Prairie Dogs, are looming on extinction?

[Lightning Ross]

funniest thing I ever saw was a video of a PD vacuum.It was for sucking out the pds and relocating them. The vacuum was so powerful that you could see the pds splat against the big drum chamber through the observation window.Not many survived the impact. Back to the drawing board .

 

[morcey2]

funniest thing I ever saw was a video of a PD vacuum.It was for sucking out the pds and relocating them. The vacuum was so powerful that you could see the pds splat against the big drum chamber through the observation window.Not many survived the impact. Back to the drawing board .

"Relocating" is a very broad term. It just means, "They ain't here any more, are they?" We have a three species of prairie dogs here in Utah. Gunnison, White-tailed, and Utah. The Utah prairie dogs are listed as Threatened so they can't be hunted, but the other two can outside of the breeding season. One of the ironies of the Utah prairie dog is that a colony has taken over one of the golf courses in southern Utah. They can't kill them, but they move right back in after being relocated. They've started building a fence around the course that extends 4' (or so) underground to keep them from burrowing back in. I have no idea if they used the PD Vacuum as part of the "relocation", but somehow I doubt it.

Matt

 

[gamestalker]

I have zillions of them around my house, but I have had to resort to using a pellet gun, I don't want my neighbors getting nervous about a high powered rifle. They don't mind me using a shotgun, but some how that just isn't as much fun as a scoped weapon from long distance.

GS

 

[coloradokevin]

I know I'm not seeing quite as many as I was a couple of years ago, but I suspect it's a localized problem, driven in large part by plague. I can't say I've read many studies on this subject, but I'm not seeing as many around in my usual stomping grounds.

There was a news article the other day about a plague-infested colony near Boulder, CO. I also know that I haven't been seeing p-dogs around at the place where I typically shoot. It's a private land location, where there was once a shooting club. Back when the club was active (until about two or three years ago) the members often shot the members of this colony, which was conveniently located down the rifle range. Despite lots of shooting pressure that colony always thrived (admittedly the shots were usually 500-750 yards, so there weren't a ton of folks who were skilled/equipped enough to plink those dogs). Anyway, despite the area hardly seeing more than a couple of riflemen per week these days, I haven't seen much in the way of prairie dogs all summer. The grass is growing back where the colony was, though the holes are still there. I suspect plague killed many of them, because there's nothing else out there that would have likely wiped them out.

 

[Stony]

I really wonder about all the statistics that fly around about numbers of animals and percentages of increases and declines. Just who thinks up these things? Given the geographics of the situation there is no way any of these could be counted.
I read about the hogs and whitetails here in Texas and there are numbers quoted daily with no basis to back them up. I manage some rural properties for a man where we fight the hogs and feed the deer on a daily basis and yet I have to apply for permits to lower doe populations from the Park and Wildlife division in the southern part of the state. These people have never set foot on the properties (thank god)...yet they determine how many deer you have and how many need to be taken for good management.
I guess if statistics are printed in a newspaper we are just supposed to accept them as truth!

 

[Art Eatman]

Stony, TP&WD does local-area surveys and then the data goes to some central point; one or more, I don't know. So the physical location as a source for info has little to do with the actual survey.

In western Texas, they use choppers to fly grids for the surveys. Austin HQ then sends press releases to various newspapers in the pertinent areas.

 

[Stony]

What exactly is a local area survey? And how could a survey determine the amount of animals present on a parcel without actual knowledge of the parcel?

 

[jrdolall]

It is certainly an educated guess about animal populations. They can tell me how many deer "should be" on my property in Alabama but even an aerial survey would give you absolutely no information because it is completely wooded other than hay fields. I know it's not perfect, and probably not even close in many instances, but they have to start somewhere.

 

[T.R.]

During the Clinton years, prairie dog towns were poisoned out by ranchers who had previously tolerated these rodents. Clinton had talked about protecting the black footed ferret which was reputed to live within "dog towns". Having an endangered ferret on your land was considered a liability to ranching operations - I don't blame them.

TR

 

[robhof]

robhof

My wife's kin are in South Dakota, Murdo to be exact, and every time I've been there there's PD's to spare and years of shooting and poisoning haven't made a dent in their population. Shooting has created a new feeding ritual for eagles and hawks that are attracted to shooting at mounds and quick feeding frenzy as soon as the shooting stops, witnessed that event on last 2 trips.

 

[Ankeny]

The numbers are way down around here. There is only a small fraction of the numbers we had 7-10 years ago. Illness, drought, and poison grain by the ton have eliminated p-dogs by the thousands. That said, my brother and I shot 200-300 of them last Saturday.

 

[Davek1977]

In our neck of the woods, a massive prairie dog die-off would be welcomed with open arms. While very few of them on the family ranch, the neighbor across the fence apparently has no interest whatsoever in controlling them, making keeping them from becoming established on our land a continual chore. If you could see the difference from one side of the fence to the other, the pure destructive nature of the critters would be VERY apparent! One sie is well manged pastureland, the other has zero grass and is comprised of nothing but a blowing dirt desert full of holes and mounds every few feet, covering several hundred acres of land. How ANYONE would let quality pasture succomb to such destruction is beyond me. Knowing the man in question, its not that hes a conservationist trying to save them from extinction....he simply doesnt want to pay the cost of keeping them in check or outright eliminating them. Such unneighborly neighbors are a hazard of living in rural areas

 

[mquail]

funniest thing I ever saw was a video of a PD vacuum.It was for sucking out the pds and relocating them. The vacuum was so powerful that you could see the pds splat against the big drum chamber through the observation window.Not many survived the impact. Back to the drawing board .

About a dozen years ago a guy stopped by my farm in SD. He was from Wessington, SD. Anyway he'd bought himself a septic truck. He was sucking dogs out of their holes with it. He'd replaced the hose with one he could see through so he'd know when a dog was sucked up. I have no idea what he did with them and didn't think to ask at the time. In fact I wasn't even sure he was telling me the truth so I just let him talk.

 

[silicosys4]

Doubt they are endangered. They are selling them over here in Wa. as pets. Wouldn't do that if they were endangered.

Now you know where those vacuumed prarie dogs went. There is a large market growing for them as pets for.......$300 each. I kid you not. it's an "exotic".
My friends got one
Cute little bugger. Very affectionate and social. Makes me almost feel bad for the ones I zap in Montana while I'm there visiting family. Almost.

Lol, septic truck driver is asking..."who's laughing now"

 

[Airman Basic]

The little critters ever figure out how to bore through cement and asphalt, they'll be some mean mothers then!