Conference vmsnet::hunting$note:hunting

    
    Check out note 657.5 there is a discussion of this there.
    
                                Walt

    This is the only note I could find with a title that had anything to do
    with prairie dogs, and this isn't really relative to hunting but I
    thought you guys would get a kick out of this. 
    
    In Sunday's Telegram and Gasette (Worcester Ma.) there was an article
    about a guy somewhere in the southwest that was "vacuuming" prairie dogs 
    for a living. That's right vacuuming them. For a fee, if you had a lot 
    that you wanted to build on and it was infested with the little critters
    he would come out and vacuum them out for you. He converted an old septic
    truck into a giant vacuum cleaner. The dogs are sucked up through a 4.5 in. 
    hose and are fed through a padded deflector into the tank. This supposedly
    doesn't hurt them but dazes them for a while. On one particular job he
    sucked up about 50 dogs in about an hour and a half. He said that when
    he checked in the tank the little guys were already socializing and
    setting up house in the dirt that got sucked up with them. 
    
    He said it came to him in a dream one night so he decided to give it a go.
    The F&G dept. guy, I think it was in Arizona, said he almost fell down
    laughing when he first heard about it but that they business was getting
    pretty popular (especially amonst the tree huggers--my comment). The guy
    said there were no poisons or gasses used on the dogs. He relocates them,
    usually on Federal land. They said that only in the case that there was 
    nowhere to relocate them would they consider extermination of the tank
    full of dogs. The guy said that he thought this method would satisfy the
    animal-rights activists since he wasn't killing the dogs. I'd be willing
    to bet that they will probably come up with some sort of protest 'cause it
    causes "undue stress on the poor little furry animals".
    
    Well I just thought you guys would get a kick out of this. 
    
    Cowboy

	Cowboy, I really enjoyed that story about the prairie-dog
	vacuumer as well, especially the title in VNS: "Dog-Gone"!
	Or what about the place where the guy is quoted as: "it
	is quite a ride" for the little furry creatures through the
	tube and down the tank.... If nobody beats me to it, I'll
	enter the entire thing from VNS - although you have already
	got most of it! Big laugh in any event! :-)

						- Mike

    Boy, that buisness must suck.
    
    
    Jeff

    In addition...
    
      If anyone in the NH area would like to see/pet a real live prairie
    dog, and do some Archery shopping too :-), stop in at D&B Archery in
    Manchester. I went in about 3 weeks ago, and behind the counter right
    next to his woodstove is his pet prairie dog, stretched right out on
    his belly (like some dogs do when they "stretch") on the floor,
    sleeping and soaking in the heat from the stove! What a riot! Later
    on I heard a commotion behind his arrow boxes. Seems the little guy
    has "favorite spots" all through the shop and takes any paper and whatnot
    that he finds and hauls it into his cubby holes, chews it up, and 
    makes nests...
    
      These animals are "neat" :-)  I wouldn't mind owning one myself! ;-)
    
    Joe 

    
    re the alst few..
    
    
    	Well, at the end of the VNS article, the guy stated that he is
    	looking into the possibility of exporting the 'dogs to Japan to be
    	used as pets!  You might want to try and contat him to see about 
    	having some shipped this way....
    
    	Chuck
    

    I got a dollar sez them 'pets' end up in the soup >;?)