BowHunterFett

I am planning on going prairie dog hunting in S.D. in June. I have never been hunting for them before. I am taking my .243, a .22LR, and am planning on buying a .17 HMR. How close can I plan on the shots being? I was considering taking my bow along just for added fun. Would I be able to get within 40 yards of them? Also, if there are any tips you have for shooting/hunting these things, lets hear them.

jonesy0624

i just purchased a 17 and its amazing, im shooting 1'' groups out to about 125 yards and the round is ideal or praire dogs. you could get one maybe 200 yards. i have never heard of anyone shooting with a bow, post some pics if you do, good luck

Howler

Depending on how "shot out" the towns are will dictate how close your shots will be. If the towns haven't had any shooting pressure, then your shots could range from 20 yards to infinity. But if the towns get shot at every few weeks, then expect more like 100+ yards to infinity.
If it's a guided hunt, ask the guide how much shooting pressure the towns will have had before you get there, that will tell you what to expect for ranges!
Take lots of ammo. Nothing worse to travel a long ways for a good shoot and come up short on ammo. Take gun cleaning supplies. Might even take some sort of sun shade/large umbrella to sit under while shooting, or at least sun screen. A shooting bench of some sort, unless the guide is supplying that! A cooler to store the ammo., keep the ammo. cool, especially if it's reloaded any where near max loads! A spotting scope if there will be more than one guy comes in handy while shooting the long range shots, one guy can call the shots for the other! Hearing protection!
I shot over 700 rounds in two days on one shoot I went on.That was with three guns! That's normal, maybe even on the low end, of a good shoot!
And onedit, take your bow. I've shot several with my bow. I use judo points which do well on them plus it makes the arrows easier to find. Don't forget your range finder 'cause they are a small target at any distance!

BowHunterFett

Sweet, sounds like fun. Thanks for all the advice.

jake smith09

Me and my dad plan on going p dog hunting over the summer also. In the spring they are fairly skinny and in the Fall they are really fat so it just depends on the accuracy of the firearm/bow your using when you want to go. Ive heard its really fun but you go through alot of ammo and your barrels tend to heat up really easily. Me and my dad both bought rifles with bull barrels for this reason. Make sure you do take alot of ammo though. You'll need it!!!

eatsleephunt

Praire dog hunting is a blast! I have been fortunate to find some towns with relatively little hunting pressure on both private and public lands. I do most of my shooting with .223 and .22-250 calibers for ease on the pocket book when reloading. I like to start by clearing everything within 0-50 yards with an AR-15, then switch to my .223 rem. for anything out to about 150 and finally trade up to the bull barrel .22-250 for the longer shots. Hey, all you gotta do is move a few hundred yards and it starts all over again. What a blast.

I don't clean my bores as often as I should, but having several guns helps that. We get some 4-500 round days apiece, but 250-350 is more average (depends on wind and weather). A good rule of thumb is to think about how much ammo you think you'll need and double it, or take a bunch of rimfire for backup. I don't get a rise out of rimfire shooting on dogs myself, but hey, you gotta take what you've got.

Happy Hunting