'There Goes the Neighborhood' -- again

Casper Star-Tribune ^ | May 19, 2008 | JEFF GEARINO

[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.

[SLB]

When I was growing up in Wyoming in the 1960's we made many Sunday afternoon plinking trips to local "dog towns" to shoot them. I have seen them shot with everything from a .38 Spec to a 12 ga to a 30-06 using some WW2 armor piercing rounds that one dad had brought home from Europe 20 years earlier.

[SLB]

BTTT

[NavVet]

Nothing against hunting, fishing etc. I do both myself. However, I think it takes a special kind of sicko to do either just for the pleasure the person gets in seeing the animal's head explode.

[Awestruck]

It’s a necessary thing, but nothing I’d like to watch on You Tube.. I just don’t have the stomach for it..

[Graybeard58]

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.

[mosaicwolf]

This is just like shooting rats in a garbage dump.

[Graybeard58]

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.

Next they'll want to ban killing cock roaches.

[Hot Tabasco]

This is just like shooting rats in a garbage dump.

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.....

[Wpin]

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.

[sportutegrl]

To go out and simply kill animals for “pleasure” is at best distasteful, if not sinful.

You obviously have not had the pleasure of my mom's squirrel smothered in onions. She kills them herself, BTW. Mmmm.

[dangerdoc]

You really have to live with the negative aspects of a varment for a while to appreciate their destruction.

[Beagle8U]

“”The bullets used are also typically non-jacketed, hollow-point, exploding bullets designed to ‘mist’ the prairie dog, which is a pretty despicable practice,” “

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.

[dangerdoc]

Hand breaded and pan fried. MMMmmmmm.

[Jeff Head]

When you are infested with thousands of such varmints and the damage they can do...killing them off wholesale is the answer. For those suffering the damage, it is gratifying to get rid of them But it's not pretty.

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.

[AngryJawa]

"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.

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.

[Squantos]

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.......

[wastedyears]

Prarie dogs carry the Black Plague.

When that makes a comeback because of them, “I told you so” just won’t cut it.

[Copernicus]

Do you use a mouse trap, poison, hunt over bait, trophy hunt ? Sicko is a harsh, insulting word with many applications.......

Well said.

Best regards,

[count-your-change]

I have several recipes for cooked prairie dog if anyone is interested. But of course they require a prairie dog as the main ingredient.

[Rick.Donaldson]

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.

Not 200 yards from where I am sitting right now is a massive colony... rife with bubonic plague.

Kill them all.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

Some here do not understand the animal rights groups. They don’t care if the rodent you are killing (in this case prarie dogs) carry plagues that can be harmfull to human beings. A lot of these people in the animal rights groups would rather see more animals and less humans. If it takes a plague to kill off a million people, then so be it...

The real sickos here are the animal rights groups.

[hiredhand]

"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.

What a load of crap. WHO in their right mind uses "lead" (cast?) bullets for varmint shooting? Varmint Al is probably most qualified to speak, but I'm "reasonably" certain of what will happen IF I loaded (for example) a lead 85gr .243 projectile into a .243 Winchester casing, and propelled it to the "usual" 3000FPS (or thereabouts). I doubt it will remain intact past 100 yards, and would certainly be inaccurate at mid range trajectory...not to mention that it's going to lead foul the bore very badly! I've run with local varmint hunters for a long time, and have never heard of people shooting "lead"....much less hollow point lead bullets! I could be wrong, but I think the guy is full of crap.

As for "misting" dogs and other varmints, a lead bullet certainly won't do that. But I know from personal experience with groundhogs over here in the east that Nosler ballistic tips will. For that matter, SS109 ammo for the 5.56mm NATO (.223 Remington) does a decent job!

Varmint control is necessary and therefore productive, so as a matter of fact it IS enjoyable to know that we're doing a service by blasting the suckers to smithereenies. The problem with varmints (especially if they "look" cute :-) is that most urbanites don't feel this way until they are directly affected. When coyotes kill or maim their pets, or get to close to them for "comfort" though, they'll be crying for help for the big mean people with guns to come "take care" of the problem. They seem to cry to the big mean people with guns whenever things go wrong.

Nobody seems to take issue with culling sharks when too many of them get too close to beaches. That's because they're big, ugly, toothy "sea monsters". But the minute one of us explodes a small, cute, furry pest here on land, everybody who believes in that friggin Bambi and Thumper Story gets mad. What if we treated them like they do with sharks? What if we hooked them and then speared them? A high velocity, small bore, center fire varmint cartridge certainly produces a quick death...unlike being hooked and speared.

[Squantos]

Hey Hey Heyyyyyyyyyyy it’s their lie let em tell it like they want ..........:o)

Agree 100% !

The idiots that go after our guns and sports etc out themselves again and again as subject matter losers !

Stay safe !

[Just another Joe]

I love to hunt, but to me the very definition of hunt would have to include, at the least, using the meat for food.

Bingo.
I agree.
Go ahead and kill it but eat what you kill.

