Prairie Dog Hunt-What to bring?

[Bobcat]

I have gotten a few inquiries on what you need to bring on the PD hunt. I thought I would let you PD Guru's answer.........

Bob

....rifles, ammo, bi-pods, spotting scopes, clothes, etc.

[BozoWise]

Guns and ammo... that is the key. I would highly recommend more then one rifle with lots of ammo. You can bring any rimfire or centerfire available. I prefer a happy medium between my sholder hurting and the "mist" factor. We also have a great evening town where we can shoot. We only allow rimfire on that range as we are repopulating it. But it is a blast to shoot dogs at ranges of 15 feet to well over 200 with a 22 pistol or rifle.

It is late and I have an early AM, but I will get back and make a more detailed list tom. I really look forward to having you guys over in NM to shoot.

[Dead Eye]

Hey Guys

Bring ammo and don't forget the ammo and you might want a hat for the sun. Ya'll will get more shots at live targets than you have ever had 500 to 1,000 we have a super wal-mart if you run out of ammo. You should bring a rimfire also.

:DI love taking fress meat out to the killin fields we have some really mean PDogs. We send the new guys out first and see how many come back befor we go in. ;D

Laters Dead Eye

[BozoWise]

Ok to elaborate more in-depth.


I would suggest bringing the following:

Sunscreen

Hat

HEARING PROTECTION

Comfortable shoes (no boots needed unless you want to go out yote hunting)

I will be wearing pants as I have chicken white legs and might scare off the dogs, but you are more then welcome to wear shorts. I also prefer to not catch hot brass in my crotch

You can bring as many firearms as you please and any caliber I do suggest atleast one rimfire if you have it. If not I have some you are more then welcome to use. Be considerate on rifles that are overly loud or have breaks. We will be doing some close quarters shooting and the group will appreciate not having breaks near their ears. I say this because last year I had a bit of a mishap as I have an elevated shooting stand that mounts in the back of my truck and you can shoot 360 degrees from the platform. I was moving the vehicle when a customer had me stop. I had removed my earplugs when he fired a round over the drivers window with a 7wsm with a break. I thought I had blood running from my eardrums. So just be considerate and above all SAFE There will be no need to rush a shot as their will be more then enough targets to shoot at. Now on occassion will can sit down and crank out some longrange shots with the 50 caliber, 416 Rigby and the like, but I prefer not to have elephant guns on the dog towns ;D

Just remember you are going to be out in the desert heat, with 3 other guys per vehicle. We will be using 3 4-door Superduty's for the hunt, but we have to pack out everything we bring in. You can let your brass lie, but we try and pick it up and toss it into the truck if convenient. You might want to bring a bag or box for your brass because trying to sort that out after the fact is hectic.

I would suggest using the plastic flip top boxes for ammo as it is easy to mark with your name and easy to close. The factory carboard ammo boxes always seem to come open and we have ammo flying throughout the truck.

With the amount of hunters that will be in each vehicle I would think about taking along 2-3 rifles max per day. This will limits us to a max of 12 rifles per truck. Depending on which town you will be hunting will also determine what type of gun I would suggest for that day. All of this will be cussed and discussed more in person.

If there is any other questions you might have please feel free to post them here

[BozoWise]

As far as hunting license goes here is the legal jargon:

Unprotected or nongame (coyote, ground squirrel, pigeon or rock dove, prairie dog, rabbit, skunk, sparrows, starlings): Residents may hunt without purchasing a license. Nonresidents must have a nongame license or they may hunt nongame if they posses any other current year New Mexico hunting license (e.g. a cougar license or an elk license). If the nonresident has a furbearer’s license, they do not need a hunting license.

The nonresident license is $35.00 for 4 days and can be bought over the counter at any license place ie. gun Store, Walmart, Kmart etc.

Here is a link to a few informative pages.

www.gmfsh.state.nm.us/PageMill_TExt/FAQ/faq1a.html

www.gmfsh.state.nm.us/

[BozoWise]

For the people who want to hunt yotes during this trip. Bring your stools, camo and callers. Just remember that most of NM is sand or has thorns. Any camo that work well in south TX will work here such as breakup. The desert camo is a bit bright for our area as most of our sand is darker with surroundings of mesquite brush. Be selective on your stands as wind is a major factor here along with available shooting lanes.

[BozoWise]

I had a member call today and asked about ammo. He is going to be ordering in some bulk ammo and one suggestion I might have for everyone is..... if you are going to order ammo in bulk you might want to consider having it shipped here to avoid transporting it. It would be a great help too if you are flying. You can also save some on hazmat shipping to our business instead of a residential. Just a thought. Please let me know if there is anything I can help you with.