Thousands of Prairie Dogs Killed ... Just For Fun!

[Bud Helms]

Thousands of prairie dogs killed in annual shoot.

Stephanie Boyles, a wildlife biologist with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals in Norfolk, Va. ... ''They're just killing a lot of animals for fun.''

During the shoot, organized by the Selfridge-Shields Sportsman Club, participants pair up and spread out to prairie dog colonies within a 30-mile radius of the town. The top 10 shooters win $1,900 in prize money. The day ends with a steak fry and dance.

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'Sounds like good fun to me. And reclaiming grazing land while they're at it!




[This message has been edited by sensop (edited June 18, 2000).]

[paratrooper]

A grazing cow steps on a hole one of these animals made and it has a broke leg . Will die soon . Farmer is out money . Who is more important ? The farmer or the rodent . Let me help you with the answer.....IT'S NOT THE RODENT .

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TOM
SASS AMERICAN LEGION NRA

[mussi]

In Switzerland, we don't have prairie dogs. That is, if anybody
imported them, we'd hunt them with assault rifles. What 'bout a long
salvo's stakkato being heard across the countryside, or somebody
stalking these critters with a silenced .22 pistol?

If I can get my hands on a holiday tour to shoot a few of these
prairie dogs, I'd be a sure participant. Just get me some fancy .22
rifle. Invitations anyone?

[SIGshooter]

Mussi,

Can my husband and I come play with your issued "assault" rifle since you're in Switzerland?



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The Other Wakal

[sumabich]

Hey, this is beginning to sound like a possible time-share arrangement. Yeha, full auto without fear of being busted!!!!!!!!!!

[SIGshooter]

MMMMMMMMMMM....Full-Auto Red Mist Club... The concept has merit...

Anyone up to send some Auto Mobile Prairie Targets to Switzerland????




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The Other Wakal

[DC]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Stephanie Boyles, a wildlife biologist with People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals in Norfolk, Va. ... ''They're just killing a lot of
animals for fun.'' [/quote]


A good and efficient worker enjoys the job. I really enjoy shooting ground squirrels...and if I didn't shoot them (or poison or trap or otherwise kill) my farm wouldn't exist. Prairie dogs are big fat ground squirrels.
Seriously...wonder why Steph (as a wildlife biologist) didn't mention that PD colonies are carriers of and harbor bubonic plague, hanta virus, lyme disease and distemper. Guess she forgot?

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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!

[Hueco]

Imagine this! A humane, effective, and free-to-the-state reduction in harmful wildlife -- what were they thinking? Yeah, they shoulda' used an expensive, wide-spread poison gas...looks much better in the local papers.

Mental-defectives.


Hueco

[loknload]

Those types of people have to much time on their hands They all need a hobby to take their minds out of other peoples lives and their business. Just like the maroons that were protesting CBS for the rat eating on Survivor. They realy need to get a life

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We preserve our freedoms by using four boxes: soap,ballot,jury, and cartridge.
Anonymous

[kjm]

Hmmm, Weren't these prarie dogs on the serious decline population wise until the "long range shooters" discovered the fun? Now you hear of ranchers who make more dough from the 'dogs than from the ranching. Now they have an economic reason to support large 'dog colonies. Funny how just the opposite happens when you let people kill them "just for fun." Amazing that the only place in the world where the African Elephant isn't endangered are the very same countries that allow the beasts to be hunted. Seems that when you give somebody an economic incentive to keep the animals going, the animals do well. My prediction is that when congress decides to put an end to the Prarie Dog Hunting sport, then you'll see massive gassing and poisoning of the whole colonies just prior to the law taking effect. Then the PETA folks can be happy that they at least have caused the extinction of one more species of beast.
Here in Texas, there's this little bird called the Golden Cheeked Warbler, that if you see a fine example on your property, you kill it, burn it, and bury the ashes. If you don't the Feds come and confiscate your land without due compensation or due process. The logical folks would probably say that you should give an incentive for people to maintain warbler habitat on their property like paying folks for each acre of prime habitat. The Conservation Reserve Program did wonders for wildlife in this country because the farmers were paid not to farm. With the bird, all you would have to do is find a non-governmental solution like have
bird-watcher tours. Of course, I could be crazy.

[Waterdog]

Them prarie dogs, (no relation) are so damn prolific that varmint shooters kill
1000s and they still reproduce enough for each season. Hell, if they didn't get hunted
they would die of hunger from the population explosion. Just havin large populations around is bad, this is when disease spreads the worst.

Waterdog

[scottMO]

I remember seeing an article about a guy who used to suck prairie dogs out of their hole w/ a giant vacuum truck (a converted portapottie truck). Everytime I hear abt prairie dogs......

scottMO

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[radom]

They dont want to see a frend of mine,he hozzes them with his M-60 and scoped G-3. Sure is fun. If your not a target dog anyway.

[Long Path]

Moving thread to The Hunt forum.

--L.P.

[jeffer]

I read in the paper yesterday where peta got tied in a knot over someone eating a rat on survivors. (Or whatever that show is called)

[JohnDog]

True story from the Nucla hunt out in W. Colorado a few years back...

The "Save the Prairie Dogs" gang of tree huggers gets all fired up and heads out of Boulder (liberal la-la land) to save the 'doggies' and confront the evil shooters/killers. The make the 7 hour trip to the west slope and are ready for action! Their plan? Get as near to the shooters as they can on the public roads, and make a lot of noise to scare off the P. Doggers. They use air and car horns to 'scare off' the Prairie Rats!!!

