I had a great time in three days of prairie dog shooting on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. It is more fun than you can imagine. The .223 is effective way beyond 300 yards and mildot scopes seem to be the best way to fly. They're not kidding when they say wear high boots in case of rattlesnakes. I'll post pics later.  If you like long range shooting, (100 to 1000 yards) and you like to see your target go splat when you hit it, you owe it to yourself to try this. The Black Hills 52 grain hollow point worked very well in my Remington VLS in .223, and AR-15 with a 1-10 twist bull barrel. I'm just a novice at this but I'm definitely going back next year.  Other members of my group took .308s and 22-250s with very good success.
The .17 HMR will kill past 300 yards. My brother got a confirmed kill at 307 with a Savage .17HMR.
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You weren't with my pal Russ, were you?

No, However we were checked out by the tribal ranger, Russell Fastwolf.  We stayed at the LWR ranch in Martin South, Dakota and I highly recommend it.