Az Prairie dogs
 

I Live in Arizona and have been wanting to do some varminting. i looked into prairie dogs but they werent in the regs. any advice?

RE: Az Prairie dogs
 

they are listed in the regs you just didnt look hard enough. they are listed under "Other birds & Mammals". the season is open from july 1, 2005 to june 30, 2006 im assuming the season is the same every year but... we should be gettng new regs here soon. hunting is open state wide except for units 7m, 37m, 39m and 42m. you have to have a general hunt licsence or combination hunt & fish licsence. in Maricopa county parks you are restricted to shotguns and archery only. The rest of the state you can use anything rifle, handgun, rimfire, shotgun, archery and traps just remember semi automatic center fire rifles are restricted to a 5 round magazine.

With the lack of moisture this year the populations are gonna be extremely low I would recommend good sportsman ethics and not hunt them untill populations get a chance to come back. But if you do decide to hunt them anyway they are gonna be real hard to find, earlier this year when we had a little more moisture I took several trips to saligman which is a hot P-dog area and only shot 1 to 2 a trip. since its been so dry I havent been back. maybe this fall will be better after the monsoons.

2 weeks ago a friend of mine went to wyoming for a P-dog hunt, he left with his AR and 2 cases of .223. when I saw him after he got back he had a S%#t eatin grin from ear to ear and said next time I have to go with him. he said he shot almost all his ammo and nailed atleast 500 p-dogs. I wish p-dog hunting in arizona was 1/3 that good. someday if we ever get out of this drought it will be just like wyoming here.

RE: Az Prairie dogs
 

on another note have you thought about coyotes? the populations are sky high I kill atleast 6 a month just in my front yard. they get into my chicken and herass my neighbors goats.

RE: Az Prairie dogs
 

Wow id love to live where the yotes were as thick as that we have them here in good numbers but not extremely high numbers.....

RE: Az Prairie dogs
 

for some reason the coyotes do really good even in real dry climate, they do have plenty to eat, small animals and birds weakened from dehydration is a good and easy food source for them also peoples trash. The coyotes also have no problem getting water like the smaller critters do, last week I caught one drinking from my neighbors above ground pool it climbed up the ladder and stuck its head in the pool and proceeded to drink from it. was pretty cool to watch but goes to show you how resourceful coyotes are and why they seem to thrive in the drought while other animals populations seem to deminish.

RE: Az Prairie dogs
 

yes

RE: Az Prairie dogs
 

Highdesertwolf,

I'm looking to come down and shoot some P-dogs this fall. Care to hook up for some shooting? I'm in Vegas.

Mike.