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Where can i shoot prarie dogs??

There's a farm yard on the Mn/SD border(township road) that has 5-10 acres of prairie dogs. Drove pass a couple times looking for fox and coyote. Almost stopped to ask why they have the prairie dogs. Probably 100+ miles to the next prairie dog.
 
Coyotefurharvester said:
There's a farm yard on the Mn/SD border(township road) that has 5-10 acres of prairie dogs. Drove pass a couple times looking for fox and coyote. Almost stopped to ask why they have the prairie dogs. Probably 100+ miles to the next prairie dog.
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True, there are a few small dog towns east of the river, but the ones I know won’t let anyone shoot. Like most hunting out west nowadays, you’ll have to pay. It’s gotten significantly worse the last 10 years. Kind of like hogs in TX; big problem, but money to be made. :rolleyes:
 
Orygun does not have any PD's, but we do have a very large population of those pesky Belding's Ground Squirrels that provide more shooting than any PD patch I've ever shot. Fortunately for us, they are much more stupid than a PD, do not mind gunfire, and seldom are bothered much when their close buddy, a foot away from them gets vaporized into oblivion.



But as has been mentioned above, in the past ten years or so, greedy "outfitters/guides" have got most of the prime properties locked up for fee shooting, thereby locking out all us locals who've been shooting for decades for free. After doing this for 60 years, it's quite a blow, and sad to see what greed has done to my favorite pastime. :(
 
In SW MT, our very close approximation in both size and mannerisms to the Belding Ground Squirrel is the Richardsons Ground Squirrel (RGS) and when found in abundance, they can and do, provide hours of shooting opportunities - often without moving but a few hundred feet from one set-up to the next during an entire day spent in the field. While the RGS doesn't quite measure up to the prairie dog, what it lacks in size is often times more than made up for in sheer abundance. Bring plenty of ammunition and a couple of your favorite rifles as you'll want to give them a chance to cool off.
 
Rick in Oregon said:
Orygun does not have any PD's, but we do have a very large population of those pesky Belding's Ground Squirrels that provide more shooting than any PD patch I've ever shot. Fortunately for us, they are much more stupid than a PD, do not mind gunfire, and seldom are bothered much when their close buddy, a foot away from them gets vaporized into oblivion.



But as has been mentioned above, in the past ten years or so, greedy "outfitters/guides" have got most of the prime properties locked up for fee shooting, thereby locking out all us locals who've been shooting for decades for free. After doing this for 60 years, it's quite a blow, and sad to see what greed has done to my favorite pastime. :(
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Agreed. We paid for our first PD hunt in 2021 because we knew that we didn't know what we were doing. I think the price was reasonable at $150/day because it included lodging and all the meals.

All of our trips since then have been on public ground, or on a Res that charged a reasonable fee for the license (most are outrageous). While I REALLY enjoy the activity, I'm not willing to drive 19 hours, buy a license, and then pay $75-$600/day for the "opportunity" to kill rodents or other pests. At least if I pay to fish a stocked pond, it's STOCKED.

I don't blame someone for making an extra buck off their investment (land). Realistically, as an out-of-towner, I have no problem paying a nominal fee to a land owner just to say thank you. Heck, that just seems polite. When the "opportunity" costs more than a good day's worth of ammo, there's a problem and that problem is normally that there's a few too many hands reaching for my wallet. At that point, the ranchers can keep their varmints and I'll gladly help the tree huggers lobby against the poisons for the same reason they are charging money, because I can...
 
Exactly. I've paid ranchers, Indian guides, and outfitters. None were good. Last time on the res, $175, never moved all day, shot maybe 150 rounds....went home the next day. Screw it. Headed out in a month to my friend's Bro in Laws friend's place, 800 miles...not sure I'll ever see a 300 round day again ..
 
Tommie said:
Or those circles will be fire ant hills.
This is a massive bunch of ants. Scanning satellite images isn’t an exact science.View attachment 1658905
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I too have been tricked by the ant hills on onX maps. Just coming back from blm land with a very high density of ant hills

Did slow down, glass, and had to work to find a few small colonies. Averaged 100 shots a day, had a good time, and would do it again but spent three hours looking for every hour shooting . Also no shots under 250 and averaged about 450 yards on shots and 14-20 dogs per set up.

Totally acceptable.
 
Just heard from one of my Dakota ranches the plague is in several towns. These were fairly isolated populations. Will still make a trip as I like to visit and run around to neighboring ranches, get to know new ground.
 
drover said:
There are no PD's in Oregon, I suspect that you are thinking of ground squirrels. PD range is from west of the Mississippi river and east of the Rocky Mts., there may be an occasional small population on the fringes of these but very few, PD habitats are the plains states.

drover
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There are a lot of them around Buena Vista, CO
 
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