Varmint shooting in Central Wyoming (appointed, house, camp)

[.204]

I grew up in Darby Montana. Had to move to a much less than desireable State in order to further my employment goals. I am totally country and own a small ranch. I shoot silver caped ground squirrels during most of the summer months but would like to visit a good prarie dog town. I would like to meet someone who can point me in the right direction to a remote area. I would like to camp on location for about a week. If you know anyone who has a dog problem I would really like to help them out.

[ElkHunter]

There's dogs everywhere. However, there is a particularly large area just south of Buffalo. It's about half way to Kaycee on I-25. East side of the road. If you travel down the interstate there will be a truck parking area. Stop there and use some binoculars. Just look East. That prairie dog town goes farther then your binocs will show you.

Not sure who the land owner is, but I've seen people out there shooting before. Wouldn't take too much to track down who owns it and get permission.

[Kele]

Having read through the majority of posts on this thread, I simply have to know.

What sort of of genetic marker is present in a person who enjoys killing small rodent type animals?

I understand how destructive they can be, but if the truth were told here, how can you kill a critter that's just doing what generations of this same critter has been doing for centuries, long before men and their cattle came on the scene?

Can't you folks work on finding a more humane way of controlling prairie dogs than shooting them for sport?

I've never been a hunter, don't have the constitution required to kill living things. But I understand those who hunt for meat a lot better than those who hunt for the sheer joy of killing another living creature.

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by Kele

Having read through the majority of posts on this thread, I simply have to know.

What sort of of genetic marker is present in a person who enjoys killing small rodent type animals?

I understand how destructive they can be, but if the truth were told here, how can you kill a critter that's just doing what generations of this same critter has been doing for centuries, long before men and their cattle came on the scene?

Can't you folks work on finding a more humane way of controlling prairie dogs than shooting them for sport?

I've never been a hunter, don't have the constitution required to kill living things. But I understand those who hunt for meat a lot better than those who hunt for the sheer joy of killing another living creature.

It's actually in self defense. Really. We have a bad problem with the Black Plague around here. The two biggest carriers are prairie dogs and mountain lions. Mountain lions eat prairie dogs so go figure.

The prairie dog holes cause major distruction. If they move into your field, you can no longer keep horses there. They'll brake legs and then you'll have to put them down.

So we try to keep them thinned down a little.

Every swat a fly or mosquito?

[molon labe]

OK... I've been lurking in this thread for a while.....This is my kind of forum it appears. It's always nice to find a little bit of controversy and it looks like this is the place!

I'm out here in CA and considering a move to WY in the next month. Part of the reason we're moving is due to the fact that the tree-huggers and socialists are running things out here and it's very difficult to do ANYTHING. Taxes are horrible, home prices are through the roof, the gun laws are atrocious, and the environmental regs are ridiculous. After living in Cody several years ago I knew that CA wasn't "normal" as I had previously believed.

As for the varmint hunting..... as others here have stated, these little critters can devastate their surroundings. We don't have dogs out here but we have a massive ground squirrel population. These little guys destroy crops, trees, and roads with their underground tunnel systems. We've actually had asphalt issues.... these critters have created so many tunnels under some of the roads that a heavy rig will drop right through.

As well, many of the levee breaks in the area are attributed to the cute little fuzzy squirrels. A couple of years ago we had a 15-20 foot blister pop up in the field next to us (we're close to a half mile from the river) that had to be contained before it flooded the whole place out. The cute little fuzzies had dug a maze of tunnels that reached a half mile in distance, and when the water got a little high it came right on through......

Jgussler- you might want to try a Bushnell 4-16x40 in the 4200 series. They're great varmint scopes (excellent optical clarity) and they'll last as long as your gun.

I prefer a .223 for varmint shooting just because of the plentiful supply of quality ammo at decent prices. I'm going to have to get a 24" varmint upper set up for one of my AR's when I get up there.

