Posted on 05/19/2008 4:50:54 AM PDT by SLB
GREEN RIVER -- The prairie dog rises above its burrow on the high plains of southern Wyoming and takes a casual look around.
Seconds later, the animal disappears in an explosion of blood and dirt. The self-described "shortgrass sniper" dressed in camouflage and orange chuckles for the camera and gets ready to fire again.
With thousands of hits on YouTube, this popular prairie dog video by Colorado hunter Jim Bowman advises hunters to get ready for the upcoming prairie dog killing contest in southern Wyoming's Carbon County.
The controversial, fifth annual, three-day "There Goes the Neighborhood" prairie dog killing contest is scheduled to begin May 31 on private lands around Medicine Bow, organizer Bowman said.
Bowman, a machinist who lives in Kersey, Colo., said the event drew 38 participants last year, mostly from Colorado and Wyoming. He said this year's event will include the first-ever "world championship, long-range prairie dog sniper event" scheduled for June 1.
"I think we're going to have a really good hunt this year," Bowman said in a phone interview. "And if we get some controversy out there, we're ready to handle that, too. We'll see what happens."
Bowman said he formed an organization after last year's hunt, Prairie Dog Posse, to promote the event and to provide a "voice" for prairie dog shooters.
The group's Web site boasts that members are "a fun crowd who likes to dust prairie dogs from to dawn to dusk."
Duane Short, wild species program director for the Laramie-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, criticized the event and said it's unfortunate that Wyoming continues to allow "disgraceful" prairie dog shooting contests.
"It's hard to find any socially or environmentally redeeming qualities to this kind of shoot ... The barbarism of this event is enough to turn one's stomach," Short said.
Bowman said participants pay a $20 per person and four canned goods for the group's "Hunters for the Hungry Program." Members of the armed services get half off, he said. Prizes are awarded based on the number of prairie dogs killed.
Bowman said the canned goods are donated to local food banks and to needy families.
Blood sport
Like most Western states, Wyoming allows year-round hunting of the prairie dog and classifies the rodent as a nongame animal. The Wyoming Department of Agriculture has classified the animal as a pest worthy of extermination any time, any place and by any means.
Part of the appeal to prairie dog shooters is that no license is needed to hunt in Wyoming. Nor is there a bag limit on the animal. Moreover, the Wyoming Board of Outfitters and Professional Guides does not require a license to guide prairie dog hunters.
Federal biologists say prairie dog populations declined rapidly last century, due in large part to sylvatic plague, regulated and unregulated poisoning by government agencies and private landowners, loss of habitat and unregulated shooting.
While many ranchers and others in Wyoming kill prairie dogs on private and public lands, western wildlife agencies including the Wyoming Game and Fish Department have been working to conserve the animal through interstate agreements and state management plans.
Several times over the last decade conservation groups have petitioned to have the prairie dog listed under the Endangered Species Act, though federal officials have determined the prairie dog's current status does not warrant a listing. Further review of the animals' status is under way.
Bowman contends that the annual prairie dog shoot helps ranchers eliminate -- without the use of poisons and other chemicals that are harmful to the environment and other wildlife -- unwanted prairie dogs.
"I think what we're doing is certainly not hurting the environment ... I think there are still plenty of prairie dogs (in Wyoming) to go around," he said.
"If we thought they were really an endangered species, we certainly wouldn't have the shoot ... We're not like that," Bowman said. "We're doing everything legal and above board ... One thing about us is that we're not running from anybody."
Ban the event?
Animal rights activists such as the Prairie Dog Coalition and conservation groups including Biodiversity believe shooting prairie dogs in contests is an abhorrent, cruel and unnecessary blood sport that should be stopped in Wyoming.
The groups have asked the Game and Fish Department to ban prairie dog killing contests such as Bowman's.
"It makes absolutely no sense to allow these prairie dog kill-fests to continue ... (The department) should immediately act" to ban the events, Short said.
Lindsey Sterling Crank, executive director of the Prairie Dog Coalition, said it was important to "stop sending the message to our children that it's OK to shoot and kill their heritage. The fact is these practices are cruel and inhumane."
Recent studies have shown prairie dog shooting contests have a "residual, negative physical and ecological effect" on prairie dog colonies, and feeding and reproductive behavior, Short said in a phone interview.
"The bullets used are also typically non-jacketed, hollow-point, exploding bullets designed to 'mist' the prairie dog, which is a pretty despicable practice," he said.
