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Hey all,
I've been back now since last Thursday and have mostly recovered from 2-30hour+ drives and a week camping on the Montana prairie, so I thought a few of you might want to hear a bit about the trip. Scott has filled in most of the important stuff, but I might be able to add a few things. Also, George Foster made a comment on another post that I thought should be addressed.
Most of the folks who were on the safari aren't boardies, so I'll just use first names and won't bother with who they are as you don't know them anyway.
Todd picked me up on Thursday July 19 about 6:30 AM and we hooked up my trailer and headed north. Around mid day in Indianapolis, at Doug Roberts' we added Shane to the load as well as enough rifles and ammo to outfit us all
. The we headed west. Todd has one of those enormous GMC diesel pick ups and it was very comfortable, although by the time you spend 30 hours in anything it does get tiresome. We stopped for dinner near the Wisconsin Dells and for breakfast in western ND. We arrived at the designated ranch near Winnett MT a little after noon MST. After some discussion about the logistical issues caused by a flooded small river we decided to set up cam several miles away on the ranch owned by Scott's friend Wade. Bobby & Bod arrives later that day as well IIRC. Also, my high school friend Chuck arrived from Idaho Falls. WE set up camp, had dinner and planned the next day. Seems like a couple of guys went out for a few dogs that evening.
On Saturday Scott, Chuck & I explored the area looking for where the dog population would sustain us. It appeared that most areas were sparse. Reasons for this have been speculated about, but no firm conclusion has been reached. My personal opinion is that since last year was very dry and grass was almost non-existent, the female dogs possible had no litters. Then the combination of a good shoot last year, the fact that there were many shooters in the area before us this year and the high grass hiding dogs, made the population seem quite low.
There were, in fact, dogs to shoot, but they were scattered and difficult to find in large concentration. That being said, most of us got in some good shooting even if we had to actually hunt dogs. Shooting styles were varied with Booby & Shane driving around and shooting from Bobby's side by side, Todd and Bob using tables and several of us do walkabouts with stools and shooting sticks. Walkabouts are my current favorite method. The weather wasn't so hot that it was exhausting and one tends to get closer to the targets. In the course of four days I shot just over 300 rounds, unusually low, but had a very high hit ratio. I had a very good time. Probably most everybody else shot more, especially those using AR's.
Every morning we would divide up and choose the spots we wanted to hunt while consuming the mornings' beverage of choice, mostly a couple pots of coffee, but a few choosing caffeinated soft drinks. We would gather in early afternoon for a break and some lunch and then again between 7 -9 for dinner and maybe a shower. Todd have provided a heated shower mechanism which was much appreciated. We divided responsibility for the meals and they were all excellent, selections including lasagna, spaghetti, turkey dinner, red beans & rice and more. No one went hungry as far as I could tell. Scott's son Doug got there on Saturday, Corey & Chris arrived on Sunday and JR (damncowfarmer) on Monday. So at one point, including Deb (Scott's wife) we had twelve in camp. I think I'm correct in saying we all got along well and enjoyed each other's company.
Bobby & Bob left on Tuesday afternoon intending to visit Devil's Tower on the way back and Todd, Shane & I left on Wednesday morning after dismantling the portable garage and refilling the trailer. After another 30 hours + and dropping Shane off in Indy. I arrived back home about 4:00PM on Thursday.
There was quite an array of firearms from 20 VT to 260AI. Probably there were more 223's than anything else, followed closely by 204 Rugers. Personally, I used a 20 VT, 221 Fireball and 223 AI.
These trips are not expensive, or at least they don't have to be. The three of us split the fuel and groceries and spent about $275 each. A couple of meals on the road added some as did incidentals like ice, extra water and such. All told besides ammo, I spent well under $400 for the trip. Pretty good for being gone from home eight days I'd say. Since I load my own ammo and already had the cases, only bullets, powder and primers didn't amount to much. To George and others, if this is something on your bucket list, there is really no reason to not do it. It's not expensive, doesn't take a lot of time and there are folks who will help you get it done. You just have to say so. I am no longer young, but I don't intend to give it up yet. Next year I plan to go it again.
The pics below show the camp from the west side, looking into camp from the north, sitting in the midday shade, Bobby's War Wagon and sunrise from the "phone booth" (the hill overlooking cam where we could get a cell signal).
