Adam Scepaniak of The Guns and Gear Store has written a fascinating story about Prairie Dog Hunting. If a P Dog safari is on your bucket list, you’ll definitely want to read this story. Adam offers many tips to help you plan your prairie dog adventure. Sierra Bullets: Prairie Dog Hunting with Sierra Bullets in North DakotaIt’s the time of year when men and women alike point their vehicles westward, and try to push their rifles to their limits on prairie dogs. [A few years ago] I was part of this group… in northwestern North Dakota. CLICK HERE to read the full story. Little Missouri National Grassland
My hunting party immediately began scouting out the best prairie dog towns when we arrived at Little Missouri National Grassland, North Dakota. It is important to choose a prairie-dog town carefully, for a number of reasons. You should always try to stay “above”, or above, the prairie dogs. If you’re shooting on a level plane, small objects such as rocks, cactuses and prairie vegetation may block your view. This was the case in the first prairie dog town that we stopped to shoot at. While walking and standing in the prairie dog town, it was easy to see. However, once we sat down with our rifles mounted on bipods, the two-foot tall prairie grass became an obstruction. We quickly moved on, as the town had become a quick study for our shooting. The second prairie dog village we hunted is at the base a small ridge, with a dried cattle creek at its bottom. This area provided better shooting opportunities as we were above the prairie dog holes. If we weren’t above them, then a deep ravine would separate us from the prairie dogs, which was our previous issue. The presence of other wildlife in this area was a disadvantage. It was not surprising that there were fifty cattle grazing in our immediate vicinity. Many ranchers use the National Grassland to graze. We had to wait until the cattle left our area to avoid an accidental hit due to a rare incidental ricochet. As the sun rose, we decided to come back to this spot in the morning but change our shooting position. This Location Provided a Nice View.
Zoomed Image Shows Individual Prairie Dog Mounds
I had a 275 yard shot on a prairie dog hunt near Mobridge, South Dakota. I was thrilled to be able to hit a prairie-dog at just over 400 yards in North Dakota, thanks to my experience and improved reloading. I was happy to see that my bullet choice and hand-loading abilities produced a 125 yard improvement for a shotgun-raised Minnesotan. After cleaning and re-casing our rifles, we had fired a little more than 200 rounds of my Sierra (r) reloads. It was significantly less than other prairie dog trips that I have taken part in, but the hit rate was also higher. We had to do a lot of scouting in a new area. It can be beneficial to add an extra day for scouting on future trips or hunts. Little Missouri National Grassland, a National Grassland in western North Dakota. It is the largest grassland of the United States, covering 1,033,271 acre. Theodore Roosevelt National Park is located within its borders. Little Missouri National Grasslands used to be a part Custer National Forest. It is now a unit of Dakota Prairie Grasslands which is made up entirely of National Grasslands. The grassland is characterized by the colorful and beautiful badlands. This rugged terrain has been extensively eroded both by wind and water. It is a mixed-grass prairie, which means it has both short and long grass. Certain maps can give a misleading impression of the boundaries of grasslands. There are large portions of privately and state-owned land within the boundaries of the National Grassland, most of which is leased to cattle ranchers. The Forest Service administers the grassland as part of Dakota Prairie Grasslands, from offices in Bismarck. There are ranger districts in Dickinson, Watford City and Watford.
