Does anyone know of at least one single prairie dog town anywhere near central or southern california? I know of none. And no of no one that knows of one. Even the local varmint club does not know of one. Which I am a member of. We just hit yotes and bobcats. But I would love to find a dog town.

Anyone know of one?

Uhhhh, prairie dogs don't live west of the Continetal Divide as far as I know. Are you perhaps talking about ground squirrels? Ground squirrels don't really live in towns but you can find some heavy concentrations of them near hay fields. I just shot a bunch of them last week as a side on a pig hunt. We were on a cattle ranch in San Benito. Squirrels and jack rabbits galore. Not that many pigs!

NoCal

Embalmer;

For ground squirrels, although it is in NE Calif, in Modoc County, Cedarville and Ft. Bidwell have more ground squirrels than you can count. After the shooting gets heavy, you will also have a lot of opportunities if you want to shoot crows or seagulls that are feeding on the carcuses of the dead ground squirrels.

Both are located off of highway US 395 in Modoc County, CA.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by seafire:

After the shooting gets heavy, you will also have a lot of opportunities if you want to shoot crows or seagulls that are feeding on the carcuses of the dead ground squirrels.


Those crows are ravens. Ravens and seagulls are protected species in Kalifornia. Don't get caught.

Ground squirrels on public land are getting pretty hard to find. There was a pretty good population on Fort Hunter-Ligget, but I don't know if you can hunt them anymore. There are alot of them living on private land, but the hard part is getting permission to hunt there.

[ 07-15-2003, 03:27: Message edited by: Fjold ]

we will be heading up 395 to Independence and Big Pine to hunt Yotes here in the up coming weeks. Any idea how far Modoc County is from Inyo?

At least six hours, probably more like eight.

Embalmer:

All I can tell you on a map is that you are in very North east California up there. 20 miles south of Oregon and about 10 miles east to Nevada.

Don't know where Inyo is, but my folks live in Truckee during the summer. It is a good 4 hours north of there going via Reno and 395 to Susanville and then up 395 to Alturas and then on up toward Lakeview Oregon.

However about in 2 weeks they all go back into hybernation again. They are usually out from March to August first or so.

In Lakeview Oregon, in May, just using my CZ 452 22LR, I shot about 1100 + in a 400 acre alfalfa field. and there were millons more. That was in 2 days. had to stop because my eyes squinting thru the scope was giving me a headache. and my trigger finger was sore ( not complaining, just stating fact).

Good luck.

[ 07-15-2003, 11:09: Message edited by: seafire ]

Sorry, I was mistaken. Dogs do live west of the Divide just not in CA! Inyo County and Modoc while both on Hwy 395 are about 6 hours from each other. As mentioned, public land ground squirrels are tough to find. Better to find a field full of them and ask the farmer permission. Usually it's not a problem. If you find an alfalfa field in Inyo county there will probably be some ground squirrels. Finding the farmer who owns it might be more difficult.

NoCAL

Go out to the California City alfalfa fields. The jackrabbits run in herds around the irrigated fields. Very easy to shoot and there's thousands of them.
Mad`

I found this topic sort of interesting.

As has been stated, there are no prairie dogs found in California except in zoos. (Unless some fool has one for a pet.)

I found it more than a little entertaining when Brian Pierce wrote up a big article on shooting varmints and claimed he shot a bunch of prairie dogs near Tracy, CA. Well, I can only imagine he was shooting ground squirrels. The article was in Rifle or Handloader and I cannot imagine that the editor would not have caught this mistake.

I sent them an e-mail explaining their mistake, but they never even bothered to respond. In another article later on Brian again mentioned shooting prairie dogs in California. I usually think his writing is pretty good, but on this subject he does not know what he is talking about.

I have lived in California all my life and go to great extermes to shoot everything I can in this state. I shoot lots of ground squirrels, rabbits, coyotes, dove, quail, deer, bears, hogs, etc. If there were any prairie dog hunting around here I would be glad to hear of it. I have driven clear to Utah, Wyoming, and South Dakota to shoot prarie dogs.

R F

RF,
I also saw that Brian Pierce article and I was scratching my head wondering if I've been missing out on something. But no, it is true there are no prairie dogs in California. I've seen hay fields with so many squirrels you'd think the ground was moving but never a prairie dog!

NoCAL

Here's one of them Kalifornia prairie dogs!

This one was bagged east of the Pacific. And don't forget to bring your silencer , one would not want to upset the cows now! Got milk?

[ 07-18-2003, 08:14: Message edited by: MtnHtr ]

Can you tell me about this varmint huntin' club and where it is. I'm here in 29 Palms and would love a new place or 3 to hunt.

Call 626-284-1057 and ask for Carlos or Bill. Carlos is the treasurer and Bill is the pres of the club. It is a great bunch of guys. And our first hunt of the season/year is coming up in a week or so. Starting on the 25th of July to the 27th.

Come out here and trap a sackful of my prairie dogs and turn em loose in sunny California. Wont take long and they'll be everywhere. Ted Turner and Hanoi Jane were turning them loose all over NM just a few years ago, so it must be the PC thing to do.