finally did it prairie doggin(i know) revisited

[sloughfoot]

I stopped at the WY fish and game office today in Laramie. They advised that the dog towns on public lands south have been pretty well wiped out. They suggested north near Casper in the Shirley Basin.

I had decided on a 10-22 and a 22 magnum boltgun for the trip and I really regret not bringing the ruger 22 revolver. Driving down the county road, east of WY 77, when a dog darted across the road I stopped the car and moved way off the road and waited. The 10 -22 worked perfectly 7 times. But the pistol would have been more challenging. They were that close and ignorant. I got there late and only had about an hour.


I have my spot picked out where I am going to go in with the 22 magnum for belly shots under 100 yards tomorrow.

35 mph winds. Perfect weather.

 

[rbane3]

Just an amateur's curiosity here, what does one do with 100 dead prairie dogs? Are they eaten? Pelts? Sounds like a really fun and decently inexpensive trip to consider, but I'd be concerned about wanton shooting of even a "pest" animal without some way to use the remains.

Edit: Not meaning to antagonize or pass judgement. Just personal stance.

 

[sloughfoot]

The risk of bubonic plague is very high. Let them lay where they fell.

 

[MRockwell]

Just an amateur's curiosity here, what does one do with 100 dead prairie dogs? Are they eaten? Pelts? Sounds like a really fun and decently inexpensive trip to consider, but I'd be concerned about wanton shooting of even a "pest" animal without some way to use the remains.

Edit: Not meaning to antagonize or pass judgement. Just personal stance.

Welcome to INGO rbane3

The first time my fiance went out to SoDak, as we were driving to where I shoot, she asked this same question. I told her I leave them for the coyotes and badgers. And quite honestly, when you hit them right with a ballistic tip bullet....there's not much left.

Sloughfoot is right, A very productive town I used to shoot was hit by the plague in 2010. As of last year, it still has not recovered. Let them rest in pieces.

 

[rbane3]

Welcome to INGO rbane3

Thanks! Glad to be here. Great conversations and friendly folk.

Thanks to both of you for the informative answers. I wasn't aware! Makes sense now. Happy hunting. :-)

 

[CountryBoy19]

Just an amateur's curiosity here, what does one do with 100 dead prairie dogs? Are they eaten? Pelts? Sounds like a really fun and decently inexpensive trip to consider, but I'd be concerned about wanton shooting of even a "pest" animal without some way to use the remains.

Edit: Not meaning to antagonize or pass judgement. Just personal stance.

Do you make use of a mouse after it's been caught in a mouse-trap? What about the fly you smacked with a fly-swatter? Do you make use of that? Or just discard it?

As much as some people like to believe we can make use of every living thing in a productive and beneficial way that just isn't the truth. There are creatures that exist that are a nuisance to us and we reduce/remove the nuisance. If there is a beneficial use it's great if we do our job as stewards of nature and use those creatures, but sometimes there is no use, so we remove the nuisance and move on...

I know that seems harsh or blunt, but it's the truth...

 

[mkgr22]

Prairie dogs are cannibalistic. They will often drag their dead neighbors into the den to consume.

Problem solved.

 

[MRockwell]

Do you make use of a mouse after it's been caught in a mouse-trap? What about the fly you smacked with a fly-swatter? Do you make use of that? Or just discard it?

As much as some people like to believe we can make use of every living thing in a productive and beneficial way that just isn't the truth. There are creatures that exist that are a nuisance to us and we reduce/remove the nuisance. If there is a beneficial use it's great if we do our job as stewards of nature and use those creatures, but sometimes there is no use, so we remove the nuisance and move on...

I know that seems harsh or blunt, but it's the truth...

You said it well CountryBoy19.
I wasn't sure about posting this earlier, but if someone wants to see what really happens on a P-Dog shoot- Go to youtube and search "red mist:death on the prairie trailer". It's basically an advert to sell the dvd, but it is an accurate view of what it is really like.
And now the disclaimer: NSFW due to graphic scenes of p-dogs getting blown into pieces.

 

[rbane3]

Do you make use of a mouse after it's been caught in a mouse-trap? What about the fly you smacked with a fly-swatter? Do you make use of that? Or just discard it?

As much as some people like to believe we can make use of every living thing in a productive and beneficial way that just isn't the truth. There are creatures that exist that are a nuisance to us and we reduce/remove the nuisance. If there is a beneficial use it's great if we do our job as stewards of nature and use those creatures, but sometimes there is no use, so we remove the nuisance and move on...

I know that seems harsh or blunt, but it's the truth...

Hate to get argumentative, and perhaps I read your tone as aggressive when it wasn't intended... but that's reducing things to the absurd. Killing mice that enter my domicile and pose a health hazard to my family, or interfere with my food is one thing. He'd also probably provide entertainment for my cat.

I'm rarely found sneaking off to the fly colony and killing them hundreds at a time.

I think you've drawn insult from my comment. None was intended at all. I enjoy hunting and I enjoy shooting sports. I simply had no idea about prairie dogging and its particulars. I have been informed through logical comments why one would be disinclined to use the dead animals.

I pass no judgement, I just didn't understand. Now I do.

 

[CountryBoy19]

perhaps I read your tone as aggressive when it wasn't intended...

No aggression intended, I was simply pointing out the facts that it's absurd to choose which pests it's ok to kill and which pests it's not ok to kill.

but that's reducing things to the absurd. Killing mice that enter my domicile and pose a health hazard to my family, or interfere with my food is one thing. He'd also probably provide entertainment for my cat.

I'm rarely found sneaking off to the fly colony and killing them hundreds at a time.

It's not absurd, I think maybe the way you view it is just different from the way others view it.

Who said the mice were in your domicile? You can be certain that if the mice are in my barn/shed I'm going to kill them just as readily as if they're in m domicile. Why? Because they are a pest. They chew things up, they eat animal feeds, they spread disease to livestock, and make a mess. No need for them to be in your domicile to become a pest.

Likewise, prairie dogs are in the pastures of farmers and ranchers. They tear up the pasture, making a mess of it, their holes pose a risk to grazing animals, they spread disease to the livestock, they consume plant matter that would otherwise feed the livestock.

Have you been out west to see the destruction these creatures cause to pasture lands? There is a reason they don't have a hunting season and many states don't even require a hunting license to kill them. They are a destructive creature. Yes, I know it's terrible for us to go "seek" them out (nevermind the fact that people do live where they live and they are causing harm to those people). Yet you can "seek out" the mouse by placing a trap, or the fly by chasing it with a fly-swatter and be ok with that?

 

[DRob]

What do you do with p dogs after you shoot them? You shoot them again of course, with a camera (or in this case a cell phone). This one had a run-in with a 55 VMax and as, you can see, there isn't much left with which one could do anything. We leave them for the neighborhood predators. Several years ago, we had to stop shooting while a half dozen large hawks visited the "buffet".