How many Prairie Dogs have you shot in one sitting?

[Dskiper]

I not a naturalist but most rodents(pdogs,rats,mice,rabbitsetc.) reproduce quickly. Short gestation times, many offspring makes for high populations. Mother nature controls them thru predators,disease&weather.We hunters also do our share.I used to shoot common rats in garbage dump sites in Maine.Wooly buggers fom exta cold weather. .22 rimfire,pistol or rifle&day or night. Dskiper

 

[BowElkStalker]

At my Brother-in-laws ranch their was a disease that ran thru the PD and knocked out about 80% but they will be back. Just reload and get ready.

 

[HUAINAMACHERO]

That sounds like fun!!!
No prairie dogs where I live.
I guess I will have to look for rabbits

 

[Chas1]

Dskiper, thanks for responding, I was just curious that if they all got shot up in 1 year then did it take like 10 years before you could have enough to shot at them again.

 

[Chas1]

I think it may have been called the sylvatic plague caused by a bacteria transmitted by fleas.

 

[loaders_loft]

To put it into perspective, you can shoot on a dog town for 20 minutes in one direction, then turn 180 degrees and shoot for another 20 minutes, and then turn back around and there's so many dogs its like you never even shot there. Lots of these big dog towns go on for thousands of yards, all the way up through a valley, over the hill and across the next valley.

The main killer of dogtowns is the plague, not shooters. All we can hope to do is keep them in check.

We shot 2 full days on the same dogtown in WY, and we shot more dogs on day 2 than the first day. By the way, when we showed up the next day, all the shot dogs were gone. No kidding, hundreds of them, just gone back into the food chain...

 

[Chas1]

I read where a typical town can average 100 acres and then there's multiple towns.

 

[MN Hunter]

loaders loft.

The first time i went o SD to shot prairie dogs I saw the darndest thing. You would have a couple dogs sitting on the edge of their mound. We would shoot one and the prairie dog next to it would grab his buddy and pull him down the hole. I was actually feeling kind of bad - mind you i did not feel bad enough to stop shooting - I thought I just shot his buddy and he's trying to save him. We talked to the land owner that night - he told us that they are cannibals. Every town has always been cleaned up - no dead dogs anywhere when we have gone back the next day.

 

[BowElkStalker]

Ya, they like grass and meat. One of the reasons you will get PD "greese" spot on the road. One dies and their buddies come over for a bite and get hit and so on.

 

[MTGunner]

I have shot 90% of my PD;s from a setting position. I don't shoot from a bench as I like to walk and cover the entire PD town. I don't shoot from a prone position as I don't care to lay prone in PD schitt.

 

[MT4XFore]

Where I shoot prairie dogs there are a lot of small burrowing owls. FAT burrowing owls. Most of the time once the shooting starts the hawks and eagles come in and start cleaning up before we even leave. Talk about a "Pavlov's Reaction"!! Kinda like grizzly bears during elk season!!! The towns always have badgers in them too, and they certainly help on the clean up, as does the occasional coyote and fox. We prefer to slowly drive through the town and take our shots of opportunity as they come. Four of us have on occasion taken as many a 500 for a day. That's several trips through the town.

 

[acloco]

Two of use, three rifles total. 12 hours in two different fields (about five sections total). We shot 1800 rounds and figured a hit percentage of 70% (98% of the shots were 150 yards or less).

 

[elkoholic72]

I have hunted prarie dogs all over the state of Montana and Wyoming. It is truly the best form of long range practice to do in the "off season." I normally take 3-4 guns mounted on a converted baby stroller made for running(16 inch wheels). Always have my Cooper pheonix in 204 ruger shooting dogtown 34gr bullets or hornady vmax 32gr, savage 22-250 with shillen1-8 twist shooting 75gr a-max, and a savage target action with mcgowen 30 inch 6mmBR shooting 105 a-max or vlds for shooting out to 1100 yards+. I sometimes take a 22 or 17mach2 if it is a known "unshot-overpopulated" town. If there are 3-4 of us, there is usually a "dollar a dog" bet going on that has a long shot bonus and doubles bonus. I put a doubler on my videocamera and have great footage out past 1000 yards!
I easily reloaded 8,500+ rounds last year. Anymore, we have a three hundred yard rule in a lot of towns-no shots under that is! And it is much more about distance than Quantity. When I first moved here, it was much more about Quantity!!! Burned up 2 barrels my first summer

There are some misconceptions about prariedogs that most don't know about. They do not breed like rabbits!! They have one litter per year after 1-2 years old, usually 1-8 pups with 4 being the average! They only inhabit 1% of their original range.

Actually, prairie dogs and cattle have a relationship that is mutually beneficial. Prairie dogs improve the forage for cattle, and cattle grazing allows prairie dog colonies to expand in midgrass prairie. Both cattle and prairie dogs have demonstrated a preference for grazing together, just as bison and prairie dogs historically preferred each other's company. However, given the extensive ecological damage cattle grazing causes in the American West, cattle are not the best substitute for the environmental benefits of a bison- and prairie dog-grazed Great Plains.
Despite the belief that prairie dogs and cattle compete for forage, three decades of scientific research finds the claims that prairie dogs are destructive to ranching are grossly overstated. Scientific data has repeatedly proved that cattle who graze on prairie dog colonies do not weigh significantly less than cattle who weigh on uncolonized areas In fact, prairie dog burrowing actually aerates the soil and helps it to absorb water. Their waste even fertilizes the soil. Further, by grazing, clipping and maintaining their grasslands, more nutritious and succulent vegetation grows. Elk, bison, and pronghorn, even cattle all benefit. The myth that cattle break legs in prairie dog holes is just that: myth. I know most ranchers will disagree, but it is what it is.

Prarie dog colonies are very susceptable to bubonic plague. If a town gets it, normally 90-95% will die as they have no natural immunity.

How do I know all this? I sometimes do volunteer work outside of my nursing career. I helped do a 4 year study on Black Footed Ferrets(which only inhabit p-dog towns) in Montana that covered from Harlowton to Glendive to Broadus. Have all the GPS coordinates on googlemap of every prariedog town immaginable on public and some private land. I live in Laurel, Montana and starting at Molt 15 miles north of me and heading northeast through Roundup on up to Grassrange is some of the most infested prarie in America!!! You do have to watch for the Burrowing Owls, especially north of Roundup. They look alot like p-dogs at 500+ yards, but alot different when shot(picture in mind exploding down pillow) not suppose to shoot them and the spotter or camera guy usually calls off the shot before its too late!

Please don't get me wrong, I'm not an anti p-dog hunter, as I shoot more than most people! But I think that sooner than later- they will be on some sort of endangered list!!!!! Oh-yeah, and they are not rats, more so cousins of the squirrel!!

Ben

 

[Westro]

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