To Big O: The very first prairie dogs I ever shot were with a Swift, and if you're looking for spectacular acrobatics, nothing compares with it. Problem is, Swifts heat up so fast, and it's so hard on the barrels, that I no longer use mine for dogs. The solution would be to get three and rotate them frequently.

To jbird: I was kidding about spoiling too much meat. You do not want to handle prairie dogs; they host bubonic plague, among other diseases.

I'd like to politely disagree with the use of mil dot scopes. I'm sure they work fine, but I've been using target turrets with a fine crosshair for years and am not afraid to shoot with anyone. All you need to know is your bullets trajectory and once you get the wind dialed in it works at about any range. Just think it's easier to hit by being able to hold dead on. I've also replaced my 223 with a 204.

Dave your dawg shootin experience runs slightly longer than mine, '75 vs '78. However I have apparently have utilized a tremendously wider array of weapon choices than you. My selections have ranged from .22 LR through various handguns on up to .470 NE. I have loaded and fired many many thousands of rounds of .17 Rem, most .22 centerfires, and similiar cartridges for longer than I really want to remember. Once I had access to a ranch in eastern Montana near Powderville which encompassed 70.5 deeded sections plus seemingly unlimited sections of leased land. You know how old time ranchers feel about p-dawgs. The owner and I would often fire 2000 rounds in two days on a good weekend. I was always amazed by the fact that we would leave one of a dozen or more huge prairie dog towns littered with bodies and return the next day to discover that it appeared as if nothing had ever transpired. Looked like just as many animals as ever and no bodies. Of course the previously missed fat prairie dogs and engourged predators had faired very well throughout the night. I do not sympathise with your point regarding the .338 as a .22-.250 at 3800, a .243 at 4000, a .17 Rem, or .25-'06 at about the same velocity will leave nothing but a pink mist and a few miscellaneous parts in the dust. In reality the .470 probably does less damage than any round since it mostly cuts the little critters in two. We always had the .222 and the .222 mag so when the .223 arrived we saw no point in it. Realizing that it was military we knew it would be successful and so it is and so our old favorites are about gone. The advantage of the .223 is being able to shoot and easily transport lots of rounds with minimal effort and cost at the expense of limited range. I still consider the .223 to be a mediocre prairie dog round. Today I use some mil-dot scopes but find those like the Leupold B & C varmint type reticles to be superior and less of a bother than mil-dots. I presently am trying out a Huskemaw with customized knobs for range adjustment and will report on it later in the year. For decades I used scopes with plain reticles but maybe you are right about the condoms with holes. I am almost 62 and have kids from 6 years to 26 years old and am a Baptist.

Are some of you guys referring gophers as prairie dogs? There is a difference.

I thought prairie dogs in Montana were protected, but gophers…..well, they were disgusting plague in the ‘80’s. Weasels would follow us around once we started blasting away to get free meals.

Funny post. Didn't know anyone ate prarie dogs. Would love to go after them someday.

Dr. Ralph and WA Mtnhunter the reality of it is the 6 year old is adopted. She is actually our granddaughter which my wife and I adopted when the child was 6 weeks old. Like many other situations these days it is a long story. Yep I am wondering how I will keep up with her when she becomes a teenager. I am even wondering if I will ever retire.
I have friends who swear by and those who swear at the Swift. Frankly with these newer really slick stainless steel barrels they seem to hold up quite well especially if you back off to .22-.250 velocities but then why own a Swift?

Great post... never really thought about not enough meat left, just because I never really eat them. Maybe I'll feed it to the girlfriend first and see what she thinks. ha

Petzal forgot about the .220 swift.

ONE WAY TO HUNT THEM, I KID YOU NOT, IS TO GET A TEN FOOT STRING, TIE A NOOSE, PUT IT OVER A PRARIE DOG HOLE, LAY DOWN IN THE GRASS, AND WHEN IT STICKS ITS BODY OUT OF ITS HOLE, YANK THE STRING. I KNOW PEOPLE WHO DO IT! ITS IS A GREAT PIECE OF KNOWLEDGE TO HAVE IN A SURVIVAL SITUATION. NO KIDDING!

This is one of the to do things on my list that I have not done yet. We have pasture poodles in western Kansas and one of these days it will happen.

I was was born in 1975. That's a lot of prairie dogs.

Dave,
We don't have 'dogs' in Mo but I've shot a lot of ground hogs, crows etc. from a distance. The only objection I have to a scope over 14-16x is the mirage on a hot day, or from a hot barrel.

I used to pop them with an .06/110gr. in Colo.
Just helping out a land owner/horse boarder with the "varmints". Love the condom comment by the way LOL.

