Prairie dog hunt in SD.....any help?

D

Dog Stone

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We are headed to the south east corner of SD for a dog hunt next spring and are looking to book it now. I have contacted some land owners and have gotten some very good information and wanted to see if anyone here had any first hand experience?

We are looking at booking with Schoeny’s Lodging in Wood, SD.....anybody ever stay with them?
 
Can't say about where your hunting, we always hunted the Rosebud, about 10 years ago. The hunting was good, shots 100-400 yards depending on the terrain. Had to have a licence from the indians, don't know about now.
 
We are planning to stay at Schoeny’s Lodging which is just a few miles north of the reservation in Wood, SD.

I have heard horror stories about hunting on the reservation with a tribal guide......any input?
 
The tribe started requiring a indian guide after we stopped hunting at the Rosebud. My understanding was the guide would take you out to a dog town for shooting. Of course you had to pay the guide.
 
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I have heard about tribal guides taking your money and not showing up, dropping you off at a place with no dogs and never coming back, etc, etc. And because you are on a reservation, you are not at liberty to roam around looking on your own.

And I have heard this from the land owners who hire the guides!
 
What rifles will you be using on the hunt?

I will have a 22 Mag, a 700 SPS Varmint in .223, and a Ruger M77 Mark II in .243.

Some of the other guns are .222, 22-250, 25-06, 308
 
You will get the most use out of the 223 and the 22-250. That said, the 243 and 25-06 will fill in between. The 25 for really long shots and the 243 for any thing else. The most shooting will be with the 223 then the 22-250. You will have to remember that distances are decieving out west as there are no reference pionts to judge by. Our laser range finder would not work because there was nothing for the laser to bounce off of. We finally walked out and set up a piece of card board and took a readin off of that.
 
The two 308's we will have are the best shooters and will probably get a great deal of action as well, especially at long distances. The 243 and the 25-06 are deer rifles so we will have to be careful not to melt the barrels:rolleyes:
 
I always see Prairie dogs when I hunt SW SD for Pronghorn. I don't see dog towns driving through eastern SD but what do I know. Buffalo Gap Nat'l Grasslands seems to have some decent Pronghorn hunting.
 
We rotated rifles every 15-20 shots or so. Cleaning and letting them cool down, when shooting a 25-06 with a 87 grain bullet a 3300 fps really heats up a barrel fast.

One thing I've found is to use bore guides and I will use a brass brush with a douche of alcohol will clean out the carbon fast so the Shooters Choice will work faster. The alcohol is a cheap solvent and carry's out much of the powder fouling quickly.

Carry a couple of water jugs with you in the field, good for washing up at the end of the day. It's dirty work.

If you hunt the Rosebud there is a hotel/casino there on the state line they have a good buffet, top round with all the fixens.

And close by is Valintine Nebraska and Lock Stock and Barrel shooting supply. They have shopping carts, just like the supermarket, go up/down isles and before you know it you need a second mortage.
 
Wow! Did not know that. They were always a stop for us, great store they carried everything shooting, easy to deal with. I guess it's a sign of the times.
 
Prairie Dog Hunting near grand Junction CO.

If this is in the wrong place, I apologize, I am brand new to the forum and found it by accident. I just moved near Grand Junction, CO. and wish to get back into doing some varmit hunting.

After living in Alaska for 21 years and not doing much of it up there. Any help/info would be greatly appreciated. I do not care for guided hunts or paying land owners for helping them out, just looking for some public lands where I can get in some shooting. Thanks in advance.
 
What I would suggest is calling the local game warden in the area you wish to shoot. Not only can he tell you what you need to be legal but he probably can provide you with a few names to call and will be able to provide a little info on the number of dogs in the area. Also, once in the area you can stop at a local gas station/convenience store and they can usually provide you with a name or two or a few locations to look at. SW North Dakota (Bowman west to Marmarth) is pretty good shooting & most ranchers allow you to shoot free of charge. There are several dog towns around Marmarth – the only problem is lodging. Some areas you can drive to and set up next to your pickup – other areas the rancher doesn’t allow vehicles and you have to walk your equipment in. You’ll have a great time reading the wind on the prairie.
 
Up around Valentine Nebr is a huge dog population. Used to be a hunt type shop you could stop in at and get a number to call a local to see if you could shoot them. Most wanted this done as the dogs are a hazard to livestock.

Lots of places out in west Nebraska in the sand hills for shooting PDs. I know some guys out North Platte way could set up a hunt or shoot as we call it, isnt much hunting involved. Just shooting....
 
Update!

We are looking for another place near Wood. Although the rates and hunting were good where we stayed, we were robbed and would like to find another place.
 
robbed?

Holy cow, Doug. Robbed? :(

How was the shooting? Plenty of prairie dogs?

I'm in the process of planning a trip for my two teenage sons and I to prairie dog hunt in that area. Any tips or things to avoid?
 
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