Tell me about prairie dogging

[MakeMineaP99]

Help me out here, how do y'all find places to hunt prairie dogs? Y'all just find some farmer out west that has problems with dogs and ask if he wants them gone?

I think a few of my shootin' buds and myself would be up for a prairie dog expedition around the beginning of the fourth quarter. Besides, my surgical instrument needs some excercise, it's been killing too much paper lately.

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll140/MakeMineaP99/Capstone018.jpg

[selzbytes]

Dakotas, Nebraska - other plains states are great starting points. Most opportunities are ranchers with large amounts of land & dogs so it's a revenue stream for them. Renewable too!!

Google up a few places - it's nothing but fun. My son and I go every year or two. Great Dad & Lad time.

http://www.dakotahuntingtrips.com/prairiedogandcoyotehunts.html

[AdamN]

Plenty of guided hunts out west if you dont mind paying. Around these parts you may find a farmer or two that need some groundhogs thinned out.

I know a few guys that go on the guided hunts. Pay your money, show up and shoot ;)

That one of those hogue stocks?

[MakeMineaP99]

Yessir.

[Crazy4nitro]

Dan,
As you and I just talked about....Sounds like Fun.
Nice Rifle

A Friend at work has a son in Colorado and he wants to set up a trip sometime.
Maybe some time we can Give him a Visit.

'Nitro

[jawjaboy]

Don't know much about prairie dogs, but I can speak ta squirrel. Glassed and taken well beyond 200 yards wit 22 mag and 17HMR, in da brush(swamp).

BTW, we love squirrel. Can ya eat pd's? :confused:
.

[AdamN]

I dont think they eat em Jawja, not yet anyway.....


Ive spent a few mornings sitting in the woods waiting for a Squirrel to pop out. 22lr and a scope, pretty good fun.....

[MakeMineaP99]

Dan,
As you and I just talked about....Sounds like Fun.
Nice Rifle

A Friend at work has a son in Colorado and he wants to set up a trip sometime.
Maybe some time we can Give him a Visit.

'Nitro


One of the guys apparently knows someone in Utah (not Koski, least I don't reckon), that has access to prairie dog hunting galore. I'm going to get him working on it.

Also, another Front Sight trip is in the works, so maybe afterwards. Right now, I'm thinking I'm going to be off the entire fourth quarter, so I mine as well do something half way productive. ;)

I don't believe PDs are editable. I think they're in vermin family.

Selzbytes--

Never thought about doing a guided hunt. By the time you pay for hotel and food, those guided hunts are quite competive, at least for the varmint. At two grand to kill something big, I think I would need to get a new job first.

[Slim Chance]

Had a friend with a system. He'd find a small town in prairie dog habitat and eat breakfast at the local diner. Mention to a few farmers that he wanted to shoot PDs and he had several invites.

[Bush Pilot]

Prairie dogging isn't what it was just a few years ago. At one time you could easily fire 1,000 shots a day and not have to move very far. Today, farmers have turned them into a cash crop and get as much as $500.00 a day to shoot, taint worth it.

[BIGGUNGOBOOM]

Hey that rifle looks familiar !!!!!!, Marmont season is approaching, I plan on helping them cross the road in a mist pattern here soon. there are a bunch of places out their, just gotta look. I guess you could eat a PD but damn you would have to scrape a lot of them together, especially if your gonna shoot them with some varmint Grenades.

[BigSlick]

Check da Abilene or Midland maybe Odessa Texas papers. I think they're online too. Lotta places out west a there ta still shoot free, or damn cheap as in maybe a case a beer or a bottle a somethin nice.

You could prolly eat PD's... if ya got a straw, a dust pan an some tweezers :animlol:

They pop like popcorn an sail thru da air an leave nothin but a lil red mist an bits a meat all over da place

22-250 is made for em ;)

.223 is OK too, but ya gotta practice ahead a time an have some decent glass

About a 10X is minimum for my old eyes. 36X BR scope works like a charm ;)

Mirage can get ya on a hot day, an dopin da wind is a absolute must. Put ya flags out at least 100 yds.

Real small bullets do well, heavier bullets an ya sometimes cain't tell if ya hit em cause they jus disentigrate - fast :supergrin:

Take a contender or an Encore in 22-250 or .243 an have a day

You gonna love it :thumbsup:

[Jayhawker]

Out here, farmers will let you hunt PDs on their land on the condition that you don't leave any alive before you leave. Without trying, there are two ranchers that let me hunt on their ground any time that I want through the years. If you want to try it, come out here, and you got a free place to stay with a free guide/local interpreter.

[CZ93X62]

I've not had the pleasure of whacking any prairie dogs, but have vaporized legions of ground squirrels. Most farmers with ground squirrel infestations will welcome hunters that don't shoot their irrigation systems or outbuildings. I've not yet had to pay to shoot, but always offer adult beverages for the host and flowers for the landowner's wife. Hell, I get Christmas cards from a couple of my hosts.

GSs can be kind of seasonal. Down south where I'm from in CA they'll start coming up in mid-February, but by late July they spend the majority of their time underground. Another factor is crop height, since a lot of hunting is done in alfalfa fields--if the crop is much over 9" high, you won't often see the critters, so you want to time your hunt for right after harvest.

Some of the best and most convenient hunting I ever had was at my former place in Cherry Valley. I cartwheeled several dozen per month with a 25 caliber air rifle, and if I was selective about fire direction a 22 LR was safe to use. I should note that the hunting wasn't a full-time thing--I just kept the war toys ready at hand while out in the garage, and worked the rats while waiting for the casting furnace to heat back up after a re-fill, or between innings of an Angel game. Of course, you can forget having a garden--those rats will destroy any standing crop they find. They are widely hated in agricultural areas.