What is considered a good "hit" percentage when prairie poodle hunting? i.e. 10%, 40%?

Thanks.

Buliwyf

This is gonna depend a ton load off of how you go about it.

Mark D

Percent hit rate depends on a lot of things.

If you hold your shots to under 100 yards and have the scope set on 18X, hit rate should be above 90%.

If you reach out to past 500 yards, the hit rate will drop like a rock.

If you drop the magnification level to 6X so as to watch the post-hit acrobatics, the hit rate falls but fun increases.

Buliwyf: It will be somewhat hard to answer your question "precisely".
I will give you some ideas though on my success ratio!
I seldom ever shoot at Colony Varmints (with centerfires) much past 500 yards. Hits out there are less frequent than while I am shooting at my self imposed minimum on Colony Varmints of 200 yards (again with centerfires).
At 200 yards under good conditions I would be miffed if I wasn't hitting 90% of my shots! At 500 yards I would be thrilled to hit 50% of my shots at Colony Varmints!
Some folks do shoot Colony Varmints (with centerfires) at ranges as close as 20 yards!
I don't.
It's a waste of good ammo, good targets and effort!
Unless a rancher specifically requests I eradicate all Varmints encountered I never shoot Colony Varmints under 200 yards distance.
So 200 yards to 500 yards is my enjoyment range!
I am willing to make a wild assed guess for you and relay this - over the years and under all conditions at these ranges I have hit around 50% of all my shots at Prairie Dogs.
If you are shooting at Prairie Dogs and NOT getting 50% hits then move closer! Or wait for closer targets!
Sounds like you are new to PD Hunting and thats great! I have a couple of pointers that will help your % of hits, increase!
Get the wind directly AT your back whenever possible! And whenever possible have the sun at your back as well. This will help your aiming at and spotting of targets.
Good luck and enjoy!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

100% all the time

I don't know what "good" is.
Mine is probably ~45%.
Caveats:
I shoot a .222 Rem. Mag.
My shots are all <300 yards. Most are <250.
I shoot mostly on public lands on opening day, before the pups have ever heard gunfire. I also shoot on guided leases where the shooting pressure is controlled.
Change any of these variables and your percentage will be different. If you're a better shot than me, which is very likely, then your percentage will be better.

Tough one to answer. Inside of 300 yards, 80% is really good, beyond that, 60% is good, beyond 500 yards, my own average went up when I got a laser rangefinder but it still only about 30-35%.

But at long range, most of my misses would still have hit any deer or antelope I have ever seen.

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
100% all the time

That is a fairly decent average. Mine runs around 117 to 128%. You can't forget the doubles and tripples

Thanks fellas. Quite informative and very entertaining!

B

100 % is the goal but some days you’re so brilliant people can’t stand to be near you. Other days you can’t fine you’re A hole with both hands and a flashlight. It averages out though.

It just depends on the weather. Weather effects animals, rifles, ammunition, and shooters.

Most average shots are between 100 and 300 yards with a 90% success rate with the VLP 204. I use the 32 V-max, 39 sierras, and the 40 noslers for the prairie poodles. The 39and 40 gr'ers buck the wind better than the 32's and the splat factor is also much better with the heavier bullets.
Under 100 yds, I use the 10/22. Hopefully will be getting a 17 hmr this year. Longest direct hit was just shy of 500 yds. Success rate from 300 to 500 yds drops off to about 35 to 40%. Next time I go out I will have a range finder with me which should put things in my favor.

I shoot private land and depending on how hard the field has been hit before the percentage can be as low as 40% and higher than 80%. Shots ranging from 50 yds. to well past 400yds.

If you're genuinely shooting more than 50%, then you're not taking very challenging shots under variable conditions and ranges.

If you are shooting a "virgin" town on a windless day, then there's little excuse for doing less than 80-90%. Such circumstances are rare, so forget them for the moment.

If you are shooting from 300 to 500 yards where the dogs are "rifle savvy" (and especially if there is a healthy wind blowing), then many of your shots will be "sighters" and you may shoot 4 or 5 such sighters or more for every dog hit. That's 20% or less.

In other words, the "percentage" will vary widely with the level of challenge. Again, I would suggest that shooting anything more than 50% (or more likely 33%) means that you're not hunting under very challenging conditions and that the gratification level for a successful shot is not nearly as great as it might otherwise be.

Watching them "vaporize" through the scope is plenty gratification for me.

IMO the % would be dictated by the shooters thoughts and methods for the day.

By this I mean if he/she wants to learn some things about trigger control and get better with the gun then he will do things a bit differently than if he is just looking for body counts.

I still shoot pds a bit, but not near as much as I used to. When we were doing it a lot we went to have fun and make a day of it. We would also work hard to make some sport out of it.

If we had a dog at 125 yds or less then it was done offhand. Dogs from 125 to about 225 would be shot from sitting. After 225 we could go to our belly and shoot off the ground, normally using a cheater (bipod). The walk around varmint rig is great for this application.

When we went to this method we learned a ton load and also got a bunch better with our rigs.

Now if a fella is just out for body count and then take one the shooting tables they make and a umbrella and go to it. Your %'s will soar with this method, it sure aint my style but it may be yours.

You just gotta sort out why your doing it I guess.

Mark D

On sage rats, I keep my distance to about 200 yds usually.... depending on how I am shooting for the day, kill ratio averages 75 to 80 %, sometimes much higher, sometimes as low as 50%....( hey at least I am honest!!!).....

Prairie dogs are a bigger target so I hit about 75 % pretty consistently with those, but I still am keeping my range within 250 yds...with 90% of the ones I hit, being within 200 yds...

with a rim fire on sage rats, I average about 85 to 90 %, but we are talking shots at 50 to 100 yds on average... with a higher magnification scope with a mil dot reticle...and it is a bolt action CZ, which can shoot better than I can! and I don't do bad with it!

cheers
seafire

I used to track how many kills I had and the number of misses and hits at each range. Even without that you know if you're shooting well or not. Since I stopped counting hits and misses I actually think that I have more fun.

The last trip out for ground squirrels with one of my daughters, she shot about 50-60 rounds and I shot three. I think that I hit all three and it was one of the best times I've ever had.

Not at all interested in "challenging shots" but I can shoot them as far as I choose to.
My style is to take the table, chair, bags/bipod, cooler, sunshade, truck, sunscreen and several hundred rounds of ammo. I am there for extermination,,,,bragging rights don't mean shit to me.

I don't can't remember anyone saying about bragging rights, maybe you read it somewhere where I didn't.

I see two trains of thought here when it comes to pd'n.

One take your table, lawn chairs, tv, whatever and relax and enjoy and take out the furry lil rodents with ease.

The other way is utilizing the time to better ones shooting skills.


Thats about it, nothing about braggin rights. It is either make it easy or make it challenging it is that simple.

Mark D
Nothing about braggin rights....

I like the challenging shots. If I'm setting up by myself I shoot everything but if I'm shooting with someone who doesn't get to shoot as often, then they can have everything less than 200 yards.

When I shoot with my daughters I don't take a shot under 300 yards and most are at 400 - 600 yards with the occasional long shot at stupid distances.