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July 3, 2008

A video from the North Dakota prairie dog hunt

Here's a short video from a June 25 prairie dog hunt near Bowman, N.D.

I don't know that I would go to North Dakota (or Wyoming or Montana) just to hunt prairie dogs -- something plenty of folks do. But I'm glad I got out there on the prairie to check this out.

Comments

# 1

[July 4, 2008 12:06 PM]

Ed S.

Good video. Did the folks at the beginning of the video have a can (suppressor) on the rifle? Nice to see that in the video, too. The liberals at northern Virginia wouldn't whine so much about the local ranges if it were easier for the shooters to purchase suppressors.

I'd love to go prairie dog hunting sometime...but ND is a long way. :D

# 2

[July 4, 2008 12:58 PM]

Tommy Nunley : →http://tommynunley.blogspot.com/

Congratulations on the awards! I also added you to my blog links, keep up the great work!

# 3

[July 5, 2008 4:18 PM]

Mark Taylor

Thanks, Tommy, and thanks for linking to the blog. I've been checking yours out from time to time, too. Good job. I need to get a link up here.

Glad you liked the video, Ed. I wish I could have had some shots of live dogs but I shot that video on my Canon G9 point-and-shoot camera and couldn't zoom out to dog range.

And, yes, the owner of that .22-250 had a legal suppressor on it. As you know, it ain't like the movies. But it still did a pretty nice job of reducing the pop. Of course, you pay for it. A buddy of my recently went through that process. It's quite involved (and expensive).

mt

# 4

[July 6, 2008 8:13 AM]

Ed S.

Thanks, Mark. One last quick question. What's the average range for their shots? I imagine there is a bit of standoff to avoid scaring the dogs underground.

# 5

[July 6, 2008 2:22 PM]

Christian Berg : →http://blogs.mcall.com/outdoors/

Mark,

I don't know if that was worth going all the way to Bismarck for, but it was darn interesting!

Just one question - did you get a chance to shoot, or were you on a purely journalistic, fact-finding type mission?

Keep in touch dude, and thanks for your inspiration to start my blog. It's been tons of fun so far.

# 6

[July 6, 2008 10:15 PM]

Mark Taylor

Ed,

The shots varied greatly. When we first started it wasn't unusual to see some dogs at 100 yards. And even as the day wore on we'd be surprised by one popping up at 50 yards now and then. When you're shooting rifles zeroed for 200 yards, a 50-yard shot can be a challenge.

I'd say most of the shots were in the 150-250 range, with quite a few 300-yarders (shots mostly, not hits) in there.

Christian, the trip to Bismarck was worth it for the conference. You missed four good, productive days and plenty of fun in the evenings. No exuses for you next year. Congrats on your awards, by the way. (Readers: Christian is the outdoors writer at the Morning Call in Allentown, Pa. You can see his blog here: http://blogs.mcall.com/outdoors/)

So, do you really think I'm going to go on a van ride from Bismarck almost to Montana and not try a few shots at those critters? I planned on it all along, and even had to make a request to the Oregon Deparment of Fish and Wildlife to get my hunter education number (they were super responsive to my request) so I could get my North Dakota hunting license ($17 total cost for the non-game license).

Truth is I took more shots than I should have. Because my time out there was limited I was a little eager on the trigger. I probably took 50 shots. I didn't hit half of them. By comparison, the calm, cool and collected Wayne Van Zwoll was 12 for 13, doing it the way I should have been. Of course, I wasn't shy about trying the 300-yarders, and actually did get a confirmed kill at 308 yards.

I would love to give it a try when I had more time and was shooting a rifle with which I was more familiar.

mt

# 7

[July 7, 2008 12:49 PM]

Backlash

Great video as always, 50 hits out of sixty great shooting. Just think our deer population could reach numbers like that if hunters didn't keep them in check....

Even if the price of a hunting license is up hunters will do there part if our politicians do there part.

Reduced the price of a license open up Sunday hunting.

Thanks Mark

Any video on antelope?

# 8

[July 8, 2008 10:41 AM]

Backlash

Hunter Education Course

$3.00 Fee Pre-Registration no Walk ins.

Must Attend both days.

August 16-17 12-5 PM Saturday 1:30-6:30 Sunday

Christiansburg Recreational Center

540-382-2349

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Mark Taylor holding a fish.

While growing up in rural Southern Oregon, Mark Taylor developed a passion for the outdoors while he and his younger brother tagged along with their father on fishing, hunting and camping adventures.

Graduating from Northwestern University in 1988, Taylor spent four years as an officer in the U.S. Navy based in Norfolk before moving into journalism.

After five years writing about the military for a Norfolk-based publishing company, he became the outdoors editor at The Roanoke Times in 1998. He lives in Roanoke with his wife and twin daughters.

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