ROTFLMAO - What do the Prairie dogs do - Sit up and look around. After about two hours of this the guys in the competition were offering these enviro guys money to protest by them!!!

Next year the Boulderites stayed in Boulder, and protested from there!

JohnDog

[anodes]

A friend of mine started me in Hi-Power Comp., when I asked what he shot P.D.s with he answered, ".308, M1A of course."

How can we justify the senseless slaughter of 10ks of rodents per year?

Easy, loss of predators. Here in Northern Az. the Blackfooted Ferret was THE ultimate P.D. Hunter. Small enough to get into the holes, the B.F. ferret scored the very 10ks of P.D.s and thier young we are talking about. Naturally in the old days people were less inclined to use 1 bullet per dog and more inclined to protect thier livelyhoods with poisons. Both against the P.D.s which reproduce quickly and Coyotes which also predate on the Praire Dogs.

These poisons WIPED OUT the natural Blackfooted Ferret population of Northern Az (courtesy of Sec.Dep.Int. Bruce Babbet's father and assoc.).

The point being that the unnatural predation of shooters is only REPLACING the loss of natural predators that humans have already removed.

Me? ".223, AR-15 of course."
anodes.

[Bud Helms]

JohnDog,

That's friggin' HILARIOUS!! REALLY! ROTFLMDAO!!



[This message has been edited by sensop (edited June 19, 2000).]

[Keith Rogan]

&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;Amazing that the only place in the world where the African Elephant isn't endangered are the very same countries that allow the beasts to be hunted. Seems that when you give somebody an economic incentive to keep the animals going, the animals do well. &lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;&lt;

kjm, I used to frequent Animal Rights boards and attempt to explain how the CAMPFIRE system works in Africa, and the general economic reality of hunting and conservation but it was a waste of time.
I no longer believe these people are actually concerned with animals. They are actually concerned with the HUMAN behavior of hunting or meat eating or what have you. They wish to control their fellow human beings behavior. I think there may be some sort of psychological block that makes these people attempt to regiment behavior. I've actually been told a number of times that even if culling animals prevents starvation, its still wrong because starvation is "natural".



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Keith
The Bears and Bear Maulings Page: members.xoom.com/keithrogan

[Art Eatman]

Keith, PETA & HCI have nothing to do with prevention of traditional cruelty to animals, or with reducing crime. They are in the business of controlling people in accordance with their own philosophies of "how it oughta be".

They are no different from true believers in Socialism or Communism. The behavior is essentially that of fervent believers in any religion, in that faith is far more important than fact.

Regards, Art

[Covert Mission]

You guys have inspired me to do more research on this prairie dog issue. I'm sure the posts about the natural balance of predators being destroyed is true, and reposnsible for fast-growing dog #'s.

I personally don't have much desire to hunt/kill that which i don't eat. Trophy hunting or shooting 'dogs included. That's just me.

We have friends who've been ranching for 40 years in MT... I've never seen many dogs there, and they don't complain about them or hunt them (the damn beavers are another story). Other ranchers hate them, but I wonder if some of that animosity is something that's reflexive, because it's been handed down over the years from father to son. That sort of amateur game management based on opinion has caused a lot of animals to get exterminated.

Lest you think i'm a PETA member (!), I'm darn sure NOT. They're a bunch of wacko true-believers. Ingrid Newkirk, their leader, has said on the record that she equates the Nazi extermination of Jews in WWII with people eating commercially raised chicken. Same thing, to her. What a loser.

[This message has been edited by Covert Mission (edited June 26, 2000).]

[Art Eatman]

I've always been a bit dubious about cows breaking a leg by stepping into a PD hole or breaking down one of the tunnels. None of my cows ever broke a leg from holes made by armadillos or skunks, etc., and those holes don't have the bare-dirt pile around them. Now, a guy on a running horse, maybe, but why is he running his horse through a PD town? They're readily visible.

However, just like jackrabbits, they compete with cattle for grass.

Back around 1950, Texas A&M released a report which claimed that seven jackrabbits eat as much grass as a cow. I found that a bit hard to believe at that time, but it provided a wonderful excuse to go bunny-hunting at night. Since that was the time of one of the worst drouths to ever hit Texas, little excuse was needed. Bunny-hunting didn't really help; lots of folks went broke, anyway, including my parents.

I hunted jackrabbits in northwest Nevada, some 20 years back, during a gigantic population explosion. My buddy and I shot over 100 without moving from one location, and none over 200 yards! We got bored and left. I think I'd have trouble staying with PDs all day long, "just shooting". Maybe that's why guys go for the ultra-long range shots: More challenge.

Regards, Art

[beemerb]

Anybody ever eat PD's?I ran across a reciepe
for them in a game cook book and was wondering if anyone had tried to eat them.


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beemerb
We have a criminal jury system which is superior to any in the world;
and its efficiency is only marred by the difficulty of finding twelve men
every day who don't know anything and can't read.
-Mark Twain

[Young Buck]

OK, here's the plan: I want everyone who posted to come up here to Pennsylvania. We have so many groundhogs (same as prarie dogs, or at least near 'em) that we have no bag limit, no special permit required. That's all. Most farmers would be happy to take anybody with a gun out to a nice field full of the buggers!

(oh, P.S. My theory.... the only reason fishing hasn't been attacked yet is because nobody thinks 'trouti' would be as cute as 'bambi'.)

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To ride, shoot straight, and speak the truth.

[Art Eatman]

Young Buck, I hate to blow your bubble, but anti-fishing is already on the agenda. There was an interview with one of the HSUS guys a few years back ("Sports Afield", I think) wherein he stated that after they got rid of hunting, fishing was next.

Art