Prairie dog hunts

[WayneJ]

New to forum, reminded me how much fun prairie dog hunting was. Anyone know of current hunting grounds? My dad used to go on organized hunts up in Montana and Wyoming, always had a great time. Now that I am semi retired, I would love to attend one. Last post I saw, was from 2021. Any updates would be appreciated.

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

New to forum, reminded me how much fun prairie dog hunting was. Anyone know of current hunting grounds? My dad used to go on organized hunts up in Montana and Wyoming, always had a great time. Now that I am semi retired, I would love to attend one. Last post I saw, was from 2021. Any updates would be appreciated.

Wayne
Good afternoon
Personally I think the best PD hunts are with you and a really good friend. I could not do a hunt with 6-10 other shooters that I didn't know.
I used to hunt SD on private ranches, never with a guide service and some of the best hunting and friendship trips.
I have not been in years, but will look up some information on PD Hunting areas.
There are probably many LRH members that have access to lots of land to hunt and know the areas to go to in 2023. A lot of shooters don't want to give up their hunting areas, but maybe some will PM you and give some guidance.
There are several hunts I want to do as soon as I can get my spinal cord fixed.
1. A good Prong Horn Hunt
2. A good 3-5 days of PD hunting on a private Ranch. (two rifles, 2K rounds, a RASS, Shooting chair, and Bi pods. Also a cast iron skillet and plenty of Tabasco!
3. Get back to NE PA for some Chuck Hunting. We have probably 50 Farms in the GPS that we hunted over 30 years. A lot of those farms and fields are gone now due to "Fracking" . The best farms to hunt were active Dairy Farms. They had the best hay fields due to cow manure. A lot of the Farmers got paid $$$$$$$$$ for their land in Leases from NG & Oil Companies. NO MORE DAIRY. Also some great trout fishing at night after Chuck hunting.
You will get some good info on where to start looking for PD from LRH members.
Len & Jill

 

[WayneJ]

Thanks for the encouragement, the ranch we used to hunt on is no longer. Open cattle ranges are going away. So sad. Hope you back heals as quickly as possible. Life is short, so we need to play hard when we can.

 

[dogz]

Welcome to the Forum Wayne

Couple quick thoughts, pass on the group hunts and get out there with you and your dog and maybe ONE buddy and see what you can line up. You can do some good pre E scouting. Then it's a couple maps, ON-X and lots of gas and windshield time.

Typically you won't get good info for PD's and such on a forum like this as others have worked hard to find a good place don't wish to give it away. You want to see a good property go to waste just watch telling someone looking for a group hunt show up to a place you've mentioned with 5 or 10 guys in their Winnebago's and desimate the area and often times wear out their welcome.

PD spots are highly protected just like spots with good whitetail or elk hunting are.

Now that you're retired (congrats), the world is your playground simply get to it my friend

 

[TigerOnThe Hill]

New to forum, reminded me how much fun prairie dog hunting was. Anyone know of current hunting grounds? My dad used to go on organized hunts up in Montana and Wyoming, always had a great time. Now that I am semi retired, I would love to attend one. Last post I saw, was from 2021. Any updates would be appreciated.

Wayne, I've been on semi-guided and DIY pd hunts in TX, NM, KS and CO on private and public lands. NE NM (Kiowa) and NW TX (Rita Blanca) have public pd hunting available on National Grasslands. I try to go on 2-3 hunts every year, taking 1-4 other hunters w/ me. I hunted the Rita Blanca and Kiowa w/ Jeremy at Sagebrush Hunts. The plague hit the Rita Blanca 5-6 years ago then moved to the Kiowa a couple years later. A few days ago I got an email from Jeremy about his pd hunts. He said he's offering hunts on both private and public land. I prefer to hunt on my own, but using a guide is not a bad idea, especially when one's still trying to find private land to hunt on. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact me.

 

[WayneJ]

Very understandable. Thanks for the heads up and suggestions. It has been so long since I've done any PD hunting, was looking for any clues, even a state would be appreciated.

 

[WayneJ]

Good to read, we used to hunt a ranch outside of Sierra Blanca and had a great time. Understand the hunting on your own. I'm in process of getting a house ready to rent, and move to Northern NM. When I have things settled, I may reach out to you, if I don't have any luck on my own. Glad to hear not all the hunts are gone.

Thanks

 

[Bret GRAVELINE Graveline]

You should check with the fort belknap Indian reservation in Montana, or the rosebud in Nebraska, years ago you could purchase a permit to shoot on tribal lands without a guide, I don't know the current protocol or rules and regulations are. I had outstanding shooting on both 200 to 400 rounds a day were common and that was with 5 to 6 shooters all with 3 or 4 guns each

 

[K9TXS]

Check out Ultimate Prairie Dog Hunts.

I know nothing about the guides they have listed, just wanted to mention them.

You could go on a paid hunt in the area you want to hunt in, then check with the different folks in the area.
Or, go to the area you want to hunt and do some scouting in the area. Doing it this way, you would probably spend much more time scouting that hunting.

If you have a program like BaseMaps, that will help you find areas to go to as well as the land owners name. Lots of farmers and ranchers don't own the land they're using, but lease it from the land owner.

 

[WayneJ]

Thanks to both K9TXS, and Bret. Both are great ideas, this will help in my research. Don't think I'll be doing the scouting part, that's a bunch of places and time spent.

 

[TigerOnThe Hill]

Wayne, Be forewarned when I last checked, a lot of the websites listed in the Ultimate Prairie Dog pages are inactive or the guides no longer offer pd hunts. In KS, I've hunted w/ Rebel Ridge and 10 Gauge and was happy w/ both. In TX, I've hunted w/ Les Prairie Dog Hunt (he's also listed in OK). I was pleased, but bad healthy forced into retirement. Two friends hunted w/ Texas Prairie Dog Safaris and had a good experience, but his main interest is in teaching you how to shoot pro's at very long range. He's been doing pd hunts 30 years or so. I've also hunted w/ No Mercy Hunts in OK but was disappointed and didn't return. They only had one town and it appeared to have been hunted heavily. I wish you good fortune on your search. As you can tell, pd hunting is something I really enjoy doing.

 

[doug2080]

There's such a thing as a guided prairie dog hunt?!

 

[ridgewalker]

JME…You can do area searches on OnX and Google Earth zooming in on areas. I have found PD towns to hunt that way. Their mounds show up on the pictures.

 

[bubbadad]

It's been a couple of years since I last went but we used to go to southern North Dakota near a little town called marmarth . Hunted grasslands just outside of town. We also hunted a lot of private ranches in the area.