Why hunt prairie dogs?

[Tuzo]

I used to hunt deer, bunnies, pheasant, and duck and other edibles but never prairie dogs or other similar below-the-ground dwelling creatures. My question is why are prairie dogs hunted? They are not known to be dinner fare nor have I heard of prairie dogs prized as trophies. Shooting prairie dogs seems like shooting non-moving targets at a carnival sideshow or range silhouettes.

[Full-choke]

The reason I hunt and shoot prairie dogs, groundhogs, raccoons and the likes is for one reason. Population control. A lot of the animals will breed to the point that they get impossible to control through any other way. Prairie dogs and groundhogs both cause major problems with their holes for livestock farmers. I know that when I went on the p-dog hunt the guy was thrilled to let us sit out there and shoot them off of his pasture. He didn't want the holes everywhere so his cattle and horses would step in them and bust a leg. While they do like kind of cute, and they don't have much purpose for meat or pelts...it is more or less to control their population and make them less of a nuisance.

[Kreyzhorse]

Ranchers want them gone and their populations are huge. The burrows can cause stock animals to break a leg as well.

[Art Eatman]

Livestock don't get busted legs from stepping in the open hole in the mound. Cattle and horses aren't blind. It happens when a tunnel collapses, the foot drops down and is pinned, and the off-angle stumble pops the bone. $1,000 gone, gone, gone.

A pdog town in an alfalfa field can easily eat a fourth of the crop...

The bottom line for a shooter is that this form of pest control is more fun than punching paper. It's good training for range estimation and wind doping.

[freakshow10mm]

Prairie dogs aren't hunted. They are shot.

[hogdogs]

Cuz' Bowlin' pins are in limited supply???
Seriously though, the broke leg and consumed crop land statements are TRUE. But disease transmission threat is also pretty high. Just like wild hogs, prairie dogs are possible carriers of BAD diseases. I understand bubonic plague is carried by them. it would take only a few cases of cattle infected with ANY disease to severely interrupt the meat industry and it would hurt the farmers and consumers real fast and real bad!
If it is not a farmed animal, it must be controlled! Only the farmed animals are inoculated. We can't inoculate them from every possible disease either.
Brent

[davlandrum]

because of thier ties to Al-Queda......

[tplumeri]

$1,000 gone, gone, gone

$1k at the very least! Ive got some horses worth quite a bit more. and if i happen to be riding one when they go down...........
but i dont think anyone has found any WMD in their villages , yet.

[taylorce1]

Prairie dogs aren't hunted. They are shot.

Exactly right, there is no hunting of prairie dogs, it is all about shooting. They are a rodent just like any else and their populations need to be controled. Unfortunately they breed faster than most people can shoot, and shooting isn't a viable population control technique. They can infest your property just like mice or termites can your house.

My famlies ranch has several acres of them and trying to control them is a real PITA. It isn't so bad that they are on our property but trying to keep them from crossing property lines and getting in the neighbors is getting tougher every year. Plus there is a time frame that they can't be poisned because of the pups being born that starts afte March and last until fall. The poisons that we are allowed to use are not very effective at all plus they are very expensive. Trying to kill off a large infestation can cost tens of thousands of dollars a year.

I like to shoot them because it is better than punching paper all day at the range. Plus they give you a lot of trigger time that helps out in my other hunting that I do. Any time behind the trigger will make you a better shot, plus using light recoiling rifles keep you from developing bad habits. I have no illusions thought that even if I spend every day all day long in a prairie dog town shooting them for a summer I'd put a serious dent in their population. They are like any other animal that is shot at on a regular basis, they will eventually stop popping up within the range of my rifles.

If every guy who asked my father to shoot prairie dogs would show up with a bucket of poison, I'm sure he wouldn't say no to them. Shoot till you run out of ammo and then scatter your poison around the holes when your done. You could probably hunt anything anytime you wanted on his property.

[davlandrum]

i dont think anyone has found any WMD in their villages , yet

Just because we haven't found them, doesn't mean they don't exist

[tplumeri]

hey taylor,
Im in NW kansas, how far is the ranch? what kind of poison do i bring?
got a new 10/22 that needs some work!
tom

[Jack O'Conner]

Shooting a big dog town with your friends is great target practise in a slightly macabre way. But don't feel badly for the animals. Prairie dogs damage pastures quickly. They're also carriers of harmful diseases and plagues.

Poison is cheaper in the long run but unwanted secondary deaths do occur. Currently, a terrible fine is issued to anyone who kills an eagle. Intention is excluded from lawful defense pleas.

Jack

[Tuzo]

Thanks for the replies and enlightenment. Home is southeastern Louisiana and not many, if any, prairie dogs inhabit the bayous. We do have an imported pest called a nutria that damages canal walls and levees. One local sheriff's department hunts them at night with .22s along drainage canals. After reading the replies it seems logical to schedule a trip to the west and choose an appropriate rifle: 10/22 or .223 Savage 12.

