Montana Prairie Dogs

A

akpls

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This past fall I had the opportunity to take my 11 y.o. son to Namibia with me on a hunt. As a concession to his 9 y.o. brother I agreed to take him on a hunt anywhere in the states that he wanted to go (when we could again afford it after Namibia!)). He has decided that he would like to go to Montana and chase the elusive prairie dog with his .17 HMR so I'm looking for some ideas to get started planning this trip. I noticed that there a few advertisers in Varmint Hunter Magazine that are located in central Montana that have lodging and claim they will assist with licenses, permits, etc. We're not looking for anything big and fancy - just something where we can get out and see the countryside, shoot a few pd's and just do the father/son thing.
 
You dont need a permit for varmits here in MT,if you are looking for a do it urself trip you might want to consider the eastern part of the state and stay in a town near a bunch of public ground like Jordan MT,not only that you will find most of the land owners in that area very willing to grant you access for PD shooting.You could also try some coyote calling while you are there.
 
I made my first trip to MT for pdogs this spring. I took a while to find the P-dogs but we did. Early spring is also a great time to shoot ground squirrels (or gophers as the locals call them). Ranchers were more than willing to let you on their property and blast away. You want to do this early spring (first few weeks of May) before the grass gets too high. This might be good for the youngster to get alot of good shooting in before you go after the Pdogs. I did use my 17hmr on Pdogs but it would just roll them off the mound pretty as a picture. No lift off without a rimfire. Three of us sat in one place for 45 minutes shooting gophers with 10/22's a blaze'n. Lots of fun. Go anywhere in MT and you'll find gohpers. This will give you a chance to find out where the Pdogs are at.
 
Just a note on the Montana Prairie Dogs. I'm planning a trip there with a friend this year and have read in the regulations that Montana prairie dog hunting is closed on "all federal land" from March 1st Through May 31st. Private land is open year round with the landowners permission. If I am mistaken on this, feel free to correct me.
 
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Many moons ago we bought one of the DeLorme atlas books to go dog shooting with. Every time we found a good town we'd mark it in the book. SInce there's no such thing as only shooting dogs once, it ends up being a big help year to year
 
You can shoot pd's here all year round except on national forest lands, it is closed in the winter. Not sure what the dates are on that. Miles City and surrounding areas is a good place to go to also.
 


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