Prairie Dogs: Guided or Knock on Doors?

[Jack321]

Heading to S. Dakota here in a month for a 4 day prairie dog hunt. Went last year, had a blast.

Last year, we paid a guide for a daily hunt on day 2 because we planned to hunt the National Grassland but didn't know if that would produce, so we wanted to at least guarantee us some shooting.

Got lucky with a land owner from the hotel lobby and had a better shoot at the private spot than the guided hunt. Last yr we hunted hunted 3 days: private-guide-private.

This year we don't want to burn the private spot for 4 consecutive days, and again thinking of: private-grassland-private-grassland

Is the Grassland worth it?

Or should we knock on doors, ask in town/at the bars?

For what it's worth, we're bunking out of Murdo, SD.

Don't want to steal anyone's "spot," but also know it can be a target rich environment & their a nuisance, so PMs are welcome.

 

[go_deep]

Why not ask the person who's already gave you permission if they know any other landowners that would let you shot P dogs?

 

[Jack321]

Why not ask the person who's already gave you permission if they know any other landowners that would let you shot P dogs?

Tried, no dice.

 

[go_deep]

Tried, no dice.

Total shot in the dark, but call the FSA office in that country and ask them if any farmers or ranchers need help with P dog control

 

[farmermail]

I have been to 3 county fairs, Tijuana, and Dickshooter, ID, yet never heard of a prairie dog guide. Learn something new every day. I hate to even ask what they charge.

 

[rabbithuntr]

Have a friend who guides pdog hunters, he used to guide on the reservation some of the time. He quit taking hunter there after he got arrested by the tribal police for no reason. Needless to say be I’d be wary of hunting there.

 

[Mojave]

I always wanted to shoot wood chucks, I think there are people that guide for them back east. Have no idea what that cost.

European Marmots are considered to be big game, and the hunt typically is about $500-1500 depending on lodging. I am going to do that in August as a combo with an ibex female.

there are lots of guided prairie dog hunts on private land int he west. Typically $250-600 a day depending on what is included.

I don't tell anyone of the PD locations I know on public land. They are cyclic and someone could wipe them out without me knowing.

Problem is people will go in there and shoot every dog in the pasture.

We used to shoot hundreds of ground squirrels in Montana in high school. Was fantastic.

Varmint hunting is heaven.

Alaska has all 3 North American marmots, and a friend of mine went up there with the intent of doing it and got that done. An Alaskan marmot slam.

 

[TaperPin]

Between travel, getting a room, time off work, etc, any time savings is pretty valuable, so I can see how it’s worth it hiring someone with the local knowledge and maybe access to private land. That never made sense to younger me since we had more time than money and enjoyed exploring looking for pdogs, but it is very much a feast or famine endeavor and many guys figuring it out themselves have spent a week being frustrated with little to show for it. Some years it seemed I was a week behind another shooter who likes the same good spots and had a hard time finding anything with beady little eyes. Never underestimate how many pdogs a high school kid with a few bricks of .22 ammo, or retired guy with a good centerfire ammo budget can take out. lol

 

[wyosteve]

South Dakota used to publish a brochure of public land prairie dog areas. Don’t know if they still do but might be worth a call. I know the Grasslands get hit pretty consistently.

 

[TheCougar]

It can’t fathom paying to whack prairie dogs. Go to WY. Just across the border in WY are lots of prairie dog towns I found on Onx. We hit those up for fun after we tag out on antelope. I have had ranchers drive by us while we are shooting and ask us to come to their place to cull their land. The cattle ranchers HATE those things.

 

[ImpactoMarmoto]

I live in Wyoming and I never used to have trouble finding permission to shoot Pdogs until the last 4-5yrs. I’m am older guy and never thought of “paying to shoot pdogs”. Those days seem to be over. I run into prairie dog guides all the time and they are not cheap. The old fellers that used to let you just “shot ‘em up” are passed away or in nursing homes. Their land is either sold or in the hands of there children. They are generally more savvy and know the value and know out of staters will pay good money for permission to shoot. The rest of the land is owned by out of state investors or oil and gas companies that are impossible to track down and if you did, good luck getting written permission to shot on their property. The poisoning of the good towns have become very effective too. I went out yesterday to a very large town that I’ve been shooting at or around for 20yrs. Land owner said they poisoned this year. They’ve tried before and never really did much good and I thought I’d still get some shooting in. I’ve never seen poison or plague wipeout a town like I witnessed yesterday. Nothing survived. Whatever they did, they did it well this year. They got all the pockets hidden around too. A very sad day yesterday. Thousand acres worth of pdog shooting gone…
Protect and take care of the access you have now because it’s getting harder to get.