Mark Price, 223 yards, 11 years old, CZ 452 American in 17 HMR.
nell). At distances beyond 300 yards, we used the exceptional optics afforded by a Kowa 27x spotting scope. This was John’s first trip to dog country. He was accustomed to using Kentucky windage during his long-range shooting at home, but soon he realized the advantage of scope adjustment when going after those little critters. In not very long a time, we were both giving each other MOA corrections and accurately dialing in our prey. For rangefinders, we used an exceptional Swarovski and a brilliant Bushnell dual binocular/rangefinder. Both functioned extremely well. My rifles performed very well this
trip. The 22 Hornet accounted for a kill at 236 yards. Both of the 204 Rugers had documented kills beyond 500 yards. The 6mm AI was a consistent mid 500-yard cartridge. It was extremely difficult to use underpowered rifle scopes. Scopes of 7x and 10x are difficult to use past 450 yards. Quite simply, scopes of higher power are needed at such distances. The John Whidden-built 22-250 AI ac- counted for an 843-yard kill and many, many near misses all the way out to 1,200 yards (Whidden Gunworks, 2282 Mark Watson Road, Nashville, Georgia, 31639; 229-686-1911). Yes, that’s right; we recovered a bullet in the rim of a bur- row where a dog had stood. We were out there because we honestly thought that I had a 1000 Yard Club hit … but we could not find a body. On a very windy day the Big Hammer, the other
Steven Fiamengo, 535 yards, 204 Ruger Model 700 Remington with only modification being the Timney Trigger.
Whidden rifle in 30-378 Magnum, had a spectacular aerial display at 651 yards. On our last day, rain chased us out
of the dog town and to our campsite to strike the tents. Time to assess this year’s shoot
and begin planning next year’s shoot. Time to order new 6mm Remington AI and 22-250 AI barrels with muzzle brakes so that spectacular hits can be observed by the spotter and the shooter! Also, a new 22-6mm Remington AI barrel with a slower twist is needed. In addition, scopes with greater magnifica- tion were ordered. The cycle of annual prairie dog hunting repeats itself. LESSONS LEARNED:
Maturity of the youthful shooter
is fundamental. Mark is mature beyond his years, and he will be welcome on next year’s shoot. Make sure that the rifles fit the
shooter … even if that means that you must cut down a stock or two and/or buy a stock with an adjustable length of pull. The BlackHawk Axion stock we bought in Billings was awesome! To optimize success and enjoyment, the rifle must fit. Despite “good glass” (Leupold and
Swarovski), there is no substitute for adequate magnification when attempt- ing really long shots. Beyond 400 yards, 9x scopes are just not adequate. Out at 1,000 yards, at least 20x is necessary, but much beyond 25x there are lots of problems with mirage. Even for a novice, scope adjust-
ments are preferable to Kentucky wind- age when shooting out past 300 yards, especially when attempting prairie dog-sized targets.
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