South Dakota Prairie Dogs

grizzly204

New member
Has anyone shots dogs on any of the reservations in SD. I am planning a trip this spring and wasn't sure which one to go to. I see that one reservation required a guide. Lower Brule looks pretty good to me. Any experienced help would be great. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
 
welcome first time poster - can't help you with the SD pds but I am sure that others have some ideas. It may be worth your time and money to consider paying the first time out to save all the time looking/driving. Some guys go on a DYI trip and spend very little money beyond the normal expenses and some guys will spend a couple hundred bucks a day for guaranteed shooting. Kinda depends on how you feel about spending money.

I'm so tight friends think I sell birds....cheep cheep cheep. So I have no interest in paying but thats a whole nother deal.
 
You might want to make contact with someone from their department of wildlife/conservation units... I was just advised this morning by a rancher in SE Montana that the dreaded plague had hit his ranch and almost all the PDs were wiped out. He has restricted any hunting for the next three years to allow them to rebuild...

Since he charges $150 per night for Food, Lodging, and transportation on the ranch,,, That's quite a bit of income he's shutting off.. Our group of 4 was looking at 4-5 days there...

At the price of fuel, ammo, etc, you don't want to make a trip up there and find everything gone..

We experienced roughly the same thing in SE Colorado two years ago. While it didn't hit the ranch where we go as hard as two others we have access to, the other two were desolate as far as the PDs were concerned.
 
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I've been going out to SD for a few years now. Every time its been Rosebud. Prior to last year its been pretty good, never had to move very far to shoot all day. Though we have had to have a guide to hunt. Luckily its been with someone my father in law met 6 or 7 years ago. This last year was a waste. All our good areas were completely devoid of dogs. Some fields that had thousands of mounds and dogs were overgrown and had very few dogs. We had to try a ton of new spots and had spotty luck. On the way back to Mission we noticed a flatbed trailer with 4 wheelers on it. No big deal right? WELLLL, the 4 wheelers had liquid tanks on the back and you know what was in the tanks, you guessed it POISON. I guess they were hitting a lot of the areas real hard and it showed. You used to drive West out of Mission and see areas by the road that were huge prairie dog towns and now they are empty. Our guide that we know acted puzzled by the whole thing but I'm sure he knew before we got there. He even knew what kind of poison was in the tanks. We are going back again but we did some scouting West and East of Mission and hopefully we'll have better luck. Might try off reservation land this time. But Rosebud in the past has been great.

FINNISHem
 
It has been three years since I was last on the Rosebud. It was fantastic then. You might check with some local guides.

At $3.00/gal, you don't want to waste a trip.
 
It can be good. the guide situation can make or break the rosebud PD action.

Whatever you do, don't let the guide leave you alone. there is a very stiff penalty associated with that.

And don't let him leave you with his unlicensed kid brother. Same penalty.

there is a list of guides on the rosebud site. rstgfp/hunting I think. google it for correct URL.

HM
 
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Whatever you do, don't let the guide leave you alone. there is a very stiff penalty associated with that.

HM


Wrong! All you need to know is the name of your guide and how to get a hold of him, preferably by cell phone.
 
For the last couple of years I have been going to Elkhart, KS and drifting over into Colorado to shoot PD'S. Last year was the worst year yet. They blamed it on the plaque.....looking to go to Neb this year or into OK....
 
Sam, My partner just about got arrested because the guide left him with his younger brother and a cellphone number.

The only thing that saved him was the guide had done the same thing a couple years before while working with the game warden who was then a guide.

This warden was burning to give a ticket and only some very fast talking stopped it. He was very emphatic on the fact that not having the guide with you was a violation.

Check the rules, better be safe than sorry.

HM
 
The plague comes here about every 7 years and wipes out our prairie dog towns. In about 2 to 3 years the dogs return in number and build to a max level in about 4 or 5 years and we begin the cycle all over again. Currently the ranchers are really hitting the dogs here with poison oat baits in an attempt to put a hurt on the prairie dogs before they are listed as an endangered species and cannot be poision or shot. Its a strange twist of fate for the prairie dogs piror to the endangered species talk the ranchers pretty much let them alone. The shooting and even some piosioning helps to prevent plague infestation in my opinion. I shot a few dogs two weeks ago when I noticed they had come out early from their burrows.
 
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Sam, My partner just about got arrested because the guide left him with his younger brother and a cellphone number.

The only thing that saved him was the guide had done the same thing a couple years before while working with the game warden who was then a guide.

This warden was burning to give a ticket and only some very fast talking stopped it. He was very emphatic on the fact that not having the guide with you was a violation.

Check the rules, better be safe than sorry.

HM


I go every year and was in Rosebud last year shooting without the guide with me. A reservation game warden stopped to talk and only asked me who my guide was. Maybe it depends on the guide and where he is??
 
I have hunted Lower Brule the last two years. It was my first PD shoot a few years ago and it was a Do it yourseld hunt. A great experience. Call the Lower Brule Game Fish and Parks and get a map of the area and the land tenets and start calling. PM me if you want more specifics.
 
Lucky Sam...........

REGULATIONS
Resolution 2000-150 was effective 01/01/01 and states that all non-member hunters who harvest or attempt to harvest wildlife species, on all trust lands on the Rosebud Reservation, are required to have a registered Rosebud Sioux Tribal Member Guide.

Guide must be present or within a reasonable distance to be determined by conservation officer.

Taken from The tribe's website.

You dodged the bullet.

HM
 
HM,

Sounds to me that your guide was at fault by leaving the area or leaving an unlicensed person with you. The warden probably knew that he was doing this and was watching him.

Sam
 
You are correct. The guide left and his younger brother stayed.

The warden used to be a guide, and this guy had been left(by the warden who was then a guide) with someone on a prior occasion. When the gude reminded the warden of this, he decided not to issue a citation.

The hard fact is that you can get written up if the guide is not with you.

I would not take a chance on this since there is no gray area in the rule.

Rosebud denizens have been known to occasionally display attitude.

HM
 
Rosebud is great. If you pay the guide he should stay with you. In reality if he leaves you alone he is the one who broke his tribal laws set by his tribal gov't which by the way have no jurisdiction over non federally recognized people, white or Indian. The only way they could prosecute is if you show up at court and just pay the fine, otherwise they would have to call the FBI who has jurisdiction over non Indians on federal Indian lands, which is not one of their things they would pursue. The guide leaving someone alone is in the wrong not the hunter and the tribal laws pertain to him. They cannot call state or county law enforcement because they have no jurisdiction on Indian lands. So if you paid him he should remain with you. Most of the Rosebud tribal game wardens are ok and get along well with others. The tribe makes a good bit of money from hunters taht are not tribal mbrs.
 
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