Need place to hunt PDs last of May - all of June.... E Colorado/Wyoming.
3 pairs..6 of us ..
3 pairs..6 of us ..
Seeker of the Red Mist
Best I can do
You may have figured out by now that if anybody has a honey hole out there, they aren't giving it up. Nobody does. I've started cold a lot of times just by searching for something like "prairie dog hunting in Wyoming". You'll get a list of guides/outfitters that you just have to call or email. I'd guess you're probably too late to book the dates you're looking for. Hope you find something.
You may have figured out by now that if anybody has a honey hole out there, they aren't giving it up. Nobody does. I've started cold a lot of times just by searching for something like "prairie dog hunting in Wyoming". You'll get a list of guides/outfitters that you just have to call or email. I'd guess you're probably too late to book the dates you're looking for. Hope you find something.
I can't help you much, but I'll do what I can. As you've been told, no one is likely to turn you on to a honey hole. They are too precious since most of the good stuff has been decimated by either plague or poison. But there are still dogs to shoot, they are just a little harder to find.
If you do a search here and/or on accurateshooter.com about the subject you will get a fair amount of good advice and I suggest you do this. I will attempt to boil it down to the important stuff. If you have $$ and not much time the best bet is to go with an outfitter. You don't want to drive from East TN to WY and have little or nothing to shoot. If you can get a recommended outfitter it will cost something, but you will get dogs to shoot. Not many freebies left out there. OTOH- if you have plenty of time and maybe not much $$, you can research and find a likely area and then go there. Visit cafe's, farm supply and local businesses that cater to farmers and ranchers. Maybe the most productive is to split the difference and go with an outfitter, then take a few days to research after.
I do suggest that you not go to an area without research. Many have been wiped out in the past few years. The area around Holly CO was great ten years ago. Plague and poison did it in. They may be coming back a little, but I wouldn't go there counting on it. Same with Petroleum County MT. Plague destroyed the herd in one year. Good for the farmers, not so much for the shooters.
Good luck,
Rick
If you do a search here and/or on accurateshooter.com about the subject you will get a fair amount of good advice and I suggest you do this. I will attempt to boil it down to the important stuff. If you have $$ and not much time the best bet is to go with an outfitter. You don't want to drive from East TN to WY and have little or nothing to shoot. If you can get a recommended outfitter it will cost something, but you will get dogs to shoot. Not many freebies left out there. OTOH- if you have plenty of time and maybe not much $$, you can research and find a likely area and then go there. Visit cafe's, farm supply and local businesses that cater to farmers and ranchers. Maybe the most productive is to split the difference and go with an outfitter, then take a few days to research after.
I do suggest that you not go to an area without research. Many have been wiped out in the past few years. The area around Holly CO was great ten years ago. Plague and poison did it in. They may be coming back a little, but I wouldn't go there counting on it. Same with Petroleum County MT. Plague destroyed the herd in one year. Good for the farmers, not so much for the shooters.
Good luck,
Rick
I didnt post for just this reason.......if you shoot Q Creek your shooting my dogs, or Im shooting thier dogs ;-) we start in that area as early as march( mostly for ground squirrels) they usualy dont blow out the 77 pass till the first of march
Just realize your shooting the high country and whitetail prairie dogs= less ammo and more traveling. Its your dime and thier time and they do have a few dogs.I didnt post for just this reason.......if you shoot Q Creek your shooting my dogs, or Im shooting thier dogs ;-) we start in that area as early as march( mostly for ground squirrels) they usualy dont blow out the 77 pass till the first of march
Just realize your shooting the high country and whitetail prairie dogs= less ammo and more traveling. Its your dime and thier time and they do have a few dogs.
Just realize your shooting the high country and whitetail prairie dogs= less ammo and more traveling. Its your dime and thier time and they do have a few dogs.I didnt post for just this reason.......if you shoot Q Creek your shooting my dogs, or Im shooting thier dogs ;-) we start in that area as early as march( mostly for ground squirrels) they usualy dont blow out the 77 pass till the first of march
Just realize your shooting the high country and whitetail prairie dogs= less ammo and more traveling. Its your dime and thier time and they do have a few dogs.
If you deside on QCreek miacle mile has world class fly fishing and Seminole dam is an easy drive
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You can see these guys in the pass to seminoe
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This was the last of May a ew years ago
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You can see these guys in the pass to seminoe
This was the last of May a ew years ago
I'm another that didn't post earlier because I couldn't decide on a reply that sounded friendly or courteous.
We often spend a lot of time and money finding a place to shoot and tend to guard them when we do. Its an on going deal, driving, looking and talking to land owners and most of us don't have a big enough place for 6 more shooters. Its not personal.
Good Luck to you guys!
We often spend a lot of time and money finding a place to shoot and tend to guard them when we do. Its an on going deal, driving, looking and talking to land owners and most of us don't have a big enough place for 6 more shooters. Its not personal.
Good Luck to you guys!
I missed the PDog Heyday by abt 40 yrs. Always wanted to do it but life, $$, family, short vacation time etc etc. were definite deal breakers.
