Yes, Prairie Dog Hunting Guides Exist, And They Have A Robust Business

Hunting guides might be associated with adventurous quests for glorious big game animals such as elk, bears or moose — and not for those diminutive rodents, prairie dogs. 

However, there’s a robust niche market for people willing to pay a guide to take them to where the prairie dog towns are the thickest so they can blast away. 

Why Is Prairie Dog Shooting Popular?

Guided big game hunts are about seeking one trophy-sized animal. 

Prairie dog hunting is about getting in as much shooting as possible. It’s not so much hunting in the traditional sense, as it is live target practice and varmint control. 

Prairie dog shooters leave the carcasses where they fall, as they generally aren’t regarded as a game meat source. 

There are some rare exceptions. South Dakota resident Gerald Jasmer told Cowboy State Daily that he’s tried prairie dog meat, and thinks that it’s pretty good eating. 

Many ranchers regard prairie dogs as pests because they eat crops, and livestock animals can break their legs in prairie dog holes. 

Prairie dogs are also known to carry diseases, including the bubonic plague. 

Proponents of prairie dog shooting say they’re doing ranchers a favor and cutting down on the spread of disease. 

Others argue that prairie dogs fill an important ecological niche and shouldn’t be slaughtered. In some places in the West, prairie dog towns are protected and shooting isn’t allowed. 

Leaving prairie dog carcasses out has raised concerns about eagles and other wildlife getting lead poisoning from bullet fragments in the carcasses. 

There have been efforts to get hunters to switch to lead-free ammunition. 

Gay Balfour of Cortez, Colorado, told Cowboy State Daily that he found an alternative way to remove prairie dogs from places they’re not wanted — sucking them out of the ground with a gigantic truck-mounted vacuum.  

Client Base

Shawn Fricke, the owner/operator of Weston-based Skyline Outfitters, said many of his prairie dog hunt clients are “older men from the Midwest.” 

They might have gone prairie dog shooting on their own when they were younger but grew frustrated with trying to find choice spots on private property on their own, Fricke told Cowboy State Daily.  

“They just want to come out and burn (gun) powder,” he said. “Most of them are gun nuts. They’ll have 20 rifles in the back of their truck and thousands of rounds.”

Multiple rifles might sound excessive. But high-volume shooting can heat up a rifle’s barrel enough to damage it. So, it’s smart to switch between guns, giving rifles time to cool off. 

South Dakota, Prairie Dog Capital

Willie Dvorak founded Jim River Guide Service in South Dakota. He takes clients on brown bear and moose hunts in Alaska. But he also does brisk business guiding prairie dog shoots in his home state. 

South Dakota is a target-rich environment. 

“They claim that South Dakota has more prairie dogs than all of the other states combined. I don’t know that for sure, I’ve never counted them all,” he told Cowboy State Daily.

Dvorak said he gets prairie dog hunt clients from all over the U.S. as well as from other countries. Most of his foreign clients come from Canada, Mexico, Australia and England, he said. 

“It’s interesting that people would travel that far just to go prairie dog hunting,” Dvorak said. 

People enjoy the “high volume” of shooting involved, he said. 

Many of his clients are people who were initially drawn to South Dakota for the pheasant hunting. 

But then decided that prairie dog hunting is more fun than hiking for miles to get perhaps only a few shots at birds, he said.  

Advantages Of A Guide

Fricke and Dvorak said the biggest advantage to hiring a prairie dog hunting guide is being taken to just the right location.

Finding prime places to shoot can be frustrating, because many of the best prairie dog towns are on private land, they said. 

“We know where the dogs are, where the shooting is, and we have a lease set up with the rancher,” Fricke said.

In Wyoming, the prime prairie dog shooting season is Mid-May through mid-June, Fricke said. 

After that, it gets too hot for prairie dogs to be out much during the day. Plus, they’re wary from having already been shot at. And the grass has grown tall enough to make it difficult to pick out rodent targets at great distances, he added. 

Even so, some clients will still book prairie dog hunts in August or September, Fricke said. 

Dvorak said he guides prairie dog hunts from April to October. Prime time in South Dakota is July, “because it’s dry.”

Early in the season, it’s often rainy. However, he said the prairie dog towns he has access to are numerous and spread out over a wide area. 

“If there is a thunderstorm in one area, I can sidestep that thunderstorm and take my clients to a prairie dog town in another area,” he said. 

Fricke charges $375 per day per shooter for basic prairie dog hunts. 

The basic hunts are “semi-guided,” meaning that he’ll take clients out into the field and give them GPS coordinates to the best shooting spots, he said. Those are usually elevated hilltops overlooking vast prairie dog towns.

Dvorak charges $700 per day per shooter for a package deal including fully guided hunts, meals and lodging. 

Plague Hits

Prairie dogs are notorious carriers of the bubonic plague, which is why medical experts advise hunters against handling the carcasses of the animals they shoot. 

Left untreated the plague is fatal in humans. It also kills prairie dogs; sometimes severe outbreaks wipe out entire towns.

Fricke said one of his prairie dog hot spots was hit by the plague a couple of years ago, and the number of animals there plummeted. 

However, the prairie dog population has started to bounce back, so he’s hopeful the supply will again meet the demand for business.

Citing again the advantage of having many spots spread out across a wide area, Dvorak said when the plague hits one, there are numerous others to which he can take clients. 

Fricke said he started offering prairie dog hunts about 20 years ago, and there’s no end in sight.

“The client demand to hunt them is still there. I’m still getting two to three emails a day inquiring about prairie dog hunts,” he said.

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.