Prairie Dog shooting

[Delw]

How many varmit hunters do this? Obviously you dont eat these things... Years ago we used to be able to shoot 100's a day.Then game and fish dept put the ferrets in the same areas, this shut down the good p-dog shooting..
The enviromental wakos want to close down p-dog shooting all over the westren US..Whats your thoughts about that?
Its also a little known fact that p-dogs carry the bubonic plauge, here in AZ we have a couple of cases of people getting the plauge as a result of touching these furry little pests...

Anyway back to natures ballistic jelly..

What gun/cals do you guys use?
what bullets/loads have you found to be the best( you know the one that really makes them fly)...


For me I have used anything from a 22 rimfire to a 300 winmag tried a bow a few times but due to the fleas they have I left my arrows, shotgun slugs work pretty good also..

But the best is a 50 grain Ballistic tip flying at 4000+ fps all that you see is a redmist in you scope...

while shooting these I have seen owls ,hawks ,and bald eagles come down to get a free meal.. Sometimes while out shooting p-dogs badgers come out and grab one or 2..


Delw

 

[countrygal]

They can't be shot at around here and we have had a case of the plague some years back because of them. It doesn't make sence. But when I was a little girl me and my brother use to take 22's and sneak up real close to them and pick them off just to see another one come out of its hole and grab the one we shot, then pull it back into its hole. Those were the days......

Down the road there is a whole village of them. Some one, the land owner I think, made little houses and all and now people stop and take pictures of the little beast.

He must not have any cattle that can break there legs when they step in one of the holes.

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 01-18-2002 10:07: Message edited by: countrygal ]</font>

 

[1_pointer]

One good thing, is that they make the land more productive. Pdogs and pocket gophers 'towns' increase the areation of the soil and deposit nitrogen farther down where it's not leached out as fast. So, I guess it's kind of a trade off.

 

[Delw]

One pointer I heard that before...

I got one for ya Remember bruce Babbit, he owns a huge ranch in AZ that was the #1 spot for p-dog shooters, still is if you know where to go.. anyhow he used to let the big wigs from ruger, leupold, all the writers from the major mags. come to his place and shoot them.. Kinda funny since he was big into conservation and protecting our natrual resourses....
They also use to gas these critters but the ranchers found it cost more to gas them than it did to let the p-dog shooters have there fun...

CG.. Ive seen those for sale in pet stores not here in az but adds for them in other countries and states... Who the heck would want a flea bitten rodant as a pet..

Delw

 

[Elkhunter]

Damn pocket golphers are ruining my frigging gardens Tyler. They wiped two of our flower gardens complety out and have made a mess of my lawn besides.

 

[1_pointer]

Hey, I never said that I wouldn't shoot them or that they can't cause a problem, but in some places they do help. Sounds like you need to get a pellet gun and a dachsund. Send him in the hole and shoot the ones he chases out. My dad used to have one that would do that and the boxer would catch the groundhogs once they surfaced. Said it was a game they used to play.

 

[jig maker]

haven't hunted them for a while but use my 7mm rem mag 120gr 400yrds nothing left

 

[Calif. Hunter]

We don't have prairie dogs out here, but we do have ground squirrels (or sage rats, as I like to call them.) I like a .223 with a 50 gr Speer TNT HP at about 3400 FPS...

 

[Delw]

Ive shot (sage rats) in oregon and eastern washington.. Lots of fun but a very very small target


Delw

 

[Reddoggie1]

Never been p-dog shootin' I would like to sometime. But used to squirrel hunt, Hmmm
squirrel hash good stuff, anyway we heard this shootin' so we walked in that direction
came across these kids (18-19 yrs old), they pissed me off hell I still get upset when I think about it, they were shooting into the
squirrel nests with a 12gauge, just total
massacre of babies. We lowered our .22's on them and took their shotguns away from them,
and walked them out of the woods to their car, had them open their trunk, after empting
out their guns we thru them in the trunk. Told them if they come back there would be no
talking, scared the crap out of them. But I
can't tell you how upset I was, and to this day it still gets me.

Dennis

 

[mtmiller]

Reddog,

Nice transition from prairie dogs to squirrels. Guess you were looking for someway to bring up your tough-guy story. Looks like I am not going to make a friend here, but it seems asinine to pull a gun on some kids even if they pissed you off (your words). Obviously what they were doing was stupid and uncalled for, but for you to threaten their lives is unbelievable (as well as unlawful). Thankfully they didn't follow suit and "lower their shotguns on you". I know which gun I would rather be behind.

