Re: Baiting Prairie Dogs
Laws vary on the different reservations, depending on several factors. Most if not all the reservations in South Dakota are soveriegn nations albeit dependent soveriegn nations, and the laws there are jurisdictional nightmares. If you are non native, the Tribal Law enforcement has no jurisdiction over you. However, if you break the law on Indian land, they can refer the matter to US Fish and Game and you may very well end up in federal court. If a tribal officer caches you breaking the law on state (non Indian) land inside the exterior boundary of the reservation, they can detain you for the county sheriff or state game officer, who will be happy to ticket you or arrest you as appropriate. Also, some counties cross designate and give authority to tribal officers, to make matter more confusing.
If you are going to hunt on or near tribal land, be abolutely sure you know where you are at, who own the land and that you are licensed properly. If you hunt the reservations, the regulations change with the reservation and some require guides. The quality of the guides vary from outstanding to awful (as with most things in life). A lot of the reservations in SoDak have huge P dog populations, but they are high crime, high unemployment, high levels of alcohol and drug abuse and you do have to pay attention to your surrounding, to include watching out for drunk drivers as each year a significant numbers of vehicular homicides occur on the reservations there. Some of the poorest counties in the US are the reservations in Sodak. As a matter of fact, Buffalo county, which is the Crow Creek Reservation, is the poorest county in the United States.
The Varmint Hunters Association in Fort Pierre, SD is a huge resource as well the classified ads in the back of their magazine used to list reputable guides. Also, Teton River Traders is a great gun shop in Fort Pierre and may be able to point out where to go.
Sorry, got a little off topic.