It was a good party,
Rick
I've been back now since last Thursday and have mostly recovered from 2-30hour+ drives and a week camping on the Montana prairie, so I thought a few of you might want to hear a bit about the trip. Scott has filled in most of the important stuff, but I might be able to add a few things. Also, George Foster made a comment on another post that I thought should be addressed.
Most of the folks who were on the safari aren't boardies, so I'll just use first names and won't bother with who they are as you don't know them anyway.
Todd picked me up on Thursday July 19 about 6:30 AM and we hooked up my trailer and headed north. Around mid day in Indianapolis, at Doug Roberts' we added Shane to the load as well as enough rifles and ammo to outfit us all
. The we headed west. Todd has one of those enormous GMC diesel pick ups and it was very comfortable, although by the time you spend 30 hours in anything it does get tiresome. We stopped for dinner near the Wisconsin Dells and for breakfast in western ND. We arrived at the designated ranch near Winnett MT a little after noon MST. After some discussion about the logistical issues caused by a flooded small river we decided to set up cam several miles away on the ranch owned by Scott's friend Wade. Bobby & Bod arrives later that day as well IIRC. Also, my high school friend Chuck arrived from Idaho Falls. WE set up camp, had dinner and planned the next day. Seems like a couple of guys went out for a few dogs that evening. On Saturday Scott, Chuck & I explored the area looking for where the dog population would sustain us. It appeared that most areas were sparse. Reasons for this have been speculated about, but no firm conclusion has been reached. My personal opinion is that since last year was very dry and grass was almost non-existent, the female dogs possible had no litters. Then the combination of a good shoot last year, the fact that there were many shooters in the area before us this year and the high grass hiding dogs, made the population seem quite low.
There were, in fact, dogs to shoot, but they were scattered and difficult to find in large concentration. That being said, most of us got in some good shooting even if we had to actually hunt dogs. Shooting styles were varied with Booby & Shane driving around and shooting from Bobby's side by side, Todd and Bob using tables and several of us do walkabouts with stools and shooting sticks. Walkabouts are my current favorite method. The weather wasn't so hot that it was exhausting and one tends to get closer to the targets. In the course of four days I shot just over 300 rounds, unusually low, but had a very high hit ratio. I had a very good time. Probably most everybody else shot more, especially those using AR's.
Every morning we would divide up and choose the spots we wanted to hunt while consuming the mornings' beverage of choice, mostly a couple pots of coffee, but a few choosing caffeinated soft drinks. We would gather in early afternoon for a break and some lunch and then again between 7 -9 for dinner and maybe a shower. Todd have provided a heated shower mechanism which was much appreciated. We divided responsibility for the meals and they were all excellent, selections including lasagna, spaghetti, turkey dinner, red beans & rice and more. No one went hungry as far as I could tell. Scott's son Doug got there on Saturday, Corey & Chris arrived on Sunday and JR (damncowfarmer) on Monday. So at one point, including Deb (Scott's wife) we had twelve in camp. I think I'm correct in saying we all got along well and enjoyed each other's company.
Bobby & Bob left on Tuesday afternoon intending to visit Devil's Tower on the way back and Todd, Shane & I left on Wednesday morning after dismantling the portable garage and refilling the trailer. After another 30 hours + and dropping Shane off in Indy. I arrived back home about 4:00PM on Thursday.
There was quite an array of firearms from 20 VT to 260AI. Probably there were more 223's than anything else, followed closely by 204 Rugers. Personally, I used a 20 VT, 221 Fireball and 223 AI.
These trips are not expensive, or at least they don't have to be. The three of us split the fuel and groceries and spent about $275 each. A couple of meals on the road added some as did incidentals like ice, extra water and such. All told besides ammo, I spent well under $400 for the trip. Pretty good for being gone from home eight days I'd say. Since I load my own ammo and already had the cases, only bullets, powder and primers didn't amount to much. To George and others, if this is something on your bucket list, there is really no reason to not do it. It's not expensive, doesn't take a lot of time and there are folks who will help you get it done. You just have to say so. I am no longer young, but I don't intend to give it up yet. Next year I plan to go it again.
The pics below show the camp from the west side, looking into camp from the north, sitting in the midday shade, Bobby's War Wagon and sunrise from the "phone booth" (the hill overlooking cam where we could get a cell signal).
It was a good party,
Rick