My personal favorite, however, is a 22-250 with a tight twist rate. Once you get down to 1:8 or so you can really reach out there. I have a buddy (gunsmith) who built himself a hot rod 22-250... he's running a 1:7 barrel and shooting at 1000 yards. You really have to reload if you want to shoot rigs like this effectively though.... it's difficult finding good specs for these type of weapons in factory ammo. If you do it's going to be expensive.

I'm sure the animal-rights people are going to be on me now, so I'm going to sit back and watch the fireworks!

[happyappy]

Originally Posted by lak supply

(snip)

I'm out here in CA and considering a move to WY in the next month. Part of the reason we're moving is due to the fact that the tree-huggers and socialists are running things out here and it's very difficult to do ANYTHING. Taxes are horrible, home prices are through the roof, the gun laws are atrocious, and the environmental regs are ridiculous. After living in Cody several years ago I knew that CA wasn't "normal" as I had previously believed.

(snip)

Define tree hugger. If your description includes helping to prevent massive degradation of the environment, you will be thankful; if not for their efforts, your health might likely be degraded as well. Try real hard to imagine the conditions if 30+ years ago attention had not be drawn to the massive problems even then. As a kid I lived in Southern California for about 4 years and many days we had burning lungs and eyes. The air on many days was brown and the visibility limited. That was in the early 60s.

California has a governor who seems quite reasonable and will accomplish many tasks that were once considered at cross purposes.

Define socialist. If you don’t include the Bush administration, you’re not looking deeply enough into its basic tenets: Accomplish control of the government, the military, and the economy and direct production and distribution as determined by centralized government.

Maybe you’re one of those with the bizarre notion that California became grossly overpopulated, overbuilt, overburdened, and over-a-whole-bunch-of-other-stuff because of socialists (I’m shocked you didn’t say liberals). I frequently ask people who make comments such as yours if they truly believe that all the developers working in conjunction with various governmental representatives at all levels over all those decades to obtain legislative largesse are all socialists; I need to know more about this new form of socialism.

[ElkHunter]

It always seems like people think we are just wanton killers. That is not the case. We have a reason for every thing we shoot.

Prairie dogs, land devastation and the plague.
Bears,
Cougars,
Deer,
Elk,
Antelope,
Pheasant,
Prairie Chickens,
We hunt to put food on the table. Deer herds for example are plentiful. So plentiful that they are over crowding their food source. So each year the number of tags are sold to bring the herd down to what the land can support. Otherwise we'll have starvation and that leads to disease and that leads to extinction.

The Game and Fish has some smart people that set down and figure out exactly how many we have, how many the land will support, what percentage will die due to snow storms, what percentage will be taken by wolf or other preditors. They actually go out with helocopters and planes and pickups and count the herds. Then they compute and issue tags. Then they set up game check areas so everybody has to go through a game check coming out. You also have to send in a portion of your tag to indicate what you took and where. They then track the numbers and if the kill rate is lower then a certain percentage, they'll extend the season so they can get closer to the numbers they need for "Range Management".

We don't just go out and kill critters for the sake of killing them. When I first moved here, my kids ate nothing but venison for 5 straight years. They prefer it over beef.

[.204]

LAK SUpply;

I agree 100% sopuinds like were of the same opinion about California. People in Wyoming don't understand how good they have it. I got such a kick out of reading the controversy over controlling ground varmits. Those who have never had to deal with the rodent problem, just can't seem to understand it. I wonder if they set mouse traps in their house when they get infested or just live with the little creatures? It only takes a person one time to experience the devistation ground varmits can do to your property and livestock to change ones opinion. Shooting them is the best way to contol them. Using posion will sure enough do the job but it also effects any other birds or animals who will eat them.

By the way have you ever shot a .204 I have both the 223 and 204. In my opinion, the .204 out performs the 223 . It's an amazing cal. I'm shooting a 32grn sierra blitz king with 26.5 grans of H335. simple amazing results.

