SmallCaliberCentral

Anyone ever hunt on a reservation? Where? and how was it?

I was looking at going to Ft Belknap around Zortmen, MT, or maybe Rosebud in SD, or the Cheyenne River in SD

I did it once near Winner, SD. Never again.

Before I get started, I need to make a disclaimer. Take my comments with a grain of salt, because they're all based on ONE experience with ONE "guide" over a three-day period. Get more feedback from others and then decide what is right for you.

In my experience, the reservation land had lots of prairie dogs but they faced a tremendous amount of pressure. The dogs had been shot at so much that anything inside of 300 yards immediately dove for cover when a human or vehicle came into view and they very rarely came back up. It only got worse when the guns came out and the shooting started. Suffice it to say we spent our days taking very looooong shots. Keep in mind, this was the first few days of June so I wasn't hunting at the end of the season. I quickly got the impression that all local "guides" took people to the same places to shoot the same dogs over and over and over. Our "guide" was a nice enough guy, but he put zero effort into the hunt. He simply escorted us around the area and either slept or took off and came back later to check in.

I would focus my efforts on private land. With some effort and determination, you'll likely find places to go that offer superior shooting and zero "guide" fees.

My experience on the Ft. Belnap Reservation during the Cornett Prairie Dog Conference back around 2000 was very similar to Mike's. Our "guide" may have been the same guy, as his drill was indentical to Mike's guy. We did shoot alot of dogs in four different areas while there over the course of the 'conference', but for my time and money, I'll only shoot private land if I'm gunning for prairie dogs. All the guided PD hunts I've been on were all vastly superior to my reservation experience, and that includes a shoot I attended on the Rosebud in SD (many silly restrictions not found on private land).

As a shooter of rock chucks, ground hogs, prairie dogs and ground squirrels over the years, I've found that my very best shooting is right here at home on ground squirrels. As many rimfire or centerfire shots as you care to take in a day, the critters are much more stupid, in that they'll stay up above ground even during the most intense shooting sessions. Plus the wind here seldom gets over 20mph compared to blows so hard out on the open prairie that your sunshade will end up in the next zip code. There are outfitters/guides here that offer the same shooting opportunities, but with a much more target-rich environment with better environmental conditions. Our own tt35 (Tim) here on the 204um runs just such an operation here in Oregon.

Private land with a cooperative landowner is your best bet from my experience on PD's.

There is an Indian reservation fee, a state fee and you have to pay a guide to be with you. We did not shoot there. Best to look for private property. The land owners were very nice to us when we asked. If they had some, they were willing to let you shoot them. Very nice people there.