I have not shot nearly as many vermin as most people who have posted, but I like the .223 just fine, have shot them with the .300 Win Mag, which was all kinds of fun, but my favorite is close quarters combat- shooting prone with the .45 ACP from 5-7 yards of the mounds- takes a lot of patience and you do not burn nearly as much powder, but I have NEVER been let down on the entertainment factor when doing so.
By the way Dave, I have to disagree with you about the condom comment- as clever as it is... at least half of my six siblings were the result of perforated prophylactics... okay that and Budweiser... but the point remains, we are glad they are all here just the same!

110 gr Varminter bullets loaded in a 30-30 do real good on groundhogs out to about 150 yds. Also used to spot and stalk groundhogs with a 22LR, great stalking practice.

Unfortunately this kind of fun does not exist in my neck of the woods.

A pair of Ruger single shots, a customized no. 3 in 22 Hornet, and a no. 1 in 223 have served to annihilate Texas Panhandle dogs very well. If I were limited to one, it would be the .223. A few years ago, some yankee hunters,(probably from New York) shot some dogs while on a deer hunt near here. They used a Barrett .50 caliber. The landowner said it looked like the field had been plowed. They were probably friends of Petzal.

My uncle and I built identical Winchester lo wall falling blocks in what we called .224 PR, which is .223 on necked .30 Remington or .303 British. The name was just to be horse's asses.
Scope is tri-mount Unertl 10x, no mil dots, although my scope did see it's share of mil.
Fun!!! Speed kills.
Thanks.

Never shot a sod poodle, but would like to try with my AR.

Ishawooa

Have you figured out what caused all those kids?

Since this is near the end of the life of this blog, and it doesn't seem like I'd be interrupting an ongoing conversation, I'd like to ask DEP why he doesn't like .17s and .20s. In Wisconsin farm country our shootable vermin are counted in the dozens (ground squirrels, coyotes, woodchucks, skunks, racoons) rather than thousands at a time. It always seemed to me that a .17 would be perfect for Wis.; shoots as flat as a .22-250 to 300 yds or so, quieter than bigger guns, somewhat less chance of ricochet (in Wis, you can see your neighbor's house from where you shoot; not so SD or MT). Not as wind resistant, but then Wis is not as windy as the great plains. I tried using deer calibers on vermin but those loud cracks seemed to echo for days, and I quit without being asked. .22 Long Rifles much nicer. What's wrong with a .17 if you don't have to shoot it 300 times per outing?

Thank you Mr. Petzal +1 for your response.

To DEP: Good enough.

I love hunting PDs too and have since 1966. Most of mine have fallen to a 25-06 with 75g bullets out of a 27 inch custom varmint barrel. I use low recoil loads producing 3750 fps and I use it for supreme accuracy... if you spread their little legs, I can hit them in the *** every time out to 200 yards. It definitely vaporizes them and is very good out to about 600 yds. I am now shooting a .223 out of a 12 pound Bushmaster Varminter (24 inch heavy barrel) off a bipod more and more and loving it more all the time. It is inexpensive, quiet and has virtually no recoil. I use 50g VMAX with 25.5g of Benchmark powder producing 3500fps. It is not as accurate as the 25-06 but does .4 inch or better at 100 yards and gets me by. By the way... far and away number 1 with me is the .220 Swift. You can actually see them vaporize in the scope at 100 yards before the recoil moves it. Low recoil and flat... Like DP, I slacked off on shooting it because of fast barrel wear. It isn't unusual to shoot 200-500 shots a day and the barrel went in about 2,000 rounds when smoking those little pills over 4100 fps.

Dave I agree with the 223 choice but I don't have a 338 anything. Could I use a 12 gauge H&R USH or should I ask Phil? BTW, could you split the ammo cost with me?

I have not shot any PD's yet as I now live in Wyoming, but I recently got permission to hunt a very large ranch any time I want, so as soon as I can get some ammo for my AR-15 Varminter, I'm going to smoke some dogs.
I'm also going to shoot a few with my 338, even though it will "spoil too much meat". That was choice Dave.
I'm also going to shoot some with my 260 Remington with 120 grain accu-tips. I may even shoot some with my 375 Ruger if I can find some ammo or some primers to reload with.
Components are scarce everywhere, but it seems to be getting a little better. I saw bullets on the shelf at the Sportsman's Warehouse in Ft Collins, CO a few weeks ago. They had 6mm, 6.5 270 and 7mm bullets, plus 8mm 338, and 358. Mostly Hornady, but some Barnes a lot of Nosler and some Sierras too. The 30 caliber stuff was sold out except for 110-125 grains and 220s.
That's a lot better than when I visited Bass Pro and Cabela's in San Antonio/Austin area a few months ago (April) and there were no smokeless powder projectiles at either location (none, nada, zip) only round-balls and sabots for muzzle loaders. I've had primers on back-order for a few months now and they should be shipping-out any day now, acording to the Cabela's website.
Eventually the supply is going to catch up with the demand, but probably not for a few more months.