I'm not a frequent poster, as you can see by the number. There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day. Especially in the last few months. My younger son finally graduated from college (and now, of course, can't find a job) so I thought I'd take him to SD for a PD graduation present. He has a .22-250 and I had to work up loads for a rebarreled (from Krieger) .22-250, a custom 6x47 Lapua and a .20 Practical upper. In addition to these I'm also bringing a .223 upper and a 6mm-250. I really didn't have enough time to do a good load work-up so I'll have to be satisfied with what I've got. Then I had to load the ammo! I managed to load 300-350 rounds for each.

So, tomorrow around noon I'll head to NJ (220 mi) to pick up my gear (I unfortunately live in the communist state of MA), next morning do the 720 mile trip to Indianapolis to meet my son then Friday morning do the 1,000+ mile trip to SD. The driving is going to suck, but there is way too much gear to consider flying.

To prepare, I got 8 topo maps and used the USGS's equivalent of Google Earth to locate PD towns. I circled 88 towns of varying sizes on the maps. I'm hoping for good weather, short grass and access to some good towns.

I'm supposed to be back to work (yuk) on the 13th. I'll post any notable experiences when I get back.

My first challenge will be not to fall asleep on my way to Indy.

I suppose the odds are slim but it would be nice to bump into other posters from this site to associate a face to a name.

You didn't mention which part of South Dakota you were heading for, but FYI, avoid highway 212 like the plague. I came back from North Central SD on June 19. Highway 12 was good for the return trip but on the way out we took highway 212 and it was one detour after another. The detours added 2 1/2 hours to our trip time. The little p-dogs were just starting to show up, according to our host, they were not up yet around the first of June. The "easy to get to" spots had been shot, so the survivors were well-educated (read "shots over 300 yards"). We hiked over a few hills with our rifles and bi-pods (about 3/4 to 1 mile off the nearest trails) and found areas that hadn't been shot yet. That paid off with some good shooting.

Good luck on your road trip and thats quite a road trip. Those of us that live among 'em take for granted our access and sheer volume of shooting opportunities. When we hear of the guys from the east talk about having massive farm land to hunt and they refer to it in acreage less than 1000 we do snicker. Here, thats barely a parking lot. A farm and especially one with pds on it will be several thousand and often tens of thousands of acres.

I have had to chance to meet with a few fellow forum members out on the farm and made great friends.

Hope the trip goes well and we expect to see some pics and hear some stories...be safe.

Good luck! Just got back from a trip to denver, then returned through badlands, blackhills, and rushmore. great trip but was "FAMILY TRIP" so i didn't even get to bring a prairie poodle rifle. Next time.... Since i'm 18 and this was supposed to be the last family vacation before I go to college, i agreed with the no rifle stuff... Or else i would've tried to meet up with a few of you guys on here! oh well i promised myself i'd go on an elk hunt after college while i'm still young, may make it an extended trip and go shoot prairie dogs for a weekend, then antelope. Antelope and Elk could be the only reason i get out there again! AVOID 212!!! lol

Well, I’m back. Actually I got back on the 12th after about 4,600 miles for the trip!! We met low dark clouds and rain heading into SD on the night of the 3rd. We stayed in Murdo that night. I was going to do the sightseeing my son wanted to do at the end of the trip but thought doing that first would give the land a chance to dry out. So, we headed for Mt. Rushmore the next morning and the weather improved as time went on. I don’t think they saw the rain we did the previous day. After Rushmore we went to the Crazy Horse Memorial.

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Can't wait to see O's face up there!!

I saw it last year but didn’t see any obvious changes. They said they’ve been blasting but I didn’t notice anything. They have a loooong way to go!! After that we went to the honey-hole my friend & I found last year but the rancher wasn’t around. So we went up the road to a walk-in area and blasted some 400 yard dogs for a couple of hours. Overnighted in Hot Springs and the next morning went to Custer State Park to do a ½ day trail ride my son wanted to do. Haven't ridden in years so I knew what was going to happen - a mighty sore butt!!

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The dogs in Custer could sure use a thinning!! Tame little buggers.

