Save the Prairie Dogs Inc

[silvertip-co]

I hope all the bleeding heart leftist tree hugging trustafarian commies who support this effort get a WHOLE prairie dog town moving into their back yard:

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/new...ings-advances/




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NRA Life Member
National Rifle Association - NRA Programs Website Gateway

[Buffalobob]

Do you know the reproduction rate of prairie dogs?

[visigoth]

Sexual maturity after the first year, one litter per year consisting of 4-6 small targets. They live about 3-5 years.

[Buffalobob]

So very sad.

All sides agree prairie dog colonies have been reduced. "Since the turn of this century, prairie dog populations have declined as much as 98% throughout North America" (Brian Miller 1994).

[Buffalobob]

Utah Division of Wildlife Resources


Plinking (shooting) may also be a problem. This loosely defined sport seems to be growing in popularity with some plinkers shooting hundreds of rounds during a weekend. What effect does all of this shooting have on a prairie dog colony? One camp claims none; populations will remain stable. The other camp claims a potential for major population declines, especially in smaller colonies, and the potential loss of habitat due to this decline in numbers.

The complication or difference in these studies might be found in how the colony works, the colony size and the species of prairie dog.

Unlike many of the more familiar rodents like rats and mice, which can have multiple births multiple times per year, prairie dogs give birth to three or four young, once, in the spring. This is a relatively slow reproductive rate for an animal largely considered as the grassland's main prey base.

Most studies on colonial animals have found certain areas, generally in the middle of the colony, are more preferred than others. If an animal dies or is removed from the preferred area, an animal from the fringe will move in to take its place. This may be what the first camp is seeing.

These studies also show if enough animals are removed, the fringe is abandoned as more and more animals move to the preferred area in the middle. This is what the second camp believes may be happening, excessive plinking may be removing those animals in the preferred area faster than their slow reproductive rate can replace them, especially in the smaller colonies. When the fringe areas are abandoned, the vegetation isn't trimmed back so it gets taken over by taller shrubs and undesired plants thus making it unusable habitat for prairie dogs.

[Buffalobob]

My point is simple.

There are hunters who are conservationists and consider the future of hunting and then there are hunters who do not think about the future of hunting.

This is why I have been suggesting that we(longrange hunters) should not be taking all of the close range shots but let those dogs live and just try to make the really hard shots. We won't kill as many and we can have just as much fun and we won't have the non-hunters litigating the Fish and Game people to shut down the prairie dog hunting.

There are a whole series of scientific article on the internet about this problem of prairie dogs that I read last summer when I was planning my trip out west. They made me think about prairie dog shooting in a different light

[visigoth]

Anyone familiar with the South/Eastern part of Wyoming (Douglas) knows that the Plague has laid waste to the little guys. There was a ranch that we shot at for a number of years, and they "managed" the population quite well (every year it seemed to grow in size). Despite what I thought were a lot of shooters, the dogs continued to increase in numbers on this ranch, until the plague came through and decimated the towns.

They are out of control in areas of Boulder. They have run out of "open-space" to transport them to, and can no longer ship them out of the county (Colorado law). The last I read, they were hoping the Plague would help reduce their numbers "naturally".

p.s. One of the little guys made a mad dash across the bike path last year, and my little wife squished one with her rear wheel.