While everyone is all firedup about a PD hunt/Handiholic meeting, let me share a few hard-earned tips.
You will want at least 2 rifles, one for the short-range, relatively calm wind situations. I like the 17HMR for this. Even in a town populated by uneducated dogs, they will start to disappear soon after you start shooting. Probably the noise hurts their ears, I'm not sure, but I know from experience that if you start with a 223, soon all you'll see will be at 150-200 plus yards. Best to start small. The other will be your "big gun". For me, anymore, this means 223, because at extended range, 300+, it becomes a test of your setup and technique as much as of the rifle/cartridge's ability to perform. Without a solid rest and excellent technique, you just ain't gonna hit anything the size of a pop can past 300. Not to mention the wind. 500 rounds for each rifle is a good estimate, if you bring 3 guns. I bring 2000 223, 1000 17HMR, and 800 218BEE. Also, 400 rounds for my cheetah. I have never run out of ammo, but I've come close. I have run out of ammo for 17HMR but I only had one brick that year, and we had great shooting for 2 days that year. We also only had 5 days of shooting due to wet conditions.
It's also nice to have a rifle you can shoot well offhand, with the emphasis on shootability over range. I've had lots of fun walking around the towns popping them out to the limit of my ability to hit, usually inside 80 yds or so. I like my marlin lever in 218BEE for this but a good shooting rimfire will work too. It just won't give what I call "desired effect", what you get from a v-max type bullet at 2000+ fps muzzle vel. The 17HMR does not blow them up that good but it's quiet enuff that you can get lots of shooting if you're in a swale or someplace where you don't stand out. A hornet loaded with 35 gn vmax or the hornady 45 gn HP BEE bullet will give desired effect.
You'll need a good feild ready rest. I do lots of shooting over the hood of my truck and an Uncle Bud's type bag. I filled mine with dacron to save weight. You'll realize why if you have to move around a lot, and setup several times during the day. A bipod is good too. Don't forget the rear rest' I like a leather bunny-ear bag.
I haven't set up my shooting bench in the feild for the last three years, but I'll be bringing it again this year, in the hopes I can find a place worth setting it up. A card or other lightweight table will do if that's all you can get. Anything's better than nothing; you don't want to go prone unless you like rolling around in thorns and PD doo-doo. You'll also want something to sit on; if you're heavy a folding chair will have the tendency to sink into the ground, so I use a cooler. Doubles as a place to keep your ammo out of the sun, and cool drink handy.
If you hand load, be aware that a maximum load developed at or near sea-level, in cool, 50-75 degrees weather, can be an overload in the heat and altitude conditions you will be shooting in on the high prairie. I found this out the hard way when my 220 swift loads, near but not at maximum at home, blew the extractor off my ruger one year. The heat is not so much a factor, I think as is the effect of letting the sun shine on your ammo. It'll get hot real fast.
You'll also want some stout footwear; the thorny cacti that are all over the desert will go right through regular sneaker-like shoes. At a minimum you want leather uppers and thick soles; wear the Nike-type sport/walkers and you'll be pulling thorns out of your shredded-shoe-clad feet long before nightfall. I wear my lightweight Danners and shorts/T-shirt. A ball cap helps sighting with the sun at certain angles.
It also helps to have a decent pair of binoculars to spot with, staring through a scope all day can/will produce a walloping case of eye strain coupled with a painful headache. This syndrome is made worse if you're straining to see through lower-quality optics. Binoculars of any type are better than none, though, and the conditions are usually excellent for seeing so the higher quality optics are a plus, not a necessity. You're almost always shooting in bright sunlight; PDs don't like the clouds it seems to spook them when clouds roll over.
Two or three person teams, having one person spotting while the other shoots, helps immensly; it's often hard to judge the range, and see your misses so you can correct your aim. It ain't no fun to be missing all the time. We take turns spotting and shooting, it's just more fun that way, at least for me and my partner. Some guys get into the competitive spirit; this can ruin a shoot if it gets outta hand. I get almost as much satisfaction seeing the other guy score as I do when I connect. If you're not hitting at least 50%, you're either shooting too far or need help with the wind.
You will probably need to re-zero so be prepared, most places have targets in the local hardware store but not all have stores. I bring a few targets, my staple gun and some cardboard; it's frustrating to have to find supplies when you want to be shooting. You'll only have so much time so be advised.
You'll want gun cleaning supplies, I bring a kit packed in a 50-cal GI ammo can with the essentials, patches jags solvent oil, screwdriver/pliers; our cleaning rods go in a case I made out of a cardboard tube(the one it was shipped to me in). If the shooting is good you will have to use some copper solvent to restore accuracy. The lunch break is a good time for this chore. If the shooting is just so-so, you'll be well advised to clean in the evening. You'll be sorry if you don't.
Another necessity, for me at least, is a supply of a good sunscreen. Unless you are like my partner Craig, who is very dark to begin with and does not burn, you will suffer a painful sunburn unless you put some on all exposed skin, especially the nose and ears. DO NOT go topless in the high desert sun.
A cold beer is great, but you want to drink water, lots of it, during the day. Pack a lunch, you'll need it. Save the libation for after the guns are packed away.
Hope this helps and hasn't been too long of a post.
