P-dogs are hibernating

Arizonahunter

Arizonahunter

New member
This weekend my friend and I went out looking for praire dogs off RT 66, and all of them were hibernating already! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif Just recently I had read that Gunnison dogs hibernate and even though the temp may be 60-70, they apparently go by the angle of the sun or something like that and close up for the winter. All the mounds had dirt pulled back over the holes.

We did see a black footed ferret(off limits in AZ) and lots off crows eating on a dead cow. But nothing else.

Well, I guess it's time to start calling coyotes again and hunt some quail.
 
Ahhh, must be time to load for next season. Or go out and buy that new rifle and work up some loads. Ah, the down time. What to do ????
 
They definitely are hibernating, or heading south for the winter, or taking a dirt nap /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-006.gif

I went out sunday, and didn't even empty a full mag. They just were not showing themselves. Oh well, time to run off a batch of ammo for next year, and maybe get that new upper for the AR.
 
Not in this lifetime. I'm looking out the window and most of the ones I'm seein must have missed the memo about hibernating.
In two weeks I'll go shoot all the ones that hang around during the late season deer hunting. In between pheasant hunting of course.
 
Well, there are three or four kinds of PD's around here. Gunnisons are deep hibernators, white-tails have interrupted dormancy, and black-tails just get "sluggish" in winter. The Utah's have been shot at so much you can't tell if they're hibernating or just afraid to come out. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Yep the white tailed pdogs were out last weekend here. I saw quite a few while calling. I shot about ten at the end of the day just to check my zero and help out the landowner a little. Missed a coyote needed a little confidence builder.
 
AZ hunter, I would be out watching that cow carcass and waiting for ol' wiley to show up. They love beef on the bone. I wacked one IN a carcass once, what a blast. They eat from the Poo end up into the rib cavity and I saw the 'yote go in and get some more rib steaks so I blasted him thru the skin, left him lay next to the cow. (Am in FL now on business trip so will post pix later.)
 
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They're not hibernating, they're all dead!! Didn't you know? The Animal Defense League of Arizona says they've all been killed off, so it must be true, right? http://www.adlaz.org/programs/prairiedogs/



From the articles, I think the more correct term is they have been "exterpated". I'm such a hick I had to go to the dictionary to understand that $5 word. Does that mean I'm an "exterpator"? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Tom - I know they are not ALL dead....just some. Besides out at my sister pasture they piled up a huge mound of dirt to bury the old house that was there. We're thinkin that before they push the pile over this would get us 25-30 feet above the ground. Sweet vantage point for those pesky dogs that you can't see in the roughage below you.
 
SKB, the article I was quoting was about prairie dogs in Arizona. Now, here in CO we still have a few PD's above ground. Especially, here in Boulder Cty. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
NASA - I'm thinkin that "interupted dormancy" sounds pretty good...how do I get that gig ?

I know the whitetailed ones do some kind of hibernating...but the city pds around here never do. Between here and my gym there are dozens of mini colonies that are active 365 as long as they have sun.
 
Black tailed prairie dogs in New Mexico don't hibernate. They'll stay in thier holes when the weather is bad, but pick a sunny day with not much wind and they'll be out just like they are in the summer. Here, they had a run of the plague and the towns for miles around just ceased to exist. They were there one week, and the next week they were just gone.
 
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they had a run of the plague and the towns for miles around just ceased to exist.




The same thing recently happened in SW Kansas. That danged plague does more damage than shooters ever could. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif
 
When I lived in Colorado we saw prairie dogs every month of the year but less in November through March. Any sunny and relatively warm day they were likely to be out and I lived in the MOUNTAINS!!!

Somebody might have poisoned them. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

$bob$
 
There are still plenty running around here in South Dakota! This year I am going to shoot from April to August to try to limit their expansion.

I have heard some places are really poisioning a lot of dogs.
 
3 weeks ago, my buddy and I went to what more than likely was the exact same area you went to and didn't see a single pdog. We had planned a 4 day spree taking thurs and friday off from work, we came home 2 days early /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
When i'm out in the winter hunting coyotes west of where i live i see P-D out dureing the after-noon soaking up the warm sun rays. Anytime temp is above 32 they will be out..
 


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