Best prairie dog rifle?
 

Okay, I went out the other day to help a co-worker out with a prairie dog infestation that he is having a problem with. He has about 100 on about 50 acres out of his 640 acres but is wanting to keep them from spreading any further.

I went out a few evenings ago and tried to work them with my Ruger 10/22 and wasn't very successful. I feel good out to about 50 yards with the .22 and they just don't let you get that close. I stalked a few and am pretty sure I hit a few, but they were all able to get back in their holes even if I did hit them.

I've been looking around and I could pick up a Marlin 917 .17 HMR bolt action rifle for $208 at academy ($298 for a stainless laminate version) and from looking around this would be able to reach out to 100 to 150 yards and I was routinely able to get that close to them before they ran for their holes. I could probably pick up a cheap scope and get it all setup for $500 or so.

Not sure I want to spend that much to have a rifle that is just good for prairie dogs.

Any tips or tricks to get within 50 yards of the prairie dogs so I could use my 10/22?

If I get the .17 HMR should I get rid of my 10/22 as they are used for about the same thing but the .17 HMR is better?

Is the Marlin 917 a good choice? How much is .17 HMR ammo and what is the best choice for shooting prairie dogs at 100 yards?

Thanks in advance for any comments or suggestions.

Nathan

RE: Best prairie dog rifle?
 

Man, if I were you....... I would go ahead and get a 22-250 Rem. I have one and it is for a variety of game other than just prairie dogs. If you get a 17 hmr, fine, but a 22-250 is going to be more accurate, more powerful, and flatter shooting at longer ranges. Just a 2 mph wind will take a .17 bullet whatever the direction of the wind is. My grandparents own a 650 acre farm in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, and I have killed plenty of groundhogs there past 400 plenty of times with it. I have a 22-250 Sendero with a free-floating bull barrel, harris bi-pods, 10x40-50 scope, and I am in love with it. Just my opinion though. All I am trying to say is, an all-around super accurate varmint gun such as the 22-250 is going to serve you better and have more uses than a .17 hmr in my opinion. But have fun with those prairie dogs anyway whatever rifle you buy.

RE: Best prairie dog rifle?
 

Oh yeah, this guys place is in a fairly populated area. I would be hesitant to shoot a large bore center fire rifle in the area. I felt pretty good with the .22 and I think the .17 HMR would be fine, but not sure about a larger rifle.

RE: Best prairie dog rifle?
 

I dont shoot any prairie dogs, but ii shoot coons, opossums, ect with my 10/22. My suggestion is to change you bullet. I went from the 500 per box remingtons to 50 per box CCI Stingers. You will need to re-sight in your gunbut trust me, they shoot flater and faster. Try that out first before you go off and buy a new gun. If it doesnt work your only out $7.

RE: Best prairie dog rifle?
 

I agree the CCI stingers is a great round for the .22!

RE: Best prairie dog rifle?
 

dont get the stingers. get cabelas supermaximum. they shoot 110fps faster and are also flatter. or if its closer range get 60gr bullets and that will do itbut i would still stik w/ the .17mag. good gun and not too loud. also super accurate! .17mag will do better than that 10/22 anytime anyday. .17 extends ur range quite a bit. iwoudl stik w/ polymer tipped or hollowpoints in the .17mag. but if u still want a little challeng w/ the .22get a bipod or somthing and put ur gun right at the top of the hole like 25-30 yards away and stay totally still becuase they can hear the vibrations of u coming and walking. but after half an hour or so, they should come out. good luk

RE: Best prairie dog rifle?
 

for that kind of money id go with a .223 or .22-250. just because its a more versitile gun. the .17hmr would be a good gun but not much versitile of a gun. and for 500 u could have a real nice .223 u could use on coyotes fox ect... but like u said in populated areas u have to watch out. i use my 223 on gophers and it works great just have to watch were i am shooting.

RE: Best prairie dog rifle?
 

Sounds like you have a good excuse to get a new rifle to me. The .17 hmr is a great little prairie dog gun. I've shot hundreds upon hundreds of prairie dogs with my savage .17 hmr using the .17 grain poly tips and for the most part, the prairie dogs don't get back to the hole. The bullets fragment very quickly, so very little to worry about deflections going very far. Might look into the BSA scope that is made exclusively for the .17 hmr that allows the shooter to adjust each shot for different yardages, and the scope is not expensive at all. I've got a cheap bushnell on mine and it does just fine. And 150 yards will be stretching the range if there is any breeze at all. But out to about 125 yards, it is simply fun and deadly.
Buy the new gun. Once you have it sighted in, it'll put a smile on your face around those prairie dogs. Ammo. is about $11-$13/50!

RE: Best prairie dog rifle?
 

I wouldnt use the .17 unless I was at closer ranges. IMO from experience, I would use the .223 or the .22-250. (I like the .22-250 the best)

RE: Best prairie dog rifle?
 

Well, I was talking to the guy today and told him I was having a little problems getting close enough with my .22 and he said he had bought a gun a few months ago to shoot them with but just hadn't gotten around to it.

