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Military Firearm Restoration Corner

South Dakota Varmint Control


8uck5nort

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Myself , my Dad, cousin and uncle went out to the Cheyanne River Souix Indian Reservation and did three days of shooting on a big prarie dog town. my first ever PD hunt and trip into the upper midwest.

 

We had some cool and windy conditions to deal with the first two days and then a nice sunny day with little to no wind on the last day. I brought out my Green Meanie MN91/30 topped with a Weaver 6.5x20x44 scope. I also had a HR .223 single shot which I pillar and barrel bedded the forearm. I also added about 12 lbs of lead shot between the two rifles hollow synthetic stocks to get them as heavy as possible. I ordered a 440 round spam can of 70s Russion surplus 148 gr silver tip ammo and handloaded about 700 rounds of once fired .223 brass with sierra 55 and 63 gr bullets.

 

We verfied ranges by first lasing the kill/closest mound from the bench and then when we broke to walk the town we lased back to the truck/table. I actually started with the Mosin due to the windy conditions. I scored one confirmed kill the first day at 410 yrds and had two confirmed kills the second. One at 515 yards and the other at 549 yrds. I went through about 220 rounds of 7.62x54R in 2 days.

 

Since the wind laid down the third day we broke out the .17hmr and .22lr my Dad and uncle brought. I switched to my .223 later that day. I had several confirmed kills, but had two notable ones. I got one with a .22lr at 239 yards and my longest with .223 at 385 yrds.

 

Before this trip I had never shot at anything beyond 300 yards. It took me a while to figure out how to adjust my scopes for the ever changing wind conditions, but once I got the hang of it I know I gave some of those prarie dogs a close shave a time or two. We had a blast!

 

Throwing in a couple of pix.

 

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Now onto bow season which opens this Saturday! biggrin.gif

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When I was a boy in South Dakota I loved to go to my grandpa's farm. My teenaged uncle would take us out on the fields in the old Model A. He would drive up to a prairie dog hole, honk the horn, and a prairie dog would pop up. Blam, .22 shot. No long range stuff. My grandpa claimed prairie dog holes broke animal legs, but nobody has ever come up with examples. Personally I feel guilty over the dozens of prairie dogs I killed for fun. If they get really out of hand, fine, but there's no nearly as many as there used to be.

 

That lonely country where you went is beautiful, even though it is flat and desolate. Where did you stay? I'm guessing you were out somewhat west of the Missouri River? I do miss South Dakota, but not in the winter so much.

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We stayed in Gettysburg, SD which was actually east of the Missouri. We drove 50 miles each way to and from the PD town each day.

 

Anytime I shoot something and take its life I feel bad to a degree. That is normal and understable. Nature is beautiful, bountiful and cruel all at the same time.

 

The way I look at it is we, as humans, have invariably altered the environment, not necissarily for the good nor bad, but altered it none the less. We have removed a large number of natural predators which was natures way of population control. We now have to perform the unpleasent task of keeping these critters in check.

 

As for the critters bieng a detriment to the cattle I did not see any cows break their legs while we were out there. However, we did see two cattle skeletons in the PD town we were shooting on. How the cattle died is hard to say. Disease, coyotes or PD holes?

 

Another positive thing is we also paid for a hunting license to the Sioux nation which is part of their economy not to mention the hotel, gas and the food we ate along the way helped pump money into the economies which helps people along the way. So all-in-all the death of a few bountiful critters did some good and we helped fill our role as an apex predator and had some fun and bonding time with family, which is what it is realy all about for me.

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I've always wanted to try that. Some day maybe.

 

Tell you what Ken next time we plan a trip I'll let you know when we will be out there. I don't think one more would crowd anyone too much.

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