My buddy and I will go on our first prairie dog shoot in early June; we'll be east of Helena.We will be using a portable bench as well as using tripods for more easy manuevering around the towns.

Any tips on kit and gear would be appreciated, such as "don't forget the sunscreen" etc. I'd just as soon pack up what I might need rather than head back into town as I discover my needs.

Thanks

Remember your cleaning rod and copper remover.

AllanD

chapstick!!

Take plenty of water, a good ground mat, and a camera for the memories. Enjoy!

And you might want to consider a big jar of some sort of skin lotion, windburn to your face makes a sunburn seem like a pleasant memory.


And not only take lots of water with you, but drink as much water as you can force yourself to before going out.
even when just going for a day, dehydration can happen suprisingly quickly.
THE best place to store water is inside your body.

AllanD

A good 10 X binoculars is handy for spotting PDs and rangefinder may help with the yard est. Some of the shooters have portable reloading equipment . On some days you could have 150 to 300 shots.

Aside from the necessities, I found that a Boonie hat was very useful. Chapstick or something like it & cleaning supplies for you rifle. A range finder may be useful tool along with a good set of binoculars.

Thanks for the suggestions; my list of stuff to bring is getting better ( and longer ). A number of items I never would have thought about...until I had been out there.

As to optics we were planning on using our table-top spotting scopes to find the dogs. Now that binoculars are mentioned I can imagine how much easier they would be to use as we move around the towns.

Keep the ideas coming...it is much appreciated.

Rain gear! You can get some nasty short showers out there in the afternoon. A simple poncho or the like will do fine, thrown in your pack. Not a big deal if you're always close to your truck. I like to wander off quite a ways from the truck for some better shooting, though. I agree with others: you can't bring too much water and grub, sunscreen, sunglasses, etc.

I've been bringing a small digital video recorder on a tripod lately. I usually walk around the dog town and, when I spot a range rat I'll sit down, put the camcorder/tripod to my left, zero/zoom in on the rat, start recording, then lean over to the bipodded rifle and whack the rat (most of the time, lots of misses too), then stop recording. When I get back I use the Windows video editor, edit out all of the non-rat-exploding stuff and have a nice, short, chunder-rific video I can watch on my laptop. Great fun to watch what happens in slow motion.

And another thing...

When you're in Helena go to the Staggering Ox for lunch and the Wind Bag or On Broadway for dinner. Enjoy Sleeping Giant brew, in moderation, as well.

BB,

A couple of things come to mind. If you are taking a pickup, try to get a topper to go over the back so everything is covered and doesn’t get so dusty. Additionally, I cut 2x4s to fit across the bed and just above the wheel wells and put a sheet of plywood on them. This way you have two levels in the bed. The coolers and extra gear go on the upper level towards the front and the benches are on the upper level towards the rear. The guns slide in the lower level. Organized this way you can have your benches and guns out and set up in no time at all.

Take a 5 gallon bucket with a roll of trash bags to be your trash can. It is amazing the amount of trash two guys can produce in one day.

Several years ago I invested in a new cooler. IIRC it is a Coleman Extreme. I can highly recommend these for use on a blistering prairie.

(Just an observation) but no one in my group is using a spotting scope anymore. All of us have sold them and replaced them with good binos. You are going to find out quickly that your binos will likely be the third most important piece of equipment, right behind a rifle and ammo. Also your left eye starts to “suffer†when it is squinted closed to shoot and then closed again to look through a spotting scope. If you have trained yourself to keep both eyes open this will help of course.

We use bore snakes out on the prairie.

A Leatherman comes in handy for all kinds of things, especially removing cactus thorns. (don’t ask me how I know)

Sand bags are filled with corn to save weight and are put in 5 gallon buckets that are used as stools.

If you are driving from Illinois, put your “little missiles of death†pointy end up in boxes and cut some foam rubber to fit in the top of the boxes so as to stop them from rattling on the way out there. The rattling will cause a shiny ring to form all around the shell casing where it contacts the plastic box. There is no harm caused to the shell casing by the ring, but I don’t like to see ANY rings on my shells. And the foam also protects the “war head†on the trip.

Can’t think of anything else at the moment. I have a “packing list†I could send along to you in a PM. If interested let me know. Good luck.

Jim

Jim...Yes, PM me your list. Greatly appreciate the input from everyone.

I'm waiting for Midway to get more of the styrofoam ammo boxes in stock: the cartridges fit bullet-end down, so they should be well protected.

Yep, binos are looking more-and-more like a must-have. The more I think of using a spotting scope the more I imagine how uncomfortable and impractical that must become after a few hours.