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Old 03-31-2008, 06:38 PM
  #16  
homers brother
Nontypical Buck
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: WY
Posts: 2,056
Default RE: What Would be Better For Prairie Dogs???

Actually, Gophers are NOT Prairie Dogs...

Both belong to Family Sciuridae, but do not belong to the same Genus. Prairie Dogs belong to Genus Cynomys, while "Gophers" belong to Genus Spermophilus.

The term "Gopher" is actually a bit misleading, too. Most people refer to any burrowing rodent (Richardson Ground Squirrel, "flickertails", etc.) as a "gopher", though true gophers belong to Genus Geomydae.

300 meter shots on gophers fairly well excludes all of the rimfires. Since ground squirrels (I don't call them gophers) are smaller than prairie dogs, they're a bit more difficult to hit at longer ranges. I'd probably look at one of the .22 centerfires, you might include the .204 Ruger or .17 Fireball, though I know little about either of those new cartridges. I use a .22-250, a .243, and a .308 on prairie dogs out to and beyond 300 yards. Glass!Scopes get to be important when you're looking over 300 meters of windblown prairieobscured byheat waves. I tend to spend as much or more on the scope for these little critters as I do on the rifle.

As a kid, I used to pop ground squirrels with a .22 LR and open sights, and they're witless enough to afford you multiple chances to terminate them if you miss at first. Unless you're cursed with an exceptionally intelligent colony of ground squirrels/gophers that won't let you get any closer than 100 yards (though we used to try stalking to within feet of their burrows), you might be tempted to stick with a good .22 or .17 rimfire. Heckuva lot cheaper, and quite a bit of fun.
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