Prairie Dogs

Martin85 · 05-16-2003, 12:01 PM

How many is too many?? I'm going to eastern Montana for nine days. Two days for cattle brandings and seven for shooting dogs. The big talk is that the tree huggers want to have them protected from people like me in Montana, but the cattle ranchers want them thinned down. I've tried my best and there is more of them now than before. Its not like the sage rats in eastern Oregon these prairie dogs are in towns by the 10's of thousands and the towns can be larger than a mile square.
Anybody ever headed that direction and has a want to do it let me know I can turn you on to ranches that have huge towns on them. One ranch is 28 sq miles in size and if you shoot them is late afternoon you can drive your truck out of the town and walk back a mile to where you were shooting and set up for coyotes, they come in and try to clean up the aftermath. Even had a fox come by last year. Its just a great way to get the young kids involved and teach them how to use a gun properly.

love2fish · 05-16-2003, 02:24 PM

Martin85,

How do you cook them? Or are you one of those guys that don't eat everything they kill?

love2fish

skein · 05-16-2003, 03:19 PM

Love2fish,

I cook mine the same way I cook cockroaches - except cockroaches don't dig holes that break your horse's leg when he steps in it.

Martin85,

I'm interested in helping thin these pests out. Would you email me some contacts? I'm going over there twice this summer and would like to help.

Skein

BuKuBass · 05-16-2003, 03:57 PM

What we call "sage rats", Montanans call "gophers". Tried to explain the difference when I Iived there in the late-70s; don't think it ever took.

Martin85 · 05-16-2003, 08:09 PM

Hey skein I will e-mail you names and directions to the ranches, two of themI can get the phone #'s also (wifes family). The general area is around Forsythe about 100 miles east of Billings on I-80, more specifically about 10-12 miles back towards Billings just past the Coalstrip exit there is a rural access rd. and three towns within 5 mins. in any direction, one stretches along the highway for a mile plus and once you get to a safe shooting area the highway is just on the other side of the barbwire fence. This can be interesting because of the bikes headed to the Sturges rally and some opinionated college kids that want to say something about the shooting but because of the guns we just get some friendly jestures I think?

I will get the hard address and #'s when the wife gets home and I will send them to you.

crabbait · 05-16-2003, 11:05 PM

When I lived in P. dog country I used a .220 Swift on them. How do you cook a pink mist?

Seriously, there are places in the Dakotas where the Prairie Dogs have been wacked out. Like anything else, sometimes we need to back off and let the seed crop work for a little while.

I do believe that God made everything for a reason. I think he must have made rodents to test custom rifles with crisp little triggers, giant optics and attached bi-pods. KA-POW........smizzzzzz.