GREEN RIVER, Wyo. — A group called the “Prairie Dog Posse” plans to hold its fifth annual prairie-dog- shooting contest on private land near Medicine Bow this weekend, but some conservationists say the state should ban such events.
The group’s website states that members are “a fun crowd who likes to dust prairie dogs from dawn to dusk.”
The group calls its annual event the “There Goes the Neighborhood” shooting contest.
Organizer Jim Bowman, a machinist from Kersey, said he formed the organization after last year’s hunt to promote the event and to provide a voice for prairie-dog shooters.
“I think we’re going to have a really good hunt this year,” Bowman. “And if we get some controversy out there, we’re ready to handle that, too. We’ll see what happens.”
Prairie-dog shooting generally involves using scoped rifles to shoot the rodents at long range.
Two years ago, organizers called off the event after being told by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management that they needed a recreation permit but that the BLM did not issue such permits for prairie-dog shoots. Participants still shot prairie dogs that year but did so on their own.
