatalk

 

[jonaddis84]

Galaxy S3 on tapatalk

 

[shooter1054]

I'm heading up to S Dakota at the end of the month. Taking a 243, 300wsm and 338LM. I hope to get some good footage as well. Thanks for posting.

 

[jonaddis84]

I can save you some weight, unless you are just taking the LM for long range fun its very disappointing. I took mine last year, shot a few with 300 scenars, they just go straight through no carnage. They are nice if you want to try to get a record distance kill though, problem is you will never know if you do because of the giant dust cloud it throws up, then good luck finding the actual mound you were shooting at trying to confirm a kill.

What bullets do you plan to use in the 243? The 75 vmax do some serious work, especially out of the Ackley running close to 3800fps

 

[shooter1054]

I can save you some weight, unless you are just taking the LM for long range fun its very disappointing. I took mine last year, shot a few with 300 scenars, they just go straight through no carnage. They are nice if you want to try to get a record distance kill though, problem is you will never know if you do because of the giant dust cloud it throws up, then good luck finding the actual mound you were shooting at trying to confirm a kill.

What bullets do you plan to use in the 243? The 75 vmax do some serious work, especially out of the Ackley running close to 3800fps

In my 243 I'm running the 95 gn SST at about 2900. I got in on this trip "late" and I don't want to mess around with trying a lighter bullet. I get good accuracy out of the 95's and don't want to screw the pooch by trying something different. Using 250 Hornady Match in the 338 going about 2800+.

 

[limamike56]

I have wanted to do this for years. Not many Prairie Dogs in Western North Carolina. Thanks for posting this. It looks like great fun. What is your longest hit?

 

[thrusty]

lol explosive varmints. Can't wait to get my creedmoor out for some fun.

 

[phxfa]

Awesome vids,,I just got back from SD a couple weeks ago. 105 AMAX's @ 3100 out of my 243 were the ticket for me.
Dogs were scarce and wary, we would pull up to a town and they would dive for the duration. the ones at 500 plus did not. The 105's worked well
past 700 yds and dealt with the wind great,

 

[varmint slayer]

A 22-250 is really all you need for the towns we hit. I know where the dumb ones are haha...

 

[flounderv2]

Nice work guys. Jon, the mount seemed to work pretty well on the Razor as well?

 

[hk401]

very cool video, Do u know any video adapter that i can mount my iPhone to my scope?

 

[Lima Bravo]

That's pretty cool. Our group usually does a "1,2,3" and I hit the shutter release in rapid shot mode with the big lens and get some pretty good explosive shots. No doubt, the 22-250's, .223's, .204's are fun especially when you hear that pop!

 

[jonaddis84]

Nice work guys. Jon, the mount seemed to work pretty well on the Razor as well?

I had to unscrew my adapter and just hold the rear piece in the ocular, it worked reasonably well since it kept it centered.

We had a pretty epic day today, unfortunately only a few good videos since I was too busy shooting, went through 130 rounds of 22-250 myself in 6 hours. Which may not sound like much, but when there's 7 guys in one field it's quite a bit.

Galaxy S3 on tapatalk

 

[jonaddis84]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOjnqgBiD5E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gls6GmY7lYk

Galaxy S3 on tapatalk

 

[shoot4fun]

I will give this a try with the iphone one day. Great vids.
I just got back from shooting the rascals in NE and leave for SD Saturday for some more carnage.
Where did you go?

 

[JB02]

absolutely awesome! thanks for sharing!

 

[varmint slayer]

Where did you go?

They are on 3 private towns with one of them only getting shot at more than a few times a year. All the video is from SD where we can use the cans but next year for them it will be fair game for the cans in WY. Towns they are shooting this go round are 1 outside of Gillette, 1 in the Black Hills and the other is north of Union Center SD. Today was probably the best action these guys have seen in the 3 years they have been coming out with me. I know Jon easily had 110-120 kills in a matter of a few hours. He was on fire along with his barrel and 30BA. The rest of the guys all reported large numbers as well so an all around good day for these guys.

 

[shoot4fun]

SD seems to be where the dogs are. I shot TX for years with great shooting but can't find good towns there now.
Looking forward to my upcoming trip.

 

[jonaddis84]

My prairie wrecking machine

Pretty epic explosion

Luckily for Trevors truck, the guy shooting is a ways to my right

Galaxy S3 on tapatalk

 

[ScottACousino]

Big Thanks to Varmint Slayer for another great year of guiding, if we had something cool to shoot at in Ohio we would have you there in a heartbeat.

 

[varmint slayer]

Big Thanks to Varmint Slayer for another great year of guiding, if we had something cool to shoot at in Ohio we would have you there in a heartbeat.

Good to see you get out this way again Scott. The prairie dogs missed you and the 110 grain Vmax assault...

 

[win.308stealth]

Leaving for Montana last week if June. Can't wait to test out my 6x45 AR.

 

[aaronraby1]

so awesome! haha. I recently had my first prairie dog kills in new mexico! ranges were no more than two hundred yards. though, it was a blast and im hooked!

 

[projectpat0]

Now that looks like loads of fun. Looks like some of those dogs got vaporized.

 

[deadly_punk]

Thanks for sharing. I miss smackin' them critters. I chuckled several times watching the video clips.

 

[my human host]

Very cool.

Took my trip a couple weeks ago. Shot my 6.5 Creedmoor quite a bit. The 123 grain Amaxes caused some impressive carnage. Several pd's seemed to simply vanish in my scope.

Sometimes a guy needs to blow the shit out of some furry little animals.

 

[Bushmaster]

Those videos were great! There is great joy in making those things disapear form a long ways away. I used to go every year in Leveland TX until 2 yrs ago when drought got all the dogs. Go-to was 22-250. 204 was fun too, like a laser. If yall know of any body guiding trips in NW TX or even NM please PM me. Thanks for sharing.

 

[shoot4fun]

Yup, used to be some fantastic shooting around Leveland. Hate to hear it is gone. Follow up on my trip to SD. Target rich environment; pups everywhere and none of the towns had been shot on this year. Easy pickins'!
Had a great time on my bud's 60,000 acre ranch too. Hope to get another invite next year.