Varmint hunting road trip questions...

[brettman]

Some game and fish / park services are very helpful as far as information on towns on public land and private landowners looking for help. I was able to get ND game and fish to send me a decent amount of information before I went. They don't have to spend the money on poisoning the towns that are controlled by shooters. Rosebud in SD was awesome but you'll have some company. My wife and I ended up in western ND near Medora the last trip and it was awesome. Towns were spread out so we hiked some but had good maps from game and fish and current info as far as population of towns.

 

[manitou]

Once you find an area (if in Wyoming) call the game warden or biologists for that area. The plague wiped out almost all of the prairie dogs a couple of years ago. I scout and hunt areas in WY over about 2500 sq miles and most of the prairie dogs are gone. I had one "town" that covered several sq miles I used to shoot. Not a prairie dog left. I used to see hundreds a day when riding UTVs, scouting or hunting various areas. Now it is a big deal to see "A" prairie dog.
Just saying to do your research before committing to an area and wasting time and money. I am sure there are pockets to be found somewhere, but the few pockets I have found may have 3-6 prairie dogs at most. Now there are just a bunch of empty holes in the ground.
This is from the Bighorns East. I do not know how hard Western WY or the surrounding states were hit.

 

[alnpar]

Once you find an area (if in Wyoming) call the game warden or biologists for that area. The plague wiped out almost all of the prairie dogs a couple of years ago. I scout and hunt areas in WY over about 2500 sq miles and most of the prairie dogs are gone. I had one "town" that covered several sq miles I used to shoot. Not a prairie dog left. I used to see hundreds a day when riding UTVs, scouting or hunting various areas. Now it is a big deal to see "A" prairie dog.
Just saying to do your research before committing to an area and wasting time and money. I am sure there are pockets to be found somewhere, but the few pockets I have found may have 3-6 prairie dogs at most. Now there are just a bunch of empty holes in the ground.
This is from the Bighorns East. I do not know how hard Western WY or the surrounding states were hit.

Thanks,

 

[alnpar]

Once you find an area (if in Wyoming) call the game warden or biologists for that area. The plague wiped out almost all of the prairie dogs a couple of years ago. I scout and hunt areas in WY over about 2500 sq miles and most of the prairie dogs are gone. I had one "town" that covered several sq miles I used to shoot. Not a prairie dog left. I used to see hundreds a day when riding UTVs, scouting or hunting various areas. Now it is a big deal to see "A" prairie dog.
Just saying to do your research before committing to an area and wasting time and money. I am sure there are pockets to be found somewhere, but the few pockets I have found may have 3-6 prairie dogs at most. Now there are just a bunch of empty holes in the ground.
This is from the Bighorns East. I do not know how hard Western WY or the surrounding states were hit.

Thanks

 

[manitou]

Yeah, before the plague hit (I am sure the ranchers are happy about it), I would have told somebody to never consider paying to hunt them. I could have put you on them until your barrels were shot out.

 

[alnpar]

Yeah, before the plague hit (I am sure the ranchers are happy about it), I would have told somebody to never consider paying to hunt them. I could have put you on them until your barrels were shot out.

I'm all ears on where to go to melt down my barrels!

 

[manitou]

I'm all ears on where to go to melt down my barrels!

They are all gone now. I suppose that is a good thing for the ranchers.

 

[del2les]

Once you find an area (if in Wyoming) call the game warden or biologists for that area. The plague wiped out almost all of the prairie dogs a couple of years ago. I scout and hunt areas in WY over about 2500 sq miles and most of the prairie dogs are gone. I had one "town" that covered several sq miles I used to shoot. Not a prairie dog left. I used to see hundreds a day when riding UTVs, scouting or hunting various areas. Now it is a big deal to see "A" prairie dog.
Just saying to do your research before committing to an area and wasting time and money. I am sure there are pockets to be found somewhere, but the few pockets I have found may have 3-6 prairie dogs at most. Now there are just a bunch of empty holes in the ground.
This is from the Bighorns East. I do not know how hard Western WY or the surrounding states were hit.

Yep. that was our experiences as well. We had a couple of specific large ranches and some Grassland areas that had plenty of Pdogs a few years back, but then a year later, just empty holes with the rare and occasional Pdog running around. Towns that once allowed 300-350 rds/day only produced 30-40 rds/day and that took several relocations to achieve.

 

[JSHKS]

There are pockets of a lot of dogs if you have never been before. If you have been before it is sparse at best and spotty. If I am not swapping rifles every hour it is slow. So some folks may say it's great a d wonderful others will be sorely disappointed.

I have been twice this year. Early it was ok. Later they had seen a lot of pressure and very educated.
I took bigger rifles than normal the second trip, because I had been informed there had been a fair amount of folks go through. Zero use of rimfire and if it wasn't a capable cartridge or rig at 300, no use of getting it out. 300 is where most available targets appeared and were steady. Majority of shooting was done by or before noon if mirage got bad. Some evenings were shootable but the heat was brutal. So we would get back out about 5-6 and stay till dusk.

Mark your spots with latitude and longitude, some things change, those don't.

Dunno what you expect or what gear you have. Ran across a couple of fellows from the boot heel of Missouri, there honest numbers they said was between 80 and 100. Didn't think that was terrible, then they said that was for the two of them for two days.
I would say cover your bases. A good 223 would be as small as I would go, sorry even skip a 222, I did. Then a big 22 and or a 6mm. I would even say a 6.5CM not to be out of line for long shots.

Most folks find out how little they actually know about there rigs.
Even if few dogs, learn what you can.

If that is expensive on the Rose Bud, what is $300-500 per day. I have shot a pile of them over the years, dunno if I have shot $500 worth yet.