Guess what it is? A Marlin 917 .17 HMR bolt action rifle! :D

It hasn't even fired a single round. It is topped with a pretty cheap Bushnell 3-9x 40mm scope but it should do the trick. I'm going to go sight it in and try my hand at the prairie dogs again this evening. He even gave me 2 boxes of CCI 17 HMR TNT hollowpoint shells to shoot them with! :D

I pinched myself afew times, but I think this is real. Pretty sweet deal!

RE: Best prairie dog rifle?
 

If the price was right, you're going to like it. Just don't kid yourself into thinking that you're going to kill everything out to 200 yards and beyond, because that little bullet really starts to drop very quickly at about 150 yards and beyond and is very wind sensitive.

RE: Best prairie dog rifle?
 

The price was perfect, it was FREE. He didn't actually give me the rifle but it's mine to use as long as I'm going out to his place and shooting prairie dogs anyway.

I sighted it in and went out there this evening. I ended up shooting somewhere between 12 and 20 of them. The fartherest "confirmed" kill was 186 yards with my nikon monarch rangefinder! That sucker flat out shoots! Anything within 150 yards was for sure within range.

I didn't end up picking all of them up and on a few all I saw was blood spatter at their hole and on a few I am positive I hit them but never bothered to go look at each hole because I didn't want to walk into the colony and make them all hide so I was just staying out about 150 yards away and shooting whenever I saw one.

I felt like this was a good exercise for improving my shooting. I felt like I got better and better as the evening went on. I was looking through the scope throughout the trigger pull and kept my eye open looking through the scope for impact.

The .17 HMR is a fun little round!

Here's the gun with a few of the prairie dogs and my range finder.



I'm going to go back out there in the morning before work and see if I can smack down a few more.

RE: Best prairie dog rifle?
 

Well done, sounds like you had a good hunt!!!!!!

RE: Best prairie dog rifle?
 

I just bought a Bushmaster Varminter this summer. I can't wait for a chance to heat up the barrel on dogs;)

RE: Best prairie dog rifle?
 

Why does everybody look past the .22wmr??? It has been around for along time and IMO is better then the .17hmr.I have seen some impressive kills with that round.From ground hogs to whitetail even thou the whitetail was illegal I saw it happen.

RE: Best prairie dog rifle?
 

Because the .17 hmr can handle a prairie dog just fine!;)

RE: Best prairie dog rifle?
 

Well I know that !!! But if I were going to buy a new rifle just for small game it would be a .22wmr.

RE: Best prairie dog rifle?
 

I agree with the 22WMR. Alot better at bucking the wind than a 17HMR. I've had both, and I still have the 22WMR ;)If the wind is above 10mph those lil 17gr bullets drift like crazy, making anything past 50-75 yards impossible without a spotter.

RE: Best prairie dog rifle?
 

Wow the .17 doesn't do much in terms of damage. I bought a .22-250 shooting the Federal 40 grain V-max. They explode! Not just the bullet... the dog. Its like shooting a gallon of water with a .30-06.

I'm planning to try the new Barnes Varmit Grenades (new bullet).

RE: Best prairie dog rifle?
 

you should see how they come apart with .308 and .300 Win Mag. I was in SD for deer, pheasant and coyote, and our yote "guide" cancelled so we went to the dog town with all we had with us. That made a mess. 175 grainers in the .308 and 150 power shocks from the .300. WOW can you say KER-SPLAT!!!!!!!
I know, neither of these are practical dogging rifles, but fun every now and then for grins. I just think something a little bigger then the .17 or the .22 for bucking th wind on th elonger shots. Doesn't seem to take too much wind to affect eiher of these bullets. Seems all the dog towns tha tI have been on were in pretty wide open places. I have to say a .223 is a good round. pretty good at some distance, and relativly cheap to shoot. Sure lots of others, but that isn't a bad choice.

RE: Best prairie dog rifle?
 

I was going to recommend getting a .223, but it looks like you are doing just fine with that .17 HMR. If you didn't already buy it, you might as well go ahead. Buy one and give it to the guy that let you borrow his new one and keep the one you have already shot. A nice little Thank you.

RE: Best prairie dog rifle?
 

I've had the opportunity to shoot them in CO twice in the last year- .223 or 22-250; Rem 700 or Savage is a great out of box gun

RE: Best prairie dog rifle?
 

OH YA on the .300 win mag, i have a .22-250 also, but once the close dogs go down the hole, i unleash the winmag on the 400+ yard dogs, i reload 125 grain nosler ballistic tips, honesly you don't find much left, the exploding factor weighs in heavy , i have taken out four dogs with one rifle shot due to fragging bullets. For the 22-250 i use 55 grain sxsp bullets.
Good luck on those varmits, just be sure to save some for next year,

RE: Best prairie dog rifle?
 

I live in an area where the p-dogs are plentiful to the point the farmers are buying the shells just to get us out. Some days we shoot up to 1000rds it winds up being a whole day event. All i use is a 22lr and 100yd shots are no a problem. If i was going to get any other rifle for the job it would be the 17hmr kind of keeps the expense down because the farmes only supply 22lr.