2016 Trip #10
Central Wyoming this trip with my friend Bill from Texas. Bill has went with me once on a short trip about two years ago on a cool windy day in April. This year we wanted to stay a little longer.
Bill was able to bring two guns with him on the plane, but not much ammo. After picking him up at the airport here in Denver we made a stop at Cabal’s for more ammo.
We got into Wheatland area around 12:00 to do a little shooting before moving on North the next day above Douglas. I didn’t shoot at all on the 18th. That day was spent getting Bill familiar with what a prairie dog looks like. To some that might seem ODD, it’s not. To someone who hasn’t had the opportunity spotting prairie dogs on the prairie for many years like myself, they’re hard to see. They also like to hid behind their holes, bushes, and grass. Plus this time of the year the grass is nearly the same color as the dogs themselves. Clouds moved in later on so we decided to shoot half day the next day around Wheatland before moving on; that was a good choice.
The next day was a beautiful day and the shooting went much better and I was able to get in some shooting (115), we ended up staying most of the day.
From that point on the trip kind’a went in the toilet. Many years ago I had shot the Thunder Basin National Grassland, mostly around it on private ranches bordering it. We stopped at three different ranches and was told they would love to have us shoot prairie dogs, BUT the energy companies had their lands locked up tight, they couldn’t shoot on their own lands. I don’t understand what was going on but in places they had heavy fences with gates and NO TRESPASSING signs posted, the whole day gone.
On the 21st we made a circle West to the Casper area to try and get in some shooting, no luck. Bill had to leave that night for Texas so we headed back to the Denver airport to get him home.
I took two guns with me, my 20 VarTarg and Rem 700 in 222 Rem. I only shot the 20 VarTarg on the 19th. A few days before the trip I had installed a new 4 – 16 x 50 Mil-Dot scope on the 20 VarTarg. I liked the scope but not the magnification. The 16 power just wasn’t enough beyond 200 yards. At that range a prairie dog is really small. I kept around 80 percent hits between 200 to 275 yards but the wind played games with me, love my Mil-Dot scopes. At the next gun show I’ll purchase a 6 – 24 x 50 Mil-Dot scope for it and the 4 – 16 x 50 will probably go on one of my rim fire rifles.
All four days the weather was HOT, close to 100 degrees each day. With the hot days and not so dark nights; I think the prairie dags were eating late and very early in the mornings.
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