As you said, it still bothers you to this day. I can only assume it still bothers these kids to this day. Sure they probably learned a lesson, but I believe they could have been educated in a more appropriate fashion.

Well hopefully I didn't alienate myself too much from the rest of the members. If so, I apologize, that was not my intention.

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 01-27-2002 18:19: Message edited by: mtmiller ]</font>

 

[Reddoggie1]

mt miller,
You're right I couldn't agree with you more. Let's get one thing straight though, I wasn't trying to show how tough I am, maybe how foolish I was in my youth. You see when this happened 28 yrs ago, I wasn't much older than they were, I was 23 at the time. But everything happened so fast, it didn't seem like we had much choice. I'm not saying that makes it alright what we did, but I am asking for a little understanding.
This was my 2nd yr. of hunting, my father wasn't into hunting, so I was learning through friends. I wasn't long out of the Army and here we are walking up on a group of armed hunters, at the time it seemed like the smart thing to do, but as you pointed out, we may have been able to diffuse the situation with talk. But then on the flip side they could've blown us away. Tell me what would you have done in the same situation, and under the same circumstances?
Please I'm not trying to be a wise guy either. One other point, Yes it upsets me when I think of people looking for nests and
then just killing the babies, as it turned out when we got back to that area, they had shot into about a 8 nests, don't know how many had young in them, but that isn't the point is it. Another thing I don't believe in poaching either, but that's another subject.

Dennis

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 01-28-2002 11:00: Message edited by: Reddoggie1 ]</font>

 

[Calif. Hunter]

We've had run-ins in the past with poachers and trespassers on the private land we leased. The rancher expected us to run them off, or hold them for Fish and Game. This often entailed holding them at gun point, since the penalties often included impounding their guns and vehicles. Not something I enjoyed, and they usually took off as soon as they saw us heading their way or heard our vehicles. Most of the time, we just got their vehicle license numbers, took photos or videos and turned the info over to the law. The game wardens often asked us to take them to the gut piles or site of the kill.

 

[mtmiller]

Sorry about that Reddog,

I guess I got a little carried away. It is impossible to detect emotion on these boards and I thought you were bragging about sticking up some kids. Obviously I was wrong, and for that I apologize. From now on I will keep my mouth shut and count to ten before I snap.

Have a dandy day.

 

[AzKiote]

Just a note about doing things like what was posted above. Brandishing a weapon is a felony unless you are in fear of your life or in defence of another's life. If you pull/point a gun at someone you should be sure you would be justified in shooting them for what they did. Shootine squirrel nests/trespassing/poaching are not reasons for shooting or even pointing a gun at someone. Neither is someone pissing you off. A rancher asking you to hold someone at gunpoint might get you arrested on a felony charge if you do it so be careful. Much better to get plate #'s.

That said, I've had people that really ticked me off or even worried me. I've even pulled a gun a couple of times when it may or may not have been justified. It did stop the assault both times. A guy does what he has to do.

Delw, I've shot some prairie dogs but not too awful many. I used to shoot some up in the bad lands around Winslow and Holbrook and I've also shot a few in Colorado. I've used anything from a .22 LR to a 7mm rem mag. I prefer a .223 tho. I think the most destructive was a .243.

 

[Delw]

AZ Ive shot up eats of winslow by the dump quite a few times its not bad...north of chevlon canyon lake holds a few also...
Best placesI have found are units 8 , 9 10, 18a and over by kingman


Delw

 

[AzKiote]

Delw,

I did most of my shooting up north of Joseph City near the Navajo res. I was up there calling coyotes and found several colonies of them. I've done a lot of riding (horses) in the area south of the freeway and between Joseph City and Winslow and I saw a lot of them in there. It's been a few years now and I always meant to go back but never made it. My dad lives in Show Low and I'm up there a lot so maybe this spring I'll give it a try.

A friend has a farm in Colorado that is loaded with them. One of these days I'd like to make a trip back up there to shoot some more. The trip takes about 9 hours (one way) from my dad's place. Last time I was up there I shot about 40 of them in 3 hours. I think I could do better with my .223 than I did with his .22 LR!