Sad news, good news.

Jump to latest Follow Reply
S

seven08

Member
Oct 14, 2018
366
7
CO, United States
Some of you may remember I live within yards of a 20 acre field packed with blacktail prairie dogs. My town just took ownership of that parcel last week. There are plans of erecting a public works building on the site with ground breaking in December. Today they were erecting a three block long temporary barrier fence along my street. The gal supervisor tells me the dogs are slated for poisoning in the next two weeks. Bummer, I like seeing and hearing those little buggers everyday. The town is still waiting for county health dept. approval, state permits and the like. A private exterminator has been hired to do the job on a per hole cost basis. She gave me the green light to use my airgun on all I wanted. I have mixed emotions on just killing them for sport, but hate the idea of a slow painful death even more.

Your thoughts are welcome.




 
Sorry to hear that buddy. Sounds like you may have lost a good shooting area. If I remember correctly (I don't do that very often) it seems like you used to long distance shoot your 34 at an old pot on that parcel of land? Anyway...shooting those dogs is far more humane in my opinion than poisoning. Poisoning is awful actually, because it normally is painful and drawn out. Not to mention it is indiscriminate. If I were you I would shoot away and feel as if I were doing those dogs a service......knowing what was on the horizon for them. That is my nickel on the matter.......

TR
 
Upvote 0
Hey there, TR. Still banging that pan near everyday. Still have the little metal plates out there, too. I gave them all a coat of paint today as I will have no access to them soon for awhile. Won't lose the shooting area either. Picture a 20 acre rectangle. The building will be in the lower right side, I am in the far lower left side. The dogs are thick in the building foot print area. She said it was much more cost effective to wipe them all out as to just a small patch. I question that logic. She brought up the public health nuisance BS and such. It's their property to do as they see fit.


 
Upvote 0
That reminds me of the time I visited Cabelas corporate office in Nebraska back in 2003. At the hotel I got talking to the person at the desk about all the prairie dogs I saw driving that day. He informed me that in Nebraska if land is to be developed and there happens to be a prairie dog town on it, the dogs must be live trapped and transferred to another property before ground is broken. Seems an animal rights group got to the wrong lawmaker in that states senate. I don’t know if that is still the case but we have the similar thing here in PA with an endangered swamp turtle. You can’t build on a property if a swamp turtle is found. 
 
Upvote 0
Got thinking again , I went to southern South Africa to hunt plains game and noticed the absence of vultures like you see on TV shows . The professional hunter I had told me they had been eradicated in the farmed areas from farmers poisoning black Jackals and Caracal cats. The vultures and eagles were then poisoned from eating the poisoned animals. I’m surprised it is aloud in the states still.
 
Upvote 0


Take a full day off work and go at them. Film it if you can.

Work? what's that all about? I have been retired for six years.😁






Sure, the dog town eradication is a concern but your life style and the intrusion on you by a public works site next door is even a bigger concern. I wish you well and hope you're able to deal with the changes.
Click to expand...

You are so right about that. The building will have six drive through bays, offices and storage for piles of sand, tractors etc. We can envision noise, smells of diesel all the time. We have it really nice right now but big change is coming. The barrier fence crew is finishing up right now.









Click to expand...


 
Upvote 0
I’d be furious if my Varmint pool right next to house was to be eradicated.

I even stopped all Groundhog shooting so the pop could rise again. I remember Wife woke me one morning showing me she’d nailed 4 babies in Strawberry patch with AZ Rapid .22. I was like, scare them away next time and I’ll put up a fence. It was good for her but I only like long distance Varmint shots where they have a chance if I don’t gauge wind and distance right.
 
Upvote 0
Time is running down so I made the decision to shoot a few in the last 30 minutes. It felt weird to pull the trigger on critters that I see close to the house every day. Five older dogs went down with head shots, one face on shot hit low in center neck and he holed up right away. Distances were 25-35 yards shot off hand. These carefree animals have little fear of me. They see me shooting all the time. The pile of dead will be placed 100 yds. out for the coyotes and foxes to take away. We saw a big badger chasing one down last week. I will not make a dent in the population before D-day.

1573838747_16769385315dcedf9b243dc6.01645711_DSC03513.JPG
1573838766_1302058275dcedfae5b6d10.81845314_DSC03517.JPG

 
Upvote 0
Thanks for the kind words, Keyman. I went to the rifle range for a few hours for some off hand practice with a couple of 7-08 center fire rifles. In the past hour back home eight more were....er. ...ah.....terminated. Inclement weather for tomorrow so I will hold off walking the field. Best to wait until Monday when most of the neighborhood goes to work. I live in a small Ag town so prairie dogs automatically have two strikes against them. No "save the prairie dog" tree huggers around here.

In my youth 20's -30's I would trek all over in pursuit of dog hunting with .22 CF guns. I have shot many PD's. It's been quite awhile since those days. I'm getting soft in my old age I guess. 
 
Upvote 0
Maybe you could talk them into letting you cull them out with the airgun, hopefully they can give you some time to get them thinned down. To use poison is just the wrong way to deal with the problem. Any that you shoot will die much more humanely than with poison. Good luck, and I think it’s great that you respect life...even the p dogs.
 
Upvote 0
Hey Bob O...did your eagle migrate south? I killed three more dogs this morning before high winds stopped my shooting for the day. The last one I hit was center chest and he toppled over on his back. About 50 yards out. He was belly up and down for the count. His arms and legs were running but he was upside down like a turtle. Out of nowhere a mature bald eagle hits him hard. Wow, what a sight to see. In seconds he is airborne with his prize. NO CAMERA!!!!! I see him land in a plowed field 300 yds. away tearing into his lunch. I went in for the camera. He must have been watching the action from far above me.

This picture is from my little Sony with zoom, grainy email size format.

1573958710_2298953355dd0b436d74998.17358409_DSC03526.JPG

 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Home
Forums
Resources
Menu