[hiredhand]

Hey Hey Heyyyyyyyyyyy it’s their lie let em tell it like they want ..........:o)

Yeah...it's their lie all right! What a hoot...exploding, hollow pointed LEAD bullets! HA! HA! HA! What a bunch of moroons!

[Varmint Al]

RODENT CONTROL.... Various rodents cause farmers problems and varmint hunters are willing and able to help with very specific rodent control. Here in California, the rodent that causes the problems is the ground squirrel. I have never hunted ground hogs or prairie dogs because they are not found here and I have no firsthand information on them. 

A VERY FINE LINE.... I am very careful to only "control" the ground squirrel population. I have to walk a very fine line. If I shoot too many, they might not survive and the field will be barren. If I leave too many in the field, the rancher might use poison and kill them all. A surviving population of ground squirrels is a good thing and besides, I don't want to work myself out of a job.
The same goes for coyotes.

Contenderous bullberrini

Spermophilus beldingi

PLAGUE IS ENDEMIC.... The Black Plague is caused by a bacteria named Yersinia pestis carried by fleas. For eons it lived in the blood of resistant wild rodents in northern Asia. During the Middle Ages, it somehow began to infect the domestic rats that infested towns and cities. After the rats died, their fleas fed upon the villagers themselves. Unable to imagine what was happening to them, more than half of Europe's entire population died as black death swept the continent.

In 1900, infected rats reached California on a ship from Asia. Soon plague spread from the port of San Francisco to other nearby cities, and to deer mice Peromyscus, and other resistant rodents. While towns in Marin and Sonoma counties largely escaped the outbreaks that affected most temperate regions of California, Y. pestis became firmly entrenched in the Coastal and Sierra Nevada Ranges. Tularemia is also carried by rodents in California.

Today, plague is endemic in resistant wild rodent populations throughout the western United States. Predators or scavengers can get the disease when they eat their prey, and hunters when they handle or skin infected game animals. From time to time the bacteria spreads to more susceptible rodents, like ground squirrels Spermophilus beecheyi. Epizootic outbreaks decimate the squirrel colonies, leaving hoards of infected, hungry fleas around the now empty burrows. Sites like these are especially dangerous to hunters, campers and nearby residents.

38 Cases Reported Since 1970
POSTED: July 3, 2002
LOS ANGELES -- State health officials issued a warning Wednesday to people planning to be outdoors this holiday weekend to guard against bubonic plague, which is carried by rodents in foothills, mountains and along coastal areas. Since 1970, 38 cases of the plague in humans have been reported statewide. The most recent report was in 2000 when a Kern County man survived the sometimes deadly disease by taking antibiotics, said Ken August of the California Department of Health Services. Symptoms include fever, chills, nausea, weakness and swollen glands.

Good Hunting... from Varmint Al

[pyx]

A short trip on over to the Center for Disesase Control (CDC) has this information about BUBONIC PLAGUE in their FAQ

QUOTE

Q. How is (BUBONIC) plague transmitted?
A. By fleas that become infected with bacteria Yersinia pestis that cause plague.

Q. How do people get (BUBONIC) plague?
A. By the bite of fleas infected with the plague bacteria.

Q. What is the basic transmission cycle for BUBONIC PLAGUE?
A. Fleas become infected by feeding on rodents, such as the chipmunks, prairie dogs, ground squirrels, mice...

UNQUOTE

Duane Short, wild species program director for the Laramie-based Biodiversity Conservation Alliance...

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.

I would argue that if Short's group aligns itself with "animal rights" groups like PETA or the Prairie Dog Coalition, then it is NOT a conservation group. This is more drivel from LEFTIST crazies who want to control YOUR life and save rodent vermin that carry BUBONIC PLAGUE.

"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.

Most who own or have owned rifles know using unjacketed lead will foul a rifle bore and therefore this claim is yet more of a STEAMING LOAD from the LEFT. LEFTISTS continually hand out press releases to their buddies in the media who in turn continue to dutifully present these press releases as "news".

[Hat-Trick]

They seem to cry to the big mean people with guns whenever things go wrong.

I believe it was Lt. Col. Dave Grossman who said that the sheep don't like the sheepdog, because he reminds them of the wolf.

[NavVet]

I kill rats and mice because they are causing a problem, not because I get some visceral thrill out of watching them die.

[NavVet]

I used to ambush Groundhogs that were eating our watermelons, but I didn’t get off on the act of killing them. It was a simple necesscity, not entertainment.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

My cat likes to kill small mammals too.

She brought a live rabbit in the house over the weekend and really freaked out my wife.

[NavVet]

Logic seems twisted to me. I grew up on a farm and have dispatched both varmints and domestic animals; however, I believe those that enjoy killing for it's own sake have serious issues.

[Knitebane]

Then let us know how your cockroach, flea, spider, tick and mouse pie tastes.

Bon appetite.

[Just another Joe]

Then let us know how your cockroach, flea, spider, tick and mouse pie tastes.