[happyappy]

Originally Posted by lak supply

(snip)

As for the varmint hunting..... as others here have stated, these little critters can devastate their surroundings. We don't have dogs out here but we have a massive ground squirrel population. These little guys destroy crops, trees, and roads with their underground tunnel systems. We've actually had asphalt issues.... these critters have created so many tunnels under some of the roads that a heavy rig will drop right through.

As well, many of the levee breaks in the area are attributed to the cute little fuzzy squirrels. A couple of years ago we had a 15-20 foot blister pop up in the field next to us (we're close to a half mile from the river) that had to be contained before it flooded the whole place out. The cute little fuzzies had dug a maze of tunnels that reached a half mile in distance, and when the water got a little high it came right on through......

(snip)

I’ve been to slaughter houses, watched how animals are loaded and treated while loading, how they’re transported, and the conditions in which they live prior to being killed. I’ve seen the terrible conditions and the terror they display. I’ve smelled the death. As a result, I’ve tried many times to become vegetarian . . . without success.

I’m for the ethical hunter. If I could live in an area in which I could purchase all my meat from such people, I would never again buy meat raised and harvested by factory industrialists’ supply chains. An animal that is taken in its natural environs by the hunter who will stalk and achieve close quarters for a humane kill, though still dead, has not experienced the terror and awful treatment by the factories.

Humans have caused the problems with prairie dogs and others of their ilk, commonly referred to as varmints; humans kill their natural predators. And now they must be dealt with. Humans are the only animal species that will overproduce, overgraze, and foul its own ground. Other animal species, not penned or fenced, will move about naturally to clean ground and only much later return to new growth. There’s no science for them to learn about, they just know. But not so with humans.

And then we invite in more population over the borders claiming that “we need them” for a variety of false reasons (sorry; off topic). Because of the overpopulation, we allow factories to produce food and give them government subsidies to do so. In the process, we have allowed small farmers in local areas to be driven out. Now we buy food from China (and lots of other places). Good move.

And now ranchers have this problem that so many people are willing to “help them out” with. How Samaritan.

I do love shooting. I believe there is a sport that uses the types of rifles, cartridges, and scopes you describe; it’s called bench rest shooting. But then nothing gets killed in that sport. You probably DO NOT enjoy killing merely for the killing, but I’ve known quite a few in my life who do—and they truly love killing prairie dogs and enjoy the grotesque stories about their misnamed hunts. There’s no need for them to worry about ethics; prairie dogs have to be killed from long distance—no stalking required or even possible. True, what I describe is my microcosm, but it certainly can logically be extrapolated to the general populace.

It’s a shame about the problems that humans have caused. It’s also a shame to be joyful about taking lives to correct such problems.

If you or anyone else decides to make the comment about killing insects in comparison, please don’t bother. Overabundance of ANY life form is likely caused by human encroachment and home invaders must be dealt with as well. But I don’t hunt insects either or look forward to going to another's home so I can help out.

[.204]

Originally Posted by Kele

Having read through the majority of posts on this thread, I simply have to know.

What sort of of genetic marker is present in a person who enjoys killing small rodent type animals?

I understand how destructive they can be, but if the truth were told here, how can you kill a critter that's just doing what generations of this same critter has been doing for centuries, long before men and their cattle came on the scene?

Can't you folks work on finding a more humane way of controlling prairie dogs than shooting them for sport?

I've never been a hunter, don't have the constitution required to kill living things. But I understand those who hunt for meat a lot better than those who hunt for the sheer joy of killing another living creature.

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What kind of genetic marker is present in a person who will pay money to watch people get into a ring and beat the dog out of each other, and say that it's a great sport? or say it's wrong to kill an animal, yet support abortion? Say it's wrong to drink, yet ok to smoke dope? Demand the constitutional right of free speech to degrade anothers right to exercise an admendment of the same constitution? How can some believe that whatever they agree to is Ok but whatever they disagree with is wrong? Why do some always want to control the freedom of others to pursue the life style they wish? The list can go on and on. Bottom line is; People have a right to choose what they like to do. Just because you don't like it doesn't make it wrong, (that is, as long as it's lawful).