[davlandrum]

Tuzo - shootin nutria is a big pass time here in Oregon as well. Nasty giant rats

[taylorce1]

Poison is cheaper in the long run but unwanted secondary deaths do occur. Currently, a terrible fine is issued to anyone who kills an eagle. Intention is excluded from lawful defense pleas.

The only posions we can buy anymore to kill prairie dogs are not supposed to produce secondary kills. I'm not saying it doesn't happen but the poisons are supposed to be more preadator/scavenger friendly these days. As a result they don't kill very well in the first place.

[wpcexpert]

All the damage that they can cause is very true. But it is also a blast to do.(Pun Intended) I went with my brother inlaw up in SD one time. The said to bring the 22lr, the .223, the 22-250, and my 7mmWSM. In this one spot that he goes, during the right time of the year, you can set up and shoot out the ranges of the rifles. Close starting with the 22's, then up to 223, then extremely long range with the 22-250. The 7mm was just for effect. They almost discinigrate(sp?) when hit by a bullet that size. We were taking shots at 600+. We shot alot more than we killed at those ranges. But it was fun.

[Kreyzhorse]

It happens when a tunnel collapses, the foot drops down and is pinned, and the off-angle stumble pops the bone. $1,000 gone, gone, gone.

Ouch........ Wasn't sure of the mechanics, not sure I wanted to know either....

[Art Eatman]

Kreyzhorse, consider tplumeri's comment: If you happen to be riding at speed when it happens, trying to work some crazy danged cow, you then can think of yourself as the dart from an atlatl.

Not fun.

And a trained cutting horse is worth a lot more than just $1,000.

[MCKNBRD]

taylorce1
If every guy who asked my father to shoot prairie dogs would show up with a bucket of poison, I'm sure he wouldn't say no to them. Shoot till you run out of ammo and then scatter your poison around the holes when your done. You could probably hunt anything anytime you wanted on his property.

So, umm...what kind of poison and what kind of ranges are we talking here? When can I fly in? Do I need more than my 10/22s and a few bricks of ammo?



Byrdman

[samsmix]

Yes. Yes. They are like carnival side show targets. . .Except they blow up like they swallowed TNT, and give me the giggles when they get hit!

Good comparison though.

[TPAW]

The reason I hunt and shoot prairie dogs, groundhogs, raccoons and the likes

Do you bury what you shoot or just leave them to rot?...

[hogdogs]

For the vermin I shoot... If I ain't eating it/feeding it to the dogs I ain't touchin' it... I just leave it lay.
Brent

[Art Eatman]

They don't get a chance to rot. They get recycled by coyotes and buzzards and any other meat-eater that wanders by...

Nutria in the water in Louisiana? Think gar, gator, turtles, and a whole bunch of fish nibbling away on the carcass.

Some years back I watched the cleanup by nature of a dead cow. Mostly coyotes and buzzards. Within three days there was little left but hide and a bit of meat on the bones. By the end of two weeks, nothing but scattered bones, bleaching in the sun. Burping buzzards and coyotes picking their teeth. And the ants batted cleanup; they eat the tissues connecting the bones--which is why bones are scattered.

[tuck2]

I live in prairie dog country and started shooting them when I was a boy back in 1949. Do not pick up a prairie dog. Its the fleas on the p dogs that carry the plague. During the spring time when the pups first come out one can get in a lot of shots within 70 yards so a 22 LR HP bullet will do . A 22 WMR 22 Winchester 40 grain HP bullet is good for shots out to about 125 yards. Past 125 yards the 40 Gr bullet from a WMR drops off fast. I now like the 17 HM2 and 17 HMR rifles. The 17 HM2 for shots out to about 80 Yds and the 17 HMR for shots out to about 150 Yds for clean kills. Past 150 yards a 223 Rem will also get in a lot of shooting but now I use the 204 Ruger which is flatter shooting. I ll also be trying out a 17 Fireball this year. When the prairie dogs dig their holes they build up a mound and distroys an area about a yard accros plus they eat up a bunch of grass. I have read that 100 prairie dogs will eat as much as one cow. That is why the cattle ranchers wont to limit the prairie dog population.

[djonathang]

Tuzo,

I tend to be in your camp of hunting for food. That being said, when I learn that there are animals on the land that I am hunting that either: A) Compete with me for the very food I am hunting. B) Kill livestock C) Spread disease -- then I am able to cross into the varminting frame of mind seamlessly.

I recently spoke to a private land owner who has everything from turkeys, quail, deer and pigs. The owner also has coyotes, crows, and ground squirrels. The land owner allows all to be hunted within reason. It is viewed as land management. I can go with that.

Cheers,

DG