prairie dog hunting can be graphic viewer discretion is advised
if blood makes you squeamish you probably don't want to watch this video
nice shot all right guys well we picked a really windy day to come shoot some prairie dogs we're
trying to do the best we can to get some footage
bingo ooh he looks fat i like the fat one
and shoot
we're on boys we're in the game we're in the game
kind of what our tactic is today not that it takes very much of a tactic to shoot prairie
dogs but we're just gonna keep moving around from spot to spot we kind of shoot them out within a
hundred yards and then we move around and shoot them out and move around and shoot them
out there he's kind of up now shoot oh i'm on him though whenever you want him facing right there you go
good shot
the one's still to the right there okay
ready yep
a lot of people they kind of question me like why would you shoot prairie dogs or like what's wrong
with you you're shooting prairie dogs and blowing them up but out west here it's a culture number
one we've been doing this for 20 years you live out west there's always a rancher or farmer friend
or somebody that has a rodent problem that you have the opportunity to come out and shoot prairie
dogs shoot varmints not only is the rancher benefiting but i firmly believe that shooting
live targets like prairie dogs is the building blocks to becoming an accurate big game shot
you can apply it to any any type of hunting really but what sets it apart is aim small miss small
these are small targets tiny animals out to 300 yards if you have the slightest error you're
gonna miss these things and so if you ingrain that in your mind and you come out here and
you shoot these prairie dogs and you're getting that practice it's going to really prepare you
for any hunt whether it's varmints whether it's big game whether it's extreme game like brown bear
or moose or whatever shooting varmints is the building blocks of becoming a proficient accurate
shot do it when you're young and it'll stay with you the rest of your life that's shooting varmints
just put it dead center and let them have it when you want them
nice
jack one in
take him
oh my gosh
all right when it comes to shooting varmints whether it's prairie dogs woodchucks coyotes
whatever i prefer a 22-250 22 caliber you can get bullets about anywhere well you used to be able to
it's a fast round it's been around for a long time so it's not too hard to find brass for 'em either
so that's why i prefer a 22-250 i'll be anywhere from 37 to 4 100 feet per second too and that's
the key when we're out here shooting prairie dogs to really get that performance that we're
looking for is the high speeds so with those high speeds whether i'm doing my reloads
that are shooting about 3750 or my factory 50 grain super performance which is about 4 000
feet per second those really hit hard and they do exactly what i want them to do in the field
so going back to that i always use a 50 grain v-max these bullets are specifically meant to
come apart so when they hit at high speeds they fragment and they're very explosive so 50 grain
v-max is always my go-to i've worked up loads over the years and have found that varget has been the
best along with super performance hornady's powder varget has been awesome for me it's really accurate
and i shot my best group ever with any rifle at any time with varget and my 22-250 at 220 yards is
three quarters of an inch with these 50 grain v-maxes so that's what we're looking for and
especially at 100 yards if you want a solid 300 plus yard prairie dog gun you need that quarter
inch group at 100 yards and so that's what we're looking for we're very picky on accuracy
yes sir
straight below it
okay hold right on guys next one right there
like three inches high
sometimes the factory stuff shoots really well this factory 22-250 that i have it
shoots the factory ammo really well the the 50 grain v-max super performance from hornady
i'm getting under a half inch with it at 100 yards so it just depends on the rifle
it's part of working up a load and getting to know what combination the rifle likes i've tested
tons of different combinations and this is what i've came up with a lot of guys have
been asking well what's your your load combo or what are you using so here it is for my 22 250.
uh 50 grain vmax 35.3 grains of varget that's putting me right at 3700 feet per second
and my particular rifle my case overall length with the bullet is 2.47 inches i like to start
with new brass if i can i'm lucky over the past five years i've kind of stocked up on brass a
little bit and so i have lots of new 20 to 250 brass that i load there's nothing wrong with once
twice three times fired brass polish it up in the tumbler and load that too trim them primers
measure out my powder once again 35.3 grains and seat the v maxes pretty straightforward
i'm lucky that my dad taught me how to reload when i was a young kid
and taught me how to shoot when i was a young kid and it kind of brings it full circle back to why
we shoot prairie dogs it's just going to make you a better shot and when it comes to big game
it it makes making that shot so much easier if you can shoot a prairie dog at 200 yards
right in the center of the body you can hit an elk at 200 yards on the broad side of a barn of
an elk no problem i mean that's the idea a good testament to that is my wife eva she was never
a big game hunter until the last few years and that was one of the things that i stressed when
i taught her how to shoot was with that trigger control and getting out and shooting prairie dogs
there's a big one on the mound oh yeah looking left facing left yeah he's all
like a roly-poly yeah it's 280 so you need to hold high way high take it when you want them
hmm over him over him too high just an inch over him okay
he's still there facing yeah it's just butts to us okay
facing straight at us eating go ahead really squeeze facing quartering right facing us
facing left now he's going left see that one yeah i'm on him though whenever you want him
facing right there you go
good shot good shot
i guess shoot the closer one or wait till they line up get ready on them yeah if they line up
how high it's 2 30 so just on top of their back right there nope nope
there shoot that one standing up
ah where was that to the right to the right yeah elevation was good this is a good example of an
area that is overgrazed by prairie dogs because there were literally so many there wasn't a stitch
of grass left to be eaten you can see these dogs out here and they're just eating the tiniest buds
that are trying to re-sprout after a rain and this is an area that it's actually a problem there's
too many and the rangeland is really suffering when you just have all this exposed dirt out here
it makes it very easy for noxious weeds to take hold and take over an area that once produced
range grass for cattle and everything else antelope mule deer prairie dogs etc
now you're hitting right hitting right yeah
two in a pile on the mound
at the baby station yeah just to the left they're all touching noses and stuff
10 yards to the left of the baby station see him see that one walking right now yep
he's like at that little cow patty yeah go ahead and take him where's he how far that's the same
walking right yep walking right sniffing he's right at a cow patty
oh you're a mile low serious what do you think i gotta shoot one more i can't end like this
kind of facing to us quartering towards yep digging yep here we go facing us now facing left yep
awesome
now that really helped her develop that trigger control and that aim small miss small mentality
we kind of have this little record that we keep but she's at 15 one-shot kills on big game animals
put it right on his hip whenever you're ready
he's dead another problem i mean there's nothing wrong with prairie dogs out there we don't want
to eradicate them totally right but we do want to keep the numbers down because we do not want the
plague coming through and wiping them all out at once and so there's that level of sustainability
where you're going to shoot them up a little bit but you're not going to shoot them out if that
makes sense we don't want to shoot them out we're not looking for a straight up eradication because
you know usually a farmer or rancher isn't going to require that they want them thinned down a
little bit pretty realistic maybe back in the olden days when they used to poison them that's
probably only the real way to get rid of all of them because once you start shooting them too they
get smart and they don't come out of their holes anyway so even if you wanted to kill every single
one with guns it's not going to happen lastly when we're out there doing that we want to have fun
that's that's a big part of becoming a good shot and and really developing that accuracy
is having fun if you're not having fun you're probably not going to really get that good at it
okay one on the left okay the left is the big one wait for two for two for one two for one
ah shoot that fat one whatever one stands up shoot that how about that
now now now
ohhhhhhh
you got the big one oh i got the biggie
you missed the front one and you hit the back one how did i do that i don't know