Prairie dog hunting, location.

[1shot]

This question is directed to those of you that have hunted these elusive little creatures! lol My best bud and I would like to take a few days, meet somewhere and catch up on old times while thinning the heard a little . The problem is, I live in Ohio while he is in Colorado. Can anyone recommend some place for us to meet up for several days? Another viable option would be somewhere in Colorado where we wouldn’t have the cost of lodging. Many thanks for any recommendations.

Lloyd

 

[L.Sherm]

Get away from Denver, wyoming is alot more P.D friendly

 

[Alguapo]

Good luck. Just my 2 cents worth. Took me 40 years to find em. And I didn't use the internet to do it.

 

[urbanrifleman]

Good luck. Just my 2 cents worth. Took me 40 years to find em. And I didn't use the internet to do it.

I'll be dead in 40 years.

 

[Tommie]

Can’t speak for Colorado but the plague nailed Wyoming HARD. Most of my honey holes were completely dead last summer. As in: not a single dog in sight.

 

[mongo chicago]

The last few years we went to Bad River Bucks and Birds in Draper S.D. Complete package w/room and board. Used to go to Rockin 7 Ranch in Wyoming before the plague hit.

 

[vonb]

Google searches and calling guides. National Grasslands in South Dakota is another option. It takes homework and some dedication to find a good place to shoot.

 

[L.Sherm]

I wasn't talking the amount of P.D, the people more P.D friendly.

 

[redrockranger]

This question is directed to those of you that have hunted these elusive little creatures! lol My best bud and I would like to take a few days, meet somewhere and catch up on old times while thinning the heard a little . The problem is, I live in Ohio while he is in Colorado. Can anyone recommend some place for us to meet up for several days? Another viable option would be somewhere in Colorado where we wouldn’t have the cost of lodging. Many thanks for any recommendations.

Lloyd

How about Colorado ?

 

[Damon555]

Prepare to get a million views and few to no actually informative responses!....lol I met my PD contact more than 25 years ago....since meeting my ex-wife's freshman college roommate I've had a steady supply of private land to shoot on......That secret will go to the grave with me....(actually my brother and 2 sons know about it too!). Gotta put in the time....google maps has a bunch of dog towns marked on it....some that I've actually shot....not any more. Pretty much decimated since being marked public......The locals will be more than happy to tell you where to go.....gas station attendants, hotel clerks, waiters and waitresses to name a few. I always got a smile when I mentioned prairie dogs!

 

[ken158]

Getting someone to share their hard sought after PD locations will be almost impossible. Best case is to hook up with someone local to the area you want to hunt and treat them very nice! Call some gun shops and ask where the PD shooters go and you will get a few leads. Once an area becomes public knowledge, it gets shot out pretty quick.

 

[Seamaster31]

All of the best towns I have seen were on private land. A few years ago ranchers would welcome responsible guys to trim them down a bit, but now that outfitters have realized that there is a market for shooting that has changed quite a bit. For a fee outfitters now will set up a good shoot, and really it is not a bad idea to use them for a couple of days. You will probably spend more on ammo and new barrels than the cost of an outfitter.

 

[jepp2]

Another viable option would be somewhere in Colorado where we wouldn’t have the cost of lodging.

Don't know where your friend lives, but it is probably unlikely he lives close enough to any prairie dog towns you can shoot, that you can stay at his place.

I've lived in Colorado since 2005, seen the drought and the plague really impact number. I have one small place to shoot them about 25 miles north of me. But I don't even shoot dogs in CO. WY has much better numbers along I-25, and MT has many more dogs if you can find them and get permission.

Without some input on where to hunt, who to call, and that they allow shooting, it will probably be just a scouting trip. If you expect to be able to shoot and have fun, search and find an outfitter. That doesn't insure success, but it is more likely than doing it on your own.

 

[drover]

This is a long read but it is a perfect example of why I don't share PD and gopher locations.

About 15 years ago I happened across a small meadow of about 50 acres out in the sagebrush, it supported about 400 - 500 gophers and it was an easy place to just park and shoot a few so it became my backup spot for when the other places I shot were a little slow. I didn't hit it very often and when I did I only shot about 25 - 30 of them, I was the only one who knew about it, it was my own little honey hole that I was nurturing so that it would last forever.

Fast forward to about 7 years ago - I was wirh a friend and we were having a really slow day in one our usual fields. Well stupid me I mentioned that I had a location that we could take a few out of but he had to promise me that he would not share the location with anyone else or shoot it unless he was with me, I even explained to him why I only took a few out of it when shooting it.
Sure enough a few weeks later I am out shooting and I see his outfit in the meadow so I drove over to see him and he had another friend of ours with him and they are both shooting fast and hard. I was more than a little put out and I mentioned to him that he made a promise not to share the location with anyone - his reply was that since the guy with him was a friend of us both he thought it would be okay. Of course they were totally disregarding only taking out a few so the population would be sustainable.