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Our trail guide was a college girl who was raised on a ranch not too far away, so she called her parents to ask about the dog population. They still had some! After the ride I tried last year’s honey-hole again but the rancher wasn’t there again. Tried his cell but no answer. So, we headed to the guide’s ranch. Nice people. Their dog areas were not real large but kept us busy for a while. I wanted to hit the areas I had circled on the topo maps so when we were done there we headed east through Pine Ridge into Bennett county and stayed in, what I think was, the only motel around. Nice place, but expensive. Next morning while asking the person at the desk where we could look for the owners of land a guy came over and said he knew a guy who had some dogs. He called him, passed the phone to me, got directions and we were off. What a spot! Mounds all over the place. The rolling hills made it so all you had to do is move a little in any direction and everything looked new. We used the hatchback of the rented Explorer as an umbrella for the shooting table which was nice in that hot sun. We had permission to drive in the field which was also nice. I guess by SD dog town standards this was not a huge town but it was about 200 or more acres and there were a LOT of holes. We were able to get shots from 40 yards out to 600+ although we limited the range to around 400 due to the wind. This town kept us busy for 3 days with a lot of kills but we didn’t put a dent in the population. For the entire trip including the other places we burned through about 800 rounds.

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Of course I had to take this when a cloud was overhead. Can't see holes in the foreground but they were there. This is just the view in one direction. There were a lot more than this.

I think some of the dogs in this field were on steroids. Some of them were wounded quite badly (not intentional) but were still quite mobile. When possible we sent them a second round to finish the job. Sometimes the second round took a while because we were staring in disbelief. There was one my son shot where his lower half was totally mangled yet he was crawling with his front paws for quite a distance.

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I think this was the one.


Other samples that didn't move (except maybe in the air).
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His head is in the hole. Also, notice the fat. I think this is the first one I noticed with fat.

One I shot at close range had entrails hanging out while he WALKED to another hole. We went over to where his was walking and found his stomach and some intestines!! Couldn’t believe it! These were all V-Max’s or Blitzkings.

This PD town was actually in Pine Ridge. The rancher said the Indians over the hill won’t bother you but if the officials come, act stupid and apologetic. Fortunately we were never approached. One day the wind was 15 gusting to 20. No long shots that day. The last day there was almost no wind and no storm clouds in the afternoon like there were the other days. I think we got out there by 9 or 10 and stayed till 8pm. Hated to leave. Still had a lot of ammo left!

I guess I don't know the secret to get larger pictures and stay within the 300K budget.


WTFC -

You're right, I didn't mention where I was headed. I figured with such short notice it wouldn't have helped. After all that planning of circling PD towns on topo maps I never made it to any of them. That field above kept us plenty busy. Our base of operation ended up being in Martin. Well away from 212.


SKB2706 -

I lived in CO for a short while back in the late 90's and got to do some PD popping in the grasslands and took a ride out to the gun club in Beyers. Didn't stay long enough to join. I know what you mean about ranch size. People out there talk about sections, not acres. The trail guide's parents' ranch is 20,000 acres. Most of it seemed to be buried in sweet clover. A lot different from the clover we're used to seeing in the east.

I wanted to add these few pictures but I don't know how to get decent size and get them in one post.

I told my son to build a shooting table with a decent sized top for the trip. I told him he went a little overboard with furniture grade plywood (walnut veneer). He said he wanted it to look nice.

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The portable view -

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A little blurry.

Last one. My apologies to the moderator for so many posts in succession.


Prairie critter NOT to meet face to face -

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We didn't hear any rattling but I thought the colors were that of a rattler.

Nice write up rv!!

Thanks for sharing too.

And don't worry none about >>> Last one. My apologies to the moderator for so many posts in succession.<<< because that's what we're here for.

The Skypilot has reviewed and APPROVES this thread!!!

So There!


BOb

There ya go!!!!!!! Kid tested & B B approved!!!

Bob does that mean you approve a Lott ?

rv might be the only guy I know that travels farther than you do to shoot a few pds. LOL

Next trip to CO stop about 200 miles short of the big city and I'll meet you out there Bob.

Yes Sir!!!
On the Lott and stopping short of the big D

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Pic of the display on my Garmin at the end of the trip....think I may have warped the thing out with the high-speed-Focus maneuvers

Bob

Steve,

It looks like 200 miles short of the big D would put your sister in KS or NE. A least as the crow flies.

We certainly enjoyed ourselves out there but the driving out & back was definitely NOT the highlight of the trip!!

Yep sister lives on the KS/CO line.