Does anyone know of any public places or possibly hunting groups that organize prairie dog hunting in these states-would like to try this, but if its anything like around here, everybody bought all the land and there is nowhere to hunt.   Want to pop some p-doggies but don't know where to start.  And: is it as much fun as it looks?

Thanks

The summer after I was in the eighth grade I went with friend on a RV trip where we fished and hunted our way through Eastern Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, and North Dakota. We stopped in Belfair, ND for a little prarrie dog hunting, and it was a blast. We had to get as close to them as we could because the only rifles we had were .22 LR's. They are not easy to sneak up on, and I always want to go back and do it again with my AR.

Kyle

We don't have any left here. For the last 8-9 years every shooter from MN,WI,IA,MI have shot
the hell out of public land and landowners have
poisoned 80% because of threatened list scare.
When 4-5 guys come and stay for a week and shoot
everything they can a good dog town doesn't last
long. What aren't dead are scared shitless. Also
the Varmint Hunters Asses have brought in liter-
ally hundreds of people in Aug. during their convention and they take care of what is left from June and July.
    This year the GF$Parks have imposed a season on public land that starts June 16. Us
locals are hoping that there are enough shoot-
ings and fist fights at the gates to eliminate
a few out of staters so local people can take
their kids out hunting.
    Not lumping you in with everyone else but
we get some real arrogant pieces of work around
here that don't give a damn about local people
an or property rights. If you had to deal with
who I have the last 15 years you wouldn't want
someone screwing up your only hobby either.

I've lived/worked all over MN. The first prarie dog I ever seen was while stationed at Ft. Dix, NJ in '96.

There might be some around, but I don't know of any hot spots.

I understand from some of my contacts in SW South Dakota that the Rosebud tribe has increased their tribal permit to $100 this year.  They will also require you to have a guide to hunt on tribal land (more $$$ to spend).  It's tough to find in my experience, but I would recommend finding a private landowner that has deeded land instead of tribal land.  That way you can avoid the high dollar tribal permit.  Besides, in the area we hunted in it was almost impossible to find anyplace that sold the tribal permit.  

SDwhirlwind, Sorry you feel that way. Our little group has been going from Minn.to SD.for years. We always go to the same ranch,pay the tribal licence fees,started leaving money with the rancher at the end of each trip to show our graditude for letting us hunt his property. Closed all gates behind us,kept rancher informed of location of any dead cattle found,kept him informed of where he could locate his horse herd. Always tried to leave the line shack we stayed at better than we found it. WE enjoyed at least one party with his older kids at the line shack each trip. Repaired any broken fences we came across. Dropped a lot of cash on the local economy each trip.  Again i'm sorry if we offend you with our rude behavior and actions.  Ben  

SDwhirlwind,i also understand where you are coming from,i grew up on a small farm not far from the SD border.  In the fall hunters would come out from the Twin cities to hunt,they would just stop on the road get out and walk in the fields of soybeans that were ready to combine. My dad would tell them in no uncertain terms what he was going to do to them if they didn't leave the field very carefully and quickly. Ben

Like I stated I am not lumping all together but
there are some real rude dicks that come out here. Last summer my wife and I went to a town on public land south of here. There were 3 guys
from IA parked on a hill about 1/4 mile N of dog
town. It was 1:00PM Sun. We thought they were
leaving so went into town. Two of them came down
toward us on 4wheeler and I told wife to stop
shooting. They drove down in front of us 200yds
and started shooting. I drove down to them and
asked what the deal was? They proceeded to tell
me they were there first and it was their town.
    This is what we run into on a fairly regular basis. Last summer 4 cows and 1 bull were shot in the public land pastures. Garbage
is scattered around(empty pop and beer cans and
ammo boxes and paper stuff). Wires are shot and
left unrepaired. Like I stated a few rude obnox-
ious careless pricks leave a real bad taste after several years of same. The public lands are shot up real bad  and private land has either been poisoned or went to fee hunting to
pay for destroyed stuff. I will not pay to shoot
someones pests and have been shooting Pdogs for
about 31yrs.
    Two summers ago 3 MN guys went around to
several bigger towns with AR's and scared the
sh*t outta every dog there for the whole summer.
Have no idea how many rds. they shot but it was
a bunch.
    If people came out and shot 150-200rds. a
day for 2-3 days it wouldn't be so bad. When you
shoot 500-600 day for 6-7 days and have 4-5 guys
in a motorhome towns are shot out of little dumb
ones in a hurry.
    As stated I am not saying everyone is the
culprit. VHA has not helped either when everyone
goes home and writes them a letter bragging on
what devistation they left in SD. Local people
cannot find a town to take their young kids out
and shoot 22's because everything within a half
mile hits the foxhole.
    As I said because of the scare to put them
on the threatened list 4 of our small towns on
private land were poisoned last fall. Now with
the season it will not be much fun on public
lands. Also with Rosebud and their deal it will
force more people yet onto public land.

   Just saying how I feel like others on this
board do. Have a good day.

This summer will be the fourth trip that my buddy and I have made to SD to hunt dogs.  We have been very fortunate to have met a family with a large ranch that allow us to hunt.  They do charge us a small fee to hunt each day, but it is worth it.  It is a real shame that some folks treat the land like they do up there.  I grew up in rural North Central Kansas.  We have excellent pheasant, quail, and deer hunting where I grew up.  However, we run into many of the same problems you do each fall.  Our problem stems from all the guys with brand new Benellis and Suburbans that head west from the Kansas City area.  They don't seem too concerned about asking permission, but instead just stop at the first place they see with good cover and hunt it.  I can't tell you how many times we have gone out to hunt, have a good plan, have spent time getting permission, and get to our hunting place only to find some out of towner already out there.  I have also spent my fair share of time trying to gather cattle that some dupe let out when they forgot to close a gate.  

I hope that you will recognize me this summer in South Dakota.  I will be the one that closes gates, picks up his trash, watches out for livestock, and shoots less than 200 rds per day.  (Frankly in the hot temps up there, I think you are tearing up your equipment if you shoot any more than that.)  You will also probably recognize me by the ear to ear grin that I will have on.

Jake

Hey drjakeb,i swear i've run into you a couple of times out there,next time we'll sit down while the guns cool down and have a "Killians Red".  I was not flaming SDwhirlwind,i'm quite sure he has seen his share of the type of hunters that never grew up in a rural enviroment and have no idea what the proper actions to take when on someone elses property.  They give us all a black eye not soon forgotten.   Ben

I'm going to try it for the first time this year, taking off June 18-22 to go there. If I cant find prairie dogs I figure I'll try calling coyotes over west of Rapid City (big national forest--can I hunt there?)