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Prairie Dog trip to MT was a bust )-:

Ironworker

I contacted the landowner within a week of arrival. Once I got there, the landowner texted, saying, You are welcome to access my property; all of us ranchers are tickled that the plague has wiped out 99%. I've been going out there since 2015 and had a blast.
I wasn't charged last year and this year. I wish the land owner had notified me before I departed on my 1,000-mile drive one way. When an outfitter was charging there, they notified me beforehand if it was good or not. When they quit outfitting, they gave me the landowner's contact information. I will cut my losses and move on.
 
I did the same thing last year. Drove up on the place we shot the year b4 and NO dogs.. Could not believe it. Wiped out from plague. Went in to full "find" mode and managed to salvage the trip but cut the trip short...
 
Ironworker said:
The older I get, the longer the drive feels like.
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Lol I am currently on that long drive home from a dog trip, so I definitely can relate to what you’re saying! We were just talking about this in the truck. We’re 6hours in on our 1700mi drive to eastern Pa!

If you guys in SD and Iowa feel all this crazy wind, it is just us driving by!
 
I like to call the County Agriculture Department also, land owners have not exactly been forth coming, 1500 mile trip one way.

If you like shooting dogs, you never quit looking for new places, never. Otherwise, find a new hobby....remote control airplanes, maybe.

I once drove from S. Ca. to N. Ca for ground squirrels. I called the rancher ahead of time where a guy had left a couple of weeks earlier with plenty of shooting. My hunting partner and I drove 13 hours like a bat out of Hades. We met the rancher the next morning, and I asked him if he had ground squirrels we could shoot, he said, "SURE" while handing me a shovel. I asked him what the shovel was for, and he assured me that they had all hibernated. He did invite us back for Spring shooting and we ended up shooting thousands of them beginning in late Feb.
 
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AckleymanII said:
He did invite us back for Spring shooting and we ended up shooting thousands of them beginning in late Feb.
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Yup the Belding's Ground Squirrel comes up in late Feb, goes down in early to mid July and is not seen again till.......late February the next year. With the twitchy weather in early Feb, planning a rat shoot can be a bit dicey, as one year you'll encounter high winds and blowing snow, the next year at the same time it may be sunny and no wind. A true crap shoot every year.

Ask me how I know.....
This lush alfalfa field is ripe with thousands of squirrels we shoot every year. The pic below is what we encountered two years ago in early April.



It's best to know the critter and his habits you intend to shoot, but the WX is the final determining factor.
 
We are always looking for the next place to shoot P-dogs because of plagues and poison. We try to have a backup in case the rancher answers the phone happily saying that the P-dogs are gone.
 
Now, I don't feel so bad. It happens to everyone. I did drive to the other side of Billings out HWY 3; the plague wiped out those, too.
 
WY always had a ton of dogs out on public ground when I lived out that way. No permission, no license needed.
 
Ironworker said:
I contacted the landowner within a week of arrival. Once I got there, the landowner texted, saying, You are welcome to access my property; all of us ranchers are tickled that the plague has wiped out 99%. I've been going out there since 2015 and had a blast.
I wasn't charged last year and this year. I wish the land owner had notified me before I departed on my 1,000-mile drive one way. When an outfitter was charging there, they notified me beforehand if it was good or not. When they quit outfitting, they gave me the landowner's contact information. I will cut my losses and move on.
Click to expand...
Do you mind telling us where you hunted in Montana?
In pre-covid days, I used to hunt PD's west of Havre but haven't hunted them since.
Instead I've been shooting gophers (Richard's ground squirrels) in the Calgary area. Not as much fun as shooting PD's but its still fun.
Bill
 
Damn...if my math is correct that's 181 shots per person for a 4 day trip or 45 shots per person per day. Sounds like you had a good time. I used to shoot 1,000-1,500 rounds on a 3.5 day trip...now lucky to get 4-500 the last few years.

My friend and I just got back from the Rosebud and I fired less than 200 rounds the one day we shot. When I pay $175 I expect better than that.....came home after 1 day.

From talking to locals the Tribe offers to poison the dogs on the ranchers land. That way all the dogs are on tribal land.....$$$

It's not nearly the same as 25 or 30 years ago before Varmit Hunter magazine ruined hunting.
 
Calgary Bill said:
Do you mind telling us where you hunted in Montana?
In pre-covid days, I used to hunt PD's west of Havre but haven't hunted them since.
Instead I've been shooting gophers (Richard's ground squirrels) in the Calgary area. Not as much fun as shooting PD's but its still fun.
Bill
Click to expand...
26 miles out HWY 87 heading to Harden MT outside of Billings MT
 
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