The DIY Hunter

Dallen shooting my Model 1885 in 243 WSSM from the bench while prairie dog hunting.

Dallen shooting my Model 1885 in 243 WSSM from the bench while prairie dog hunting.

Here are a few photos and video action from a recent DIY Prairie Dog hunt that Dallen and I went on. Dallen took his A-Bolt Stainless Stalker in 223 Rem. and I took my Winchester Model 1885 in 243 WSSM. After watching the acrobatics the 243 WSSM would give the Prairie Dogs in the viewfinder of the camera Dallen started using my rifle for most of the day. The 55g Ballistic Tip bullets coming out the muzzle of the 28-inch long rifle barrel are cruising at 4240 fps working some pretty cool magic on varmints.

We drove around for a few hours in the morning looking for different areas to hunt. By the time we found some good areas the wind was just roaring. It was very difficult to hit anything past 200 yards. We still made the best of it and focused most of our shooting around the 200-yard distance.

Dallen made the most impressive shot of the day at 300 yards, with a heavy crosswind. It took him a couple of shots for me to spot the shot placement and try to outsmart the wind. Here is a video clip of the shot. He is holding with the second windage mil-dot to make this shot. The vapor trail of the bullet is also pretty impressive in this shot.

 

Here are some compiled video clips of various Prairie Dogs being launched. We almost get three complete rotations in the air with one critter we took at 160 yards as you can see in the clip below.

To capture the video I was using my Fujifilm HS20exr with a frame rate set at 80 frames per second and some at 160 frames per second with a Sony VCL-DH1758 teleconverter to get a 51x optical power zoom. The wind was so bad that the video was horribly shaky. I did the best I could at getting video in the harsh wind. I will work on a steadier tripod system in the future. Because the camera was so shaky HD video was not working really at all. By running the camera in lower resolution and higher frame rates I was able to get some ok footage. I also took all of the video footage into Adobe After Effects to stabilize the video so you don't get completely seasick watching it.

My Model 1885 in 243 WSSM on the bench while prairie dog hunting.

My 243 WSSM Winchester Model 1885 in on the bench while prairie dog hunting.


Picture of us while hunting prairie dogs with my 243 WSSM in 2011.

Dallen and I from where we set up and shot most of the day.


Picture of us while hunting prairie dogs with my 243 WSSM in 2011.

Dallen with his first Red Fox we found while hunting Prairie Dogs.

For more prairie dog hunting video clips check out my second prairie dog hunting entry. 2011 Prairie Dog Hunt Take Two — 600 Yard Direct Hit on Video