PD hunt report

[Rocky Raab]

I went on a short-notice prairie dog shoot yesterday. A rancher up in the southwest corner of Wyoming has a serious infestation of them. This year's pups are up already, and he panicked at the sight of them crawling around in their thousands. We got called.

You know it's serious when the rancher's wife meets hunters at the door and says, "Thank God you're here!"

We shot from the tailgate of my friend's truck, standing on the tailgate, resting the rifles on sandbags atop his camper shell. We each had two rifles, and we'd shoot one until it got too hot, then switched. The PD twon is about a hundred acres, so we'd just move the truck to another side of it when we'd made enough bodies at each place.

We quit after we got the thing stuck while moving across the only low, moist spot on the ranch (been a very wet spring here). After that escapade, we were too pooped to continue.

We killed 300 or so, but we lost count twice, so it might be more. I have 300 empties, and my buddy has about the same, so 300 dead seems a bit low. Our hit percentage was much better than 3 of 6. MUCH better.

The worst part? We have to go back! Only 300 culled doesn't touch the numbers at this place, and the rancher has three neighbors with the same problem. Looks like it's gonna be a tough summer - pulling the reloader handle!