I've been prarie dog shooting for over 20 years. Now that's not a long time but I've done a lot of killing . In the old days you could shoot Thousands of rounds in 3 days. It seems within the past 2-3 years the towns are dying because of all the govt backed poisoning. We hunted the area around the rosebud. Winner etc...

What states still have huge towns?

Plague wiped em out around here...fuggin goobermint shut down dog shooting on USFS land so mother nature stepped in

There were some prairie dog towns poisoned in the area I live but plage wiped whole towns. There are some p dogs left but the population is way down. Whenever I get a new 17 Hornet rifle purchased, I ll drive around and check out the towns.

Kansas poisoned theres off so there aren't much if any that way

All I want to do is bring my boys out one time to experience the fun. Just once.

Prairie dog shooting here is more like shooting chucks..... a 10-12 dog day is a good one. I could shoot more..... but that would be awful counter productive, given the stock ain't what it used to be.

I know what you mean but when the USFS shut down pdog shooting because of the reintroduction of the dang ferrets, the population exploded. Ranchers adjacent to public land that was shut down were infested and poisoned them. Mother Nature took care of the ones on the public land. The plague is a nasty thing. They are starting to come back but ever so slowly and you still can't shoot where the USFS has it shut down for ferret reintroduction.

South Dakota might be a better bet for you right now. There used to be some big towns south of Reliance.

South Dakota has the plague around the Badlands but not in all towns. The office in Wall will show you a map where all the towns on public land are mapped. Mighty tough to get on private land near Rapid City, the one spot I have is heavily hunted.

The shooting I know of (having lived here less than one year) provides roughly 200 shots/day.

Every prairie dog thread gets, "all our towns are poisoned"or "the plague wiped em out" posts. I think these guys are trying to keep us out of their spots!

I noticed that too. I've been hunting Neb/S.D. for years and haven't noticed a reduction in numbers where I hunt. I have noticed a reduction in hunters though. Economy is my guess.

We are experiencing severe drought in the Southwest and the Pdog numbers are far down. I don't hazard a guess about poison use, but poison and plague are MUCH bigger dog-killers than bullets.

Those days of yesteryear, with many opportunities and few "No Hunting" signs, are gone. We will all have to clean up and go to the ranch house to politely ask permission, which favors the locals, as it should be. Chose your friends and your shots wisely. Thank your hosts and make certain to leave gates as you found them unless told otherwise.

Heckola I can't understand why they'd want to do that. I mean good whitetail, elk, lopes spots etc aint tough to come by. But a good PD spot....that's not exactly something that's in every pasture...

Over the years I've seen good spots reduced to not much in not much time at all. Fellas who pull up with 4 or 5 guys and their motor homes and shoot day and night for a week or so.

Nope I can't understand at all why people might be protective of a good place to shoot pd's...

Dober

You might as well brag about your girlfriends kissing.
whelennut

I can vouch for the plague stories. we hunted on the Cheenne River Reservation for several years, and had som great shooting. Not quite like the old dayse, but 300 or so on a good day.

3 years ago the whole East side of that rez had plague. I went back to a good sized place that you couldn't keep them under ground at one time and it looked like a hayfield, with only about 30 holes in one spot.

Another one where we shot just wonderfully in the rancher's driveway was also devoid.

We found some on the west half of the rez, but the best town there was empty also.

I am thinking of going elsewhere this coming year.

HM

I'm overdue for another outing, went twice, great time. If I do get the time I think I will call some guides in 'The Varmint Hunters' magazine & pay to get hooked up. With the cost of travel & time I wouldn't mind paying some to be on a good town.

The last 2 times I went near White River, SD.

Anyone shoot dogs in N Dakota?

There is PD shooting in ND...not sure exactly where but a little googling would get you there...so to speak.

Extreme SW ND had lots of towns on private land but many have died off over the past two years. Check out Standing Rock Reservation located south of Bismarck. Have shot PD there many times with great results but not in the recent past.

Not following you on this, care to expound?

Dober