Where to go for prairie dogs?

[Okie4570]

Any of the reservations in north central and southwestern South Dakota are loaded with them. I know a couple of local guys who go every other year and have for 20y. They stay for a week, usually come back with little to no ammo. The both take 17HMR.

 

[dlbleak]

 

[OkieJoe72]

Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. You’ll need a silencer and tinted windows…. just a joke if any game wardens are reading this.

 

[JEVapa]

There's a mess of them in Lawton over on 2nd and Ferris in that empty lot across from Days inn or whatever it's called now. They're on almost every square inch of it.

 

[PanhandleGlocker]

Call the game rangers in Cimarron, Texas and Beaver counties and ask them if they know of land owners who want them gone.

In Texas County, there are more prairie dogs than people. As said here before, most farmers will be more than happy to let you shoot them. However, they are small-ish and if you are a new hunter, you're going to have a bad day. I shoot them with rimfire out to 450 yards, they are skittish and have been shot at before. I use a .223 for farther than that. Good luck.

Me and my buddy used to go out every day after school. What we did was a little bit illegal but it worked and only got called in once. Not gonna lie but one 1/4 of land had a huge prairie dog town on it. We would drive around it on the county road and shoot out the window. When they all got scared and went back in their holes we would make our way around the whole section on the county road. By the time we go back to the 1/4 that had the town the dogs would be back out of their holes chirping. We ended up shooting that whole town out by the end of the school year.

I had another prairie dog town I ended up exterminating accidentally a few miles down the road. Kind of in the same area… Except this one I only hunted in the spring when they had babies… turns out that if you kill their babies enough years in a row the town doesn’t survive. I got 4 baby prairie dogs with one 17wsm bullet at about 50 yards on that town. Probably won’t do that again. They were lined up perfectly.

 

[dennishoddy]

I can’t remember if it’s Wyoming or Montana, but one or both do not require a hunting license to shoot PD’s even on Blm or National Forest land. We were in both last summer and regretted leaving my varmint rifles at home.

 

[alnpar]

Call the game rangers in Cimarron, Texas and Beaver counties and ask them if they know of land owners who want them gone.

In Texas County, there are more prairie dogs than people. As said here before, most farmers will be more than happy to let you shoot them. However, they are small-ish and if you are a new hunter, you're going to have a bad day. I shoot them with rimfire out to 450 yards, they are skittish and have been shot at before. I use a .223 for farther than that. Good luck.

GREAT Lead, Thank you so much! Seems after one PD Shoot I'm getting hooked. Maybe it is because I was able to use a RCBS R.A.S.S. shooting bench and could not miss!
BTW if anyone has ond for sale I have a friend who wants one. Or if you have a tray, I need one!

 

[alnpar]

That was a video of great placement shooting. I wish I had a camera to record with that much clarity!

 

[isuolympic]

In Kansas a prarie chicken license is free.

 

[Letfreedomring]

Me and my buddy used to go out every day after school. What we did was a little bit illegal but it worked and only got called in once. Not gonna lie but one 1/4 of land had a huge prairie dog town on it. We would drive around it on the county road and shoot out the window. When they all got scared and went back in their holes we would make our way around the whole section on the county road. By the time we go back to the 1/4 that had the town the dogs would be back out of their holes chirping. We ended up shooting that whole town out by the end of the school year.

I had another prairie dog town I ended up exterminating accidentally a few miles down the road. Kind of in the same area… Except this one I only hunted in the spring when they had babies… turns out that if you kill their babies enough years in a row the town doesn’t survive. I got 4 baby prairie dogs with one 17wsm bullet at about 50 yards on that town. Probably won’t do that again. They were lined up perfectly.