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I haven't been out for a few years, since our spot got poisoned out. And the other place got the plague. A couple other ranchers have passed on. I am not looking forward on spending 600 for a guide either. Anyone know where a good public place is anymore? It used to be we could drive out and stop at a ranch and they would be happy to have us, one even brought out a box of shells.
I wish you luck on this thread man... Over here in OR, if a guy has a field that's got lots of targets, they pretty much keep that to themselves, so they have a spot to go... Land is getting pretty cluttered up with houses etc... I'm always looking for new ground to shoot, but still haven't found one. And my field got drowned or froze all the Sage Rats last year.... Sad Days!!!
I hear you. Worth a try though. We may switch directions, go south and shoot some hogs. At least we could eat one of them....
Finding pdog land is always tuff. Folks keep their honey holes secret. Hogs in Texas while everywhere are a pay to play kinda thing too. I myself have places to hunt for hogs(173 killed this year) but they are not places I can even brings friends.
Finding land anywhere to hunt is tough. I used to be a John Deere tech, I had unlimited pheasant, deer, and coyote land. Then all the all the small guys got squeezed out when the prices went down. A little while after that older landowners started to sell or their heirs (who now live in the city and only care about how much rent they can squeeze out an acre) took control. Crop prices now go up and the guys that are farming can all afford bulldozers and excavators take out every tree in sight. One farm I know as went as far to push the hill tops over when the sidehills are to steep to farm. Forget about any fence line all removed, farming from one road to the next. In two years the main farms that we deer hunted had 200-300 acres of trees removed. On top of that the new tenants what a buck an acre to hunt. We only pheasant and coyote hunt now, on public.
I went to Northeast South Dakota earlier this year and paid an Indian guide 75$ a day for a Saturday and Sunday hunt. When we got up there on Friday night he wouldn't answer, however he called me once on his home phone and I happened to save it, so I called it and his wife answers and says "somethings happened" but that she would meet us the next day. She held her word and met us the next morning saying he had been picked up for dui and led us to some family ground that was a full day of awesome. The second day he met us and took us to a different place that looked pretty good so we paid him our 150 a piece and he left us there with a ton of dogs that apparently knew more about guns than we did, one shot and they were gone. I called him back several times to move but once the money changed hands we never heard from him again. That day was full of mostly long shots (5-600+yards) but the first day made up for it. In all I wouldn't go with him again but for 150+licenses it wasn't terrible. We did SW KS last year on private ground and it was pretty slow (like 75 shots a day slow) but landowner was great and didn't charge a dime. We will again be looking for next year soon also. Good Luck
I think it is silly to pay for a hog hunt, yet It is still on my bucket list.
I don't think 75 rounds a day is all that slow. My average on a good spot with lots of dogs isn't much over 100.
And frankly ive given up on dialing unless they are over 500 or so in order to save time which often turns out to be wasted time anyway.
But I single feed my guns and don't shoot at moving targets.
More often than not the dog ducks down the hole or out of site in the grass before I get the shot off, and I need to start over on another one or wait till that one pokes his head up again, all of which takes time.
I had a friend tell me a couple years back that he and a buddy shot 800 in one day.
I knew that was just total BS, so I started questioning his method.
Turned out they were on a trip and only had one day to hunt, each had an AR and they had 800 rounds of ammo along.
I took it easy on my barrel, never got them hot to touch. When the shooting was good I would wait for a couple to line up, or a group shot. The weather has a lot to play with how many dogs are out too. One town was educated and in rained on us, but 1 hour after the sun was shining, no wind, 80* - perfect. You couldn't stomp them into their holes that day.
What part of Northeast South Dakota? what was the nearest town to where y'all were shooting at?
If you ever decide to come to Texas for a hog hunt look for one with a guided thermal hog hunt. Also ask about shooting coyotes as targets of opportunity. Check for references too. Don't go with the hog weight or number of hogs killed either. Get one with unlimited hogs. However don't expect to kill more than 10 in one day/night of hunting. Takes a lot of practice to shoot at pigs at night running at unknown distances and varying speeds. Look on youtube at some of my videos. Squeal Team SixQuote:
Originally Posted by Evlshnngns
We used to go by Winner
I was with him. We were south of Murdo.Quote:
Originally Posted by rcinit
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Oh, thats in south central South Dakota. I used to live North of Watertown. I had to drive west of Mobridge to really get into shootable numbers. Hunted on the Standing Rock. Was one of those friend of a friend kinda deals. worked out great for years until the plaque got'em all.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitman49
Love to go out hunting PD, but a little to far to drive....Good luck
Quote:
Originally Posted by penna shooter
You can say that......until you get there and start shooting!!!LOL Then youll wanna go every year. I live 3 hours east of you...Its only 25 hours:thumb: You just need to make the drive part of the trip.. Stopping at gunshops, every Cabelas you pass, etc
From my house in Vero Beach FL. to our camp in Cameron co. PA its 1200 miles exactly by the route I take.Quote:
Originally Posted by pdog06
All but about 75 miles of it is interstate or divided highway with mostly 70 mph speed limits which I'm usually exceeding.
Leaving with a full tank requires 2 more fuel stops. I take water, sandwiches and food to snack on as I drive then make one evening meal stop. Breakfast at a motel I stay at is usually about 15 minits, and I take another coffee for the road.
When I leave either end I can predict the hour I arrive and as a rule be very close, and that's usually 20/21 hours on the road.
Figure on one 12 hour day and an 8 hour second day with no Cabelas type stops at all.
Add another day from our PA camp to Gillette WY. So yes its 3 driving days from PA to good prairie dog hunting.
Most places I shoot prairie dogs at I shoot about a hundred rounds out of my Encore or Savage if I use my AR I usually shoot two to three hundred rounds a day. Most of the time after a couple three close shots you're shooting at Pdogs 2 to 300 yards away. I travel about 60 miles to shoot, I usually shoot from about 8 in the morning till 1. Most of the Ranchers will let you shoot prairie dogs on their property unless it's least to an Outfitter the problem in Wyoming is finding the Rancher some of them can live 20 miles or more away from the property. I think 2018 will be a good year for prairie dogs they were poisoned in Goshen County about 4 years ago and they're coming back pretty good but they do get shot at a lot.
20 minutes will put me on the dogs. One of the benifits to living in the middle of no where.Quote:
Originally Posted by penna shooter
You go brother of the Barrel....Make us proud and shoot straight...Quote:
Originally Posted by 6.5savageguy