South Dakota PD hunt

mtudb24

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Been on a bucket list of mine since I bought my wife (haha) her Ruger 77 Varmint 223 so she had a reason to goto the range with me back in 1999. Fast forward to Nov 2021. 3 dads with 3 High School senior boys got to talking and the boys wanted to do a hunting trip vs their HS senior trip. Booked a place in South Dakota in Dec 2021 and starting building rifles and gathering gear. 8 months in the making and we finally had our trip last week. 2 days of shooting in Meadow SD. 3400 rounds later of various ammo (223, 17 WSM, and 224 Valykrie). Over 400 confirmed kills with many others "most likely". Unless they do 6 back flips or body parts fly at 500+ yards, some that just "slump" down into their holes its hard to see if they were kills or they just said the hell with it, I'm going into my hole until this shit ends.

We all brought multiple guns to let them cool off in the 95+ degree weather and used chamber chillers to cool the barrels more efficiently. 1 father and son had Can's on their 223's and next time, all of us will have those. They are a must to keep the dogs from scattering at close distance (100-150 yds) at the sounds of the rifles after their buddies meet their demise.
My longest confirmed kill was 550 yards with my 224 Valkyrie and my son was 420 yards with his 223 wylde
 

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Looks like some good ol fashion fun with friends and family! Sounds like some serious equipment too
 
Looks like fun!!! Like Lakeliving said looks like some serious equipment. I was never really into rifles but love my daily concealed carry weapons!
 
You might want to apply for the tax stamp today so you will have it by next year. Also look into a trust for ownership of the cans.
 
You might want to apply for the tax stamp today so you will have it by next year. Also look into a trust for ownership of the cans.
You are correct. Doing the trust thing for sure. I was told by a local gun shop that the times here in Michigan are down to about 3-6 months. Need to research which can to get so we can make sure we have something for next year. Need range time on them as well.
 
This 224 Valkyrie is such an amazing cartridge. Its supersonic out to 1300 yds. Flat shooting and bucks the wind like nothing with a 90 grain bullet. Its more accurate of a rifle then I am as a shooter. These were 3 shot groups at 200 yards as we were sighting in and getting ready to go before the hunt. Its about a .3" MOA rifle at 100 yards. The target on the leftt is 3 shots touching holes. I know I pulled the last shot on the 2nd target which moved it high but was still within .5 inch group.
 

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Very cool!!!
My BIL has a ranch about 40 miles SE of there. A prairie dog hunt has been on my bucket list for years!
 
Very cool!!!
My BIL has a ranch about 40 miles SE of there. A prairie dog hunt has been on my bucket list for years!
Bill - You GOTTA DO IT. I think part of the "allure" for all of us is we have never driven out west before , so we were amazed and in aw with the scenery. We got to see a helicopter with a dude hanging out on the skid working on some power lines. That pilot and worker have more balls between them then the 500 bulls we saw in the fields. Crazy is what that was.
 
Did you enjoy just being away from people in general? I mean you were not exactly in the middle of nowhere, but you could see it from there!
 
Tell me about a chamber cooler.
 
Tell me about a chamber cooler.
it just blows air down the barrel. Incredibly annoying when done at the firing line at a match, but they work. Doubles as an ECI

 
Ok, never heard of them. My first thought was Freon sprayed down the chamber, but we can not do that anymore. Never shot the 22-250 enough that I needed to cool the rifle but there are not that many groundhogs in a field.
 
it just blows air down the barrel. Incredibly annoying when done at the firing line at a match, but they work. Doubles as an ECI

Correct on all accounts. Works great as a hunting aid in 90+ degree temps. Just make sure you don't load a mag and close the chamber while its in there. One of the guys did that by mistake and it took about 20 minutes to find the piece stuck in the barrel and to clear it. HAHAHAHA
 
Nothing more fun than hitting one in the belly with a 53gr V-Max!!!!
YES. My ruger 77 VT with 1/12 twist loves them and they are smoking fast at 3500fps out of a 26" barrel and deadly. Wind pushes it around at long distances, but its a nasty round for sure. Back Flip special!
 
Did you enjoy just being away from people in general? I mean you were not exactly in the middle of nowhere, but you could see it from there!
It was nice. Nearest town was about 30 miles away. Schools do 4 days a week out there due to distance and just go a little bit longer each day.
 
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