Now that most all of that is history, they ain't there no more........ 😕
Maybe I'll take up golf. Err ummm, nah. I'll just keep on working brass and killin' paper.
Now that most all of that is history, they ain't there no more........ 😕
Maybe I'll take up golf. Err ummm, nah. I'll just keep on working brass and killin' paper.
Our group over the years from 2005 started with 2 or 3 in the Sterling and Crook, CO, area. By 2016 the dogs started dying out with the plaque and some were gassed. By 2017 our group grew to 7 or 8 (4 tables of pair shooting).
In 2018, through referal from the local Game Warden, we lucked out by hunting on a huge Black Angus ranch in the
Sedgwick Julesburg area. We were welcomed doing "varmint control".
The foreman gave us THREE rules when we started on Day 1.
"Boys, we have a few rules here you need to be aware of: 1: Shut all the gates behind you. 2: It's been real dry here. Don't get off the trails and get into that fuzz grass and set the pasture on fire with your hot muffler. and 3: You shoot one of our Black Angus and that will be $2000 !! " Had a great 3 days.
We only do the 150-300 yard shots. Rem 22-250 seems to work best. No Hail Mary stuff. A waste of ammo. Burn maybe 60 bullets a day. Take 1 dog every three shots; try to get a Big Fat one doing a "Full Monty" at ya; or a Mama on the Mound with 4 pups running around. Or a pair of dudes giving each other "High Fives".
....Well, the sad story: The high dollar owner of the ranch in Denver died. Son inherited and foreman was let go and a new one hired. Son has terminal cancer. New foreman did not respond for 2019. We choose not to bug him. Either he is afraid of strangers shooting up the place or just don't like guns...dunno. So we are moving on. YES, the good old days of "Free Stuff" is over. And ranchers see opportunity in a "cash crop". Don't blame them. I grew up
on a 240 acre farm in SE Nebr; son of a share cropper. Dad gave 1/2 his corn crop and 2/5 of his wheat crop every year to the landlord. But we never went hungry. And I enjoyed all the Pheasants and Cottontails I could handle.
Did a 30 year Navy career out of HS. Besides being a Cyber Warfare Tech, I got all the shooting I needed by qualifying for the Navy National Service Rifle Team in the annual Interservice and National Championships in the summer shooting an M1 Garand at 200, 300, 600 and 1000 yards. (1958-1987).
Still have a couple possibilities but these are desperate times !!! Ha!
Our favorite joke we tell is that to ensure a good crop next year, we have the new guy drop a Viagra in each hole before we leave.
In 2018, through referal from the local Game Warden, we lucked out by hunting on a huge Black Angus ranch in the
Sedgwick Julesburg area. We were welcomed doing "varmint control".
The foreman gave us THREE rules when we started on Day 1.
"Boys, we have a few rules here you need to be aware of: 1: Shut all the gates behind you. 2: It's been real dry here. Don't get off the trails and get into that fuzz grass and set the pasture on fire with your hot muffler. and 3: You shoot one of our Black Angus and that will be $2000 !! " Had a great 3 days.
We only do the 150-300 yard shots. Rem 22-250 seems to work best. No Hail Mary stuff. A waste of ammo. Burn maybe 60 bullets a day. Take 1 dog every three shots; try to get a Big Fat one doing a "Full Monty" at ya; or a Mama on the Mound with 4 pups running around. Or a pair of dudes giving each other "High Fives".
....Well, the sad story: The high dollar owner of the ranch in Denver died. Son inherited and foreman was let go and a new one hired. Son has terminal cancer. New foreman did not respond for 2019. We choose not to bug him. Either he is afraid of strangers shooting up the place or just don't like guns...dunno. So we are moving on. YES, the good old days of "Free Stuff" is over. And ranchers see opportunity in a "cash crop". Don't blame them. I grew up
on a 240 acre farm in SE Nebr; son of a share cropper. Dad gave 1/2 his corn crop and 2/5 of his wheat crop every year to the landlord. But we never went hungry. And I enjoyed all the Pheasants and Cottontails I could handle.
Did a 30 year Navy career out of HS. Besides being a Cyber Warfare Tech, I got all the shooting I needed by qualifying for the Navy National Service Rifle Team in the annual Interservice and National Championships in the summer shooting an M1 Garand at 200, 300, 600 and 1000 yards. (1958-1987).
Still have a couple possibilities but these are desperate times !!! Ha!
Our favorite joke we tell is that to ensure a good crop next year, we have the new guy drop a Viagra in each hole before we leave.
Been there
We shot for several years around Sterling, CO also. My brother, now retired and living in Louisville, was the pastor of a Baptist Church in Sterling. There were a few ranchers in his congregation and we shot on lots of private land around the area. All of the towns we shot are gone. Gassed, plague, or poisoned I guess. There was a big town right on 138 NE of Sterling that was so thick the dogs were getting run over on the highway but the owner was out of state and we could never get permission to shoot there. About 3 years ago, somebody had cultivated it and there wasn't a p dog to be seen. I assume they poisoned or gassed. We had a rancher approach us one morning while we were having breakfast at Lu's Buffalo Stop in Illiff. He had heard there were p dog shooters around and asked if it was us. He drew us a map to his place and offered the use of his 4 wheelers if we'd "kill every damn one of 'em you see". We were already lined out to shoot another place and never got there. The shooting out there never cost us a dime other than taking a rancher and his wife out for dinner a time or two. Shot on a ranch adjacent to a missile silo control center NW of Sterling. Very interesting part of the country but nothing left to shoot far as we know.