"Those exploding lead bullets turn into sand-sized grains ... that are picked up by any species that scavenge on corpses," Short said.
He said carcasses containing those lead fragments can poison hawks, foxes, black-footed ferrets and burrowing owls, among other animals that feed on prairie dogs.
Southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at gearino@tribcsp.com.
BTTT
It’s a necessary thing, but nothing I’d like to watch on You Tube.. I just don’t have the stomach for it..
When I was a lad there were no prairie dogs around, so I and my friends would find a wooden bridge somewhere in the country, sit on the safety of the bridge and plink water moccasins with 22s.
This is just like shooting rats in a garbage dump.
Next they'll want to ban killing cock roaches.
Yep, thats all we had when I was a kid. I'd love to make a trip out west some day for a prairie rat hunt.....
I love to hunt, but to me the very definition of hunt would have to include, at the least, using the meat for food. Our meat is primarily venison with some squirrel, raccoon, pheasant, and rabbit. I have fed my family with the game I have hunted for a long time.
To go out and simply kill animals for “pleasure” is at best distasteful, if not sinful. A task best left for fools and cowards.
You obviously have not had the pleasure of my mom's squirrel smothered in onions. She kills them herself, BTW. Mmmm.
You really have to live with the negative aspects of a varment for a while to appreciate their destruction.
I don't think anyone would be stupid enough to use non-jacketed bullets in a typical varmint rifle. It would lead the barrel beyond belief after only a few shots and you wouldn't be able to hit anything.
The writer of the article is an idiot.
Hand breaded and pan fried. MMMmmmmm.
For example, among others, in Idaho, on occassion, there are rabbit infestations. Too many to shoot. The answer in the past, out in the rural areas, is to get a goodly number of men armed with clubs, make a large circle, and then close the circle to the point where the pests are caught in the middle and litterally clubbed to death.
In this article, it sounds as if though an individual sounds as if he has made a sport of it. I have no problem with that because it is something that needs doing anyway.
"Those exploding lead bullets turn into sand-sized grains ... that are picked up by any species that scavenge on corpses," Short said.
Oy...where to start?
Would these eco-warriors be happier if the rodents were poisoned or vacuumed out of the ground? One way or another, ranchers are going to have these pests remediated rather then have them make their ranges made unsafe for high-value livestock. A bullet kills quickly for the most part. Poisons do not.
The majority of folks who are into competitive prairie dog shooting are using very-high-velocity, flat-shooting ammo that, by definition, has to be jacketed in order not to fly apart at the incredible RPMs they pull. We won't touch on barrel leading either.
Neither jacketed hollow points not plain old lead bullets "explode" into tiny particles either. They mushroom open (most of the time)or fragment into somewhat smaller chunks. I doubt much sintered metal ammo or birdshot is being used out there. If a PD is disappearing in a pink mist, the bullet will not remain in their tiny little corpses for the scavengers to eat.
Do you use a mouse trap, poison, hunt over bait, trophy hunt ? Sicko is a harsh, insulting word with many applications.
Prairie dogs, sod poodles, grass gophers , fuzzy bowling pins or what ever they are called in your region are vermin, they are hazards and costly too ranchers and farmers. They carry disease and have no purpose other than provide a PC pet too Japs who pay a hundred or more for one.
Control of a species that is in such a category and quantity is needed. Note this is an annual shoot, been done for years and we go back each year to prairie dog towns and shoot em till we have busted our ammo budget and time off for such yet each year they are back, more of em in some cases.
I control em in my area during the spring shoots, and enjoy the day with friends, family and other shooters.
PC Bullsh*t control efforts by animal rights folks have cost the average hunter , insurance companies and state fish and game sorts millions. Deer, waterfowl, etc in some parts of the US under such BS laws are being killed en masse due damage too property and in some cases human life when they wander onto a road in a vehicles path. Recent news here tells of genetic birth control efforts for east cost deer due the uncontrollable numbers.
Any hunter knows conservation and limits established for game animals harvested is the way too go. Eradication and or control is necessary for varmints. Eat em if ya want but we leave em for the raptors and coyotes who serve a real purpose in proper numbers..... Except during calving when coyotes are “controlled” as well.
Just my opinion without insults.......
Prarie dogs carry the Black Plague.
When that makes a comeback because of them, “I told you so” just won’t cut it.
Well said.
Best regards,
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.