�Winner, South Dakota, A drinking town with a pheasant problem!��. and does it ever. First trip down highway 183 and one of the darn things tried to push me off the road. He would have too, except the pheasant changed its mind at the last second and veered back off the road. The town has the biggest JOHN DEERE dealership that I have ever seen along with an excellent pharmacy with a built in FFL and license agency. I won�t even mention the excellent food at the VFW and of course, the very friendly people there in the town. The weather was more than just wind in Winner, where in Saturday night were treated to a spectacular lightning show, with lightning crossing between clouds and hitting the ground several miles to the East. Luckily, the golf ball sized hailstones and hurricane force winds managed to miss us as well!

With a total of 54 shooters in 5 flights, we went out to the field where a steady fifteen to eighteen mph crossing wind and cooperative prairie dogs made for an interesting couple of days. The wind was so strong that in opening the vehicle door, the cover off the Styrofoam cooler was launched out the door and was half a mile away before we even saw it leave. However, using the excellent Horus ballistics program to give a firing solution along with the Kestrel 4000 wind and weather meter provided me with a firing solution for the 100-grain Sierra varmint bullet that worked out to about 300 yards. It turned out that the solution was for 3.2 moa of Windage, so this being about .8 or so of a mil, I put the leading edge of the dot on the PD and presto, no PD. My .260 custom rifle used the F210M primer and 41.5 of H4895. The bullet had an instrumental velocity of 3270fps and a Standard deviation of 9.5.

This system worked so well that when Brian, a new hunting partner tried it, he killed three PDs with four shots and apparently became bored with the whole process. Brian was also shooting his little Savage .17HMR bolt gun and managed to do a very competent job with it. That is certainly a remarkable little caliber and rifle.

It was funny in one case a Dog got a little confused about the difference between cover and concealment. Putting only his head, eye and nose above the dirt mount at about 200 yards. Since he had no idea that I was observing this whole scenario through the 30X USO variable, he felt very safe. However, since I did know the difference, I aimed for his predicted center of mass. The guide seeing this through his binoculars, said: �You shot right through the dirt and nailed him�. Frankly, I don�t know who was more surprised, the PD or the guide. The PD was not available for comment.

The wind limited my rifle�s effective range to a little less than three hundred yards. This compared to productive shots at nearly 700 yards with this same recipe in Montana where the winds were under 10 mph. Experience with the 139 Lapua Scenar bullet with a much higher BC demonstrates to me that the 100 grain HP is the limiting factor. Thankfully, with the Horus system, I was not reduced to guessing about the wind as would have otherwise have been the case. Another secret about shooting in the wind is the use of a Jewell trigger, which when set at about one pound for a consistent break, allowed for consistent trigger control.

I recall that the altimeter was over 3000 feet as compared to my home range at 700 and the humidity was somewhat different. This data was input to the ballistics model to develop this firing solution. Turns out that having faith in one�s instruments as in flying paid dividends big time.

As usual, the chance to meet new friends and renew acquaintances with old ones was a big part of the fun. While the food didn�t really benefit my waste line, it added considerably to the enjoyment and was singularly remarkable.

The return trip to Seattle included stops at Wall Drug and the Custer Monument. Both definitely worth the visit and good places to rest en-route.

[ 07-09-2003, 07:53: Message edited by: DMCI* ]

Great story!!!

DMCI,

I made my first trip to Winner to shoot p-dogs this past June. Even by Kansas standards the wind was strong for 2 of the 3 days we were there. We stood in the parking lot of the hotel and watched a storm come in on Sat. eve., what days were you there?

Had a great time shooting and shooting and shooting and�.. I have never seen dog towns that big. We found ourselves shooting across the wind to about 300 � 350 yds and later shot with or into the wind to establish bragging rights and who would pay for breakfast the next morning. Wonderful people there, looking forward to returning about the same time next year.

Carl

Carl:

Does the name Chuck Cornett ring a bell?

Dave

DMCI,

No, sorry Chuck Cornet does not ring a bell. Chuck is the name of the guide for the reservation, however his last name began with a D. (sorry I don�t have his name in front of me at this time). Were you shooting on the reservation?

We were there June 20, 21 & 22. Meet some friends that make the trip from MN about 4 times a year. Stayed in Winner in a small hotel on the east edge of town. This was a fun trip, got to shoot a lot, 4 of us spent about 6k to 7k rounds total over 2 � days.

Carl

I was there at the same time with the "PD Conference" at the Holiday Inn Express at the same end of town. Shoot was run by Chuck Cornett, our guides were provided by the Garnos Ranch. I watched the same storm from the parking lot of our hotel.

D.

[ 07-10-2003, 09:46: Message edited by: DMCI* ]