We shot for several years around Sterling, CO also. My brother, now retired and living in Louisville, was the pastor of a Baptist Church in Sterling. There were a few ranchers in his congregation and we shot on lots of private land around the area. All of the towns we shot are gone. Gassed, plague, or poisoned I guess. There was a big town right on 138 NE of Sterling that was so thick the dogs were getting run over on the highway but the owner was out of state and we could never get permission to shoot there. About 3 years ago, somebody had cultivated it and there wasn't a p dog to be seen. I assume they poisoned or gassed. We had a rancher approach us one morning while we were having breakfast at Lu's Buffalo Stop in Illiff. He had heard there were p dog shooters around and asked if it was us. He drew us a map to his place and offered the use of his 4 wheelers if we'd "kill every damn one of 'em you see". We were already lined out to shoot another place and never got there. The shooting out there never cost us a dime other than taking a rancher and his wife out for dinner a time or two. Shot on a ranch adjacent to a missile silo control center NW of Sterling. Very interesting part of the country but nothing left to shoot far as we know.
There is a lot of animosity with the big ranches that landlock a LOT of public lands!! Q Creek is a big outfit that locks up a lot of public but they do it honestly and let you know where the true boundries are. That and thay are one of the few big outfits I have not had a personal runin with.
If you chose Q Creek you will no doubt be shooting towns I have no access to, TA land I have no knowledge of.
I did a little digging and just so you know qcreek is an hour south of casper and 45minuts north of medicine bow......unless they have lodging on site your going to do a lot of driveing. You could stay in medicine bow for TA L&C .make sure they know your looking for dogs the public cant get to or your gonna find out the hard way.
I would like to help you myself but these days I'm haveing enough trouble keeping myself and a few friends in dogs. Wich is why we start in March to beat the rest of the crowds, the trick is not shooting an area too hard at any given time.
If you have specific question ask away and Ill do what I can to answer them
Good luck and please report back.....good or bad
If you chose Q Creek you will no doubt be shooting towns I have no access to, TA land I have no knowledge of.
I did a little digging and just so you know qcreek is an hour south of casper and 45minuts north of medicine bow......unless they have lodging on site your going to do a lot of driveing. You could stay in medicine bow for TA L&C .make sure they know your looking for dogs the public cant get to or your gonna find out the hard way.
I would like to help you myself but these days I'm haveing enough trouble keeping myself and a few friends in dogs. Wich is why we start in March to beat the rest of the crowds, the trick is not shooting an area too hard at any given time.
If you have specific question ask away and Ill do what I can to answer them
Good luck and please report back.....good or bad
PDs
I shot them multiple times per year in the 90s. Was easy to find many places to shoot them in SODAK. It was common to be shooting and have a rancher drive by, see us shooting, and ask us to come and shoot his place. Most of those places have been poisoned or are leased to outfitters. The last 15 years or so, I’ve gone on one two day shoot. Usually manage to shoot 4-600 rounds. In the 90s, I’d shoot twice that amount, spread between 5-6 rifles. It’s tough to find good shooting of PDs, these days.
Good luck with your search.
I shot them multiple times per year in the 90s. Was easy to find many places to shoot them in SODAK. It was common to be shooting and have a rancher drive by, see us shooting, and ask us to come and shoot his place. Most of those places have been poisoned or are leased to outfitters. The last 15 years or so, I’ve gone on one two day shoot. Usually manage to shoot 4-600 rounds. In the 90s, I’d shoot twice that amount, spread between 5-6 rifles. It’s tough to find good shooting of PDs, these days.
Good luck with your search.
All I got is in May ranch roads and 2-tracks can get GREASY and L O N G walk.
Hunted Medicine Bow and environs 7-8 years ago, large private ranch. Last two travelin’ FL PD shooters of my acquaintance found mighty slim pickings in previous proven areas.
I’ve passed on last two trips - 3,000 mi round trips with only memories of the good times not enough to get these 80 yr old bones moving.
BUT take the 3000 mi r/t away and remember the ground crawlin’ ’ with PDs in West Kansas when we got started 8 years ago and I’d be checking the zero on my .204’s and Rock River AR.
Best wishes where ever you wind up.
Dave
Hunted Medicine Bow and environs 7-8 years ago, large private ranch. Last two travelin’ FL PD shooters of my acquaintance found mighty slim pickings in previous proven areas.
I’ve passed on last two trips - 3,000 mi round trips with only memories of the good times not enough to get these 80 yr old bones moving.
BUT take the 3000 mi r/t away and remember the ground crawlin’ ’ with PDs in West Kansas when we got started 8 years ago and I’d be checking the zero on my .204’s and Rock River AR.
Best wishes where ever you wind up.
Dave
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