Actually, I've eaten four out of five of those, and they're not that bad. Never thought about eating a tick, but fry it up. I'll give it a try.
And in addition, we are talking about something big enough to make a shepherds pie out of.
But you knew that.

[AuntB]

Oh, my goodness.

Save the Prarie Dog!! I can just hear it. Oh, well, we all got tired of them worshiping fish.

I admit I only got halfway through the article. The whiner made it sound like he was going to be forced to attend one of these shoots. Next he’ll be wanting to outlaw rat poison. Shooting is about as merciful a death as is possible. Beats death by poison.

[AuntB]

“I love to hunt, but to me the very definition of hunt would have to include, at the least, using the meat for food.

Bingo.
I agree.

Go ahead and kill it but eat what you kill. “
_________

Really? I killed 46 wasps, a thousand or so ants, ran over a lizard by accident and caught some mice in a trap. That’s just today.

You’re invited to dinner, Joe. Yummo!

Prairie dogs are rats....big, ugly, disease ridden, destructive, overpopulated rats.

You boys must be from the city. Worry about where you live and let us Westerners kill our rats. You don’t have to attend.

It gets old. DC and the East coast decides which of our lands can be used, by who and for what. They’ve regulated us into the ground and you know what? It’s not anyone’s business but ours. We promise to not come to your home and tell you how to run your life. Fair?

[Knitebane]

And in addition, we are talking about something big enough to make a shepherds pie out of.

Not after it takes a 7mm to the center mass.

But you knew that.

I sure did. Just like you know the difference between hunting, where the purpose is acquiring meat, and vermin control, where the animal is probably diseased or otherwise unhealthy to eat.

Prairie dogs carry plague. They are best dealt with humanely at a distance. Using a good rifle is quick and clean and doesn't have the down sides that traps and poisons do which would be the other options in dealing with vermin.

[AuntB]

I thought you might be on this thread with some reasoned answer. Those who don’t live it will never get it. One of our big political problems is rural verses urban. The Urbanites need to worry about the garbage in their cities and let us take care of ours.

Post 36.

[hiredhand]

I believe it was Lt. Col. Dave Grossman who said that the sheep don't like the sheepdog, because he reminds them of the wolf.

I can't swear by the author, but I've read that before. It's the same reasoning that causes people panic at the sight of an FN-FAL, but perhaps not at the M1A. It's not rational, but then that's why we call them sheeple.

[dangerdoc]

These guys shoot from a couple of hundred yards away. It’s probably not the blood-fest you have in mind. The excitement is actually hitting a moving target the size of your hand from that far away.

Personally I have about 15 deer terrorizing my land and occasionally me when I’m driving up the drive. They destroyed an entire orchard that my brother planted a couple of years ago. They have spread so many ticks, you cannot even walk in the yard without a biohazard suit. I frequently sit on my deck and take imaginary shots at bambi as they cross in herds to get to my pond. My dogs won’t even chase them off.

You do realize of course, that the same people that want to stop the praire dog shoot would like to lock you up for what you did.

[Just another Joe]

Actually Aunt, I'm not a city boy.
However, I will say in my defense that I haven't ever had to worry about prairie dogs or rats to the point that I went hunting them to alleviate a problem.

I understand killing to alleviate a varmint problem. It's just that my varmints have always been coyote size or larger.

And everything you listed, Aunt, I have eaten. I really wouldn't want to make it an everyday thing but if pushed, I could. That includes prairie dog.

I understand the difference between killing for food and killing to alleviate a varmint problem but I'll be damned if I'm going to travel to kill varmints for someone else.

[Jeff Head]

For a racnher to be gratifgied and even happy over the elimination of such a varmin and the damage it can do does not seem twisted to me at all, which is what I was refering to.

There is a large difference between that gratification and sadism, which sounds more akin to what you are describing and which I agree is not healthy.

[Squantos]

Back at ya VA ! Wrung out a few thousand .223’s for use in my TC Encore Pistol with a 2-12X LER Burris and harris bipod on Sod Poodles this year ! So far they are still winning !!......LOL !

Thanks for the great post and your time Sir !

Stay safe ,

[NavVet]

Apples and Oranges. If the dogs aren’t endangered and they are a pest, then lock and load, but those doing it for pure sport are sick pups plain and simple.

[wastedyears]

Flamethrower

[wastedyears]

Thanks for posting information to clarify this whole thing.

[wastedyears]

How did you ambush them?

[hiredhand]

Good info! Thanks for the ping buddy! :-)

[Wpin]

I live in a county with one traffic light and I don’t live in town. I lived out west for a good chunk of my life and I never met a self respecting man who killed prairie dogs for pleasure. In fact, never met anyone I considered a man who did that kind of pointless killing. Like I said, that kind of activity is for fools and cowards.

[Wpin]

Now, I didn’t say hunting (which entails using the meat) is bad. Indeed, I have heard Prairie Dog stew is wonderful and would like to try it someday. I simply do not abide this “pleasure killing” of animals that is done simply for killing sake.