Now it gets even better - the next time I am out there the common friend of ours is with his son-in-law and three other people in their outfit and they had killed every gopher that they could. Now 7 years later it is a dead field I have not seen a gopher or even a sign of a fresh digging since that episode.

That is the last time I will ever share a honey hole location or ranch access with anyone and a perfect example of why very few people will share locations or even contacts for access to the locations.

And yes, it did put a strain on my relationship and feelings about our friendship for a few years.

drover

 

[1shot]

After reviewing all of the posts, I must have worded it poorly. I never ask for, nor expected anyone to divulge the honey hole, or any ranchers name and location. I was simply hoping for some general information, such as "South Eastern Wyoming has some pretty good populations." If I ruffled anyone's feathers, I apologize.

Lloyd

 

[L.Sherm]

"South Eastern Wyoming has some pretty good populations.

No ruffle on me, but I would go to wyoming you will have better luck knocking on doors.
Don't know much about the P.D hunting or plague in wyoming I shoot plenty of sagerats in MT. were I live, but I've did plenty of traveling around wyoming and see them from the road. Just drive north out of Cheyenne you will see them from the freeway, Onx maps is gonna be your fried for tracking down owners.

 

[JSH]

I all but quit responding to anything regarding a place or location to hunt, anything.
The country is a different place than it was in the 70’s,80’s 90’s etc. There are still places that you can hunt for asking, but there is a certain amount of trust that has to be earned.
I have eaten breakfast with a number of fellows for about 10 years now, buying the tables breakfast at least once every time I am there. I know them all by first name, several of their wives and kids as well. I have not directly asked to hunt, but mentioned I was open to finding an extra place. Last year it finally paid off and offers of various spots and locations and who to call.

I have asked at gun shops, gas stations etc, all I ever got was hard stares and fellows shuffling their feet and kicking rocks.

The plague has backed off, but it is still around. I found a fresh new “hidden” town last year, not big but stupid, maybe 30-40 acres. Went back late last year, nothing at all. I contacted a few people in the know, I figured it was poisoned nope. They told me the plague was back and spreading again as it had hit a large area on a family farm several miles away.

 

[Greyfox]

Two or three years ago a guy started posting on GoGoVarmintGo where I'm a regular since the 90's. He seemed like a really good guy and took part in many discussions. In early 2021 he asked if anyone might share a pd location. Wanting to be a nice guy and since he only live about an hour north I responded and we talked about it for a while over a couple of sessions. Everything seemed good so I gave him the farmer's # and address. The last thing I told him was that I had been shooting on this property for more than 20 years and the owner was a good friend, "Don't f**k this up". Well, he ignored the farmer's instructions about fences, trash disposal and such, insulted the property and suggested he could probably do better elsewhere and then gave me a cussing because I reported to him that the farmer suggested he wouldn't be allowed on the place again. To make matters worse, he didn't even pay the small trespass fee ($100) for a 2 day shoot with a friend along and sent the farmer a pocket knife instead. One that he didn't want worth about $50 according to searches. That will be the last time I ever give anyone a location to shoot pds. They are out there. Do what we did, find your own.

Rick

 

[Alguapo]

This is a long read but it is a perfect example of why I don't share PD and gopher locations.

About 15 years ago I happened across a small meadow of about 50 acres out in the sagebrush, it supported about 400 - 500 gophers and it was an easy place to just park and shoot a few so it became my backup spot for when the other places I shot were a little slow. I didn't hit it very often and when I did I only shot about 25 - 30 of them, I was the only one who knew about it, it was my own little honey hole that I was nurturing so that it would last forever.

Fast forward to about 7 years ago - a friend but we were having a really slow day in one our usual fields. Well stupid me I mentioned that I had a location that we could take a few out of but he had to promise me that he would not share the location with anyone else or shoot it unless he was with me, I even explained to him why I only took a few out of it when shooting it.
Sure enough a few weeks later I am out shooting and I see his outfit in the meadow so I drove over to see him and he had another friend of ours with him and they are both shooting fast and hard. I was more than a little put out and I mentioned to him that he made a promise not to share the location with anyone - his reply was that since the guy with him was a friend of us both he thought it would be okay. Of course they were totally disregarding only taking out a few so the population would be sustainable.

Now it gets even better - the next time I am out there the common friend of ours is with his son-in-law and three other people in their outfit and they had killed every gopher that they could. Now 7 years later it is a dead field I have not seen a gopher or even a sign of a fresh digging since that episode.

That is the last time I will ever share a honey hole location or ranch access with anyone and a perfect example of why very few people will share locations or even contacts for access to the locations.

And yes, it did put a strain on my relationship and feelings about our friendship for a few years.

drover

My point exactly.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

Even in the late 80's-early 90's it was easy to lose a spot. Than it was corporate shoots( for gun writers and larger sellers). Hard to compete with that money and individuals who followed using the information from the writers.