Was looking thru guides people recommend/hunted with.
Saw Blackfoot Outdoors mentioning, went to their website.
Found a "prairie dog" section. After reading Do/Don't decided to email them a question. Here is transcript:

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wrote:
Good afternoon,
I am wondering why semi-autos are not allowed. There are plenty of semi’s designed for long range engagements.
Please let me know,
Thank you,
Eugene
(• No AR-15's, AR-10's or any other semi-auto rifle )

From: Brian ******
To: *******
Subject: Re: Prairie dogs

Good afternoon, because I have been doing it for 8 years now and I have my reasons. Thank you, Brian

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Could you elaborate?
Not being a nuisance, just trying to respectfully understand.

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I got no reply...
Kinda was blown off.
Is he always like that?
My way or highway? No reasons, just take it or get outta here?

still puzzled.

I've hunted with Brian several time sand he is a great guy and runs a super operation. Yet I haven't hunted prairie dogs with his outfit but I'm sure he knows what is best for the hunting situation out there.

I have rules around my house. It's my house and my rules. I don't need a reason and a guest or potential guest has no right to question my rules.

This guide/outfitter has his reasons. If you don't like them, then by all means, go to another guide/outfitter. I'm betting that he took exception to your questioning of his rules and he doesn't want to argue about it. He doesn't know you and he doesn't owe you an explanation.

This is similar to my rules on my boat. My boat, my rules. Don't like it? Go find another boat. Simple as that. My rules are not open to discussion and I don't feel the need to explain why my rules are in place. I have my reasons.

I'm sure this guy feels the same.

no doubts he knows what he is doing, just wanted to figure out what his reasoning was. Got dismissed instead of answer.

Many ex-army guys shoot semi autos long range. Given that .223/5.56 is less likely to hit an overgrown hamster size target at 200 yards, but .308 will do that. And many "varmin" type bolt rifles come in the same .223.
What is the big difference? Barrel length? Long distance AR will have a "competition" type barrel anyway, 20" - 24".

Could be a lot of things.

Maybe the guys with AR's/semi-autos never picked up their brass.

Maybe guys shooting bolt guns are more concerned with that first shot accuracy, as oppossed to guys who know they have another 29 rounds to try and nail a groundhog with and end up blasting away.

Maybe he cant afford an AR and is sick of looking at all the latest tacticool guns.....

I don't see anything wrong with his response at all.
On my land the rules are my way or the highway.
There is exactly (0) zero zip zilch nada, aka no chance a discussion would take place or any explanations be given.

Like others have said its his operation and he doesnt want to be questioned. Maybe he is a busy guy just like the rest of us.

Personaly if it aint a 10/22 or a marlin model 60 and its semi auto it aint huntin at our place. You can shoot one and thats great, you can love them thats great, you can own them and I stand by your and my right too, they are plenty accurate and potent enough to cleanly kill game, thats great, but I just plain and simple dont care for them, neither does the old man so they dont come on our place, thats all.

I agree with all of you. It is his place and he sets the rules. I don't even like kids that you tell them something and they keep asking why.I don't allow bow hunting for deer. I had a guy kept asking why? Finally he said he would hunt with a rifle and by that time he had pi**ed me of and I told him no he could not hunt with me with anything.

So your saying I have to use fixed broad heads at your place? Why

. J/k

I've hunted with Brian myself. He did a first rate job on the P-dog shoot I went on with him. His high rig set-up worked pretty good too. I've hunted with a few p-dog guide services that would perfer you didn't use a semi-auto rifle as a p-dog gun. This is my personal believe of why the guide services do not like semi-auto guns. 1. The shooter will simply blast away at every p-dog in site, This will tend to make the p-dogs gun shy as they'll quickly adapt to the noise. 2. The guides will have to move you more frequently as you shoot out/scare off the p-dogs in the immediate area.

Good luck getting a date to shoot p-dogs with him too. He has a regular clientele that keep his p-dogs fields full. I tried for two years before I was able to get an opening to shoot with him. I would shoot with again and recommend him.

I undestand that is your rules. And there is NO REASON TO BE RUDE when somebody asking politely, not pressing own opinion onto guide or boat owner.
If you had bad or disrespectful customers in the past, not everybody is the same. Afterall we are in business to spend money and boat for rent owners are in business to make money. Rules are rules, but if your customer asking about them, you dont have to throw them overboard. IMHO. When I hunted with different outfitters, I always ask questions, check their rules andnever had issues with any of them, was always invited to come back. Though if somebody just blows me off "take it or get outta here" , there is plenty of boat charters who polite and respectful.

If I had to guess it might have something to do with 1). excessive brass 2) bad experiences with careless people i.e safety (a semi-auto rifle reloads itself and i can't tell you how many gun barrels I look down on a regular basis) 3)scaring game 4.) ricocette 5) maybe they have lifestock or other animals around and they dont want someone pulling the trigger as fast as they can and letting lead fly all over the sky. I worked for a ranch that banned 300 win mags for a while (not my call and I have nothing against a caliber of rifle) but we had alot of customers from "colder states" (not to shoot myself in the foot) that read in hunting magazing weekly that a 300 win mag was the number 1 deer rifle in the world, went to the range sighted it in (if they could bare to actually get it sighted in good) then come to Texas and couldn't hit the broadside of a barn because they were scared of their gun and would injure multiple deer and not tell us and just shoot till they eventually knocked one down. We solved this by requiring a range session before they hunted. But IMO he probably should have responded it's just the polite thing to do.

And that would be sufficient explanation. No fuss, just statement of past experience.

Thank you aoudadhunter !
When I go to somebody's ranch, especially if overnight stay is expected, I always ask if they have a "check" range, just to verify if all functions as expected. And it does not cost much, only 2-3 rounds, and then you sure your rifle shoots well, scope zeroed properly, nothing changed between now and 3 weeks ago you sighted in you rifle. And you guide can see that you can actually hit intended target and not the tree trunk 2yards to the side.

Personally I dont shoot 300 winmags. .308 is enough for all you can find in Texas. Not shooting "big Safary game", it cost too much.
I am not trying to hit target 600-700 yards away. I know my limitations. If there is no clear shot opportunity, or even slightest doubt, then animal walksaway.

same at ours.

if you want to plink around at camp, thats fine....go shoot some coyotes too.

but you are not getting into a blind with one

Wasn't being rude, just plain spoken. If you're offended by my answer, I apologize. Wasn't intended to be offensive or rude.

Also, I'm not a guide nor do I run a charter boat.

No hunting at my place for you.

im not a big fan of most guides unless they own the land that they are hunting on. All you have to do to call yourself a guide in texas is to have a key to the gate.

From his email he sounds like a first rate di-head. I would go somewhere else with a guide who is a little more respectful of his potential customers. There is no good reason other than personal preference to not allow semi-auto's for prairie dog hunting.

Whatever his reasons are...It's each outfitters duty to set up a set of rules that must be adhered to. He's not being uinreasonable just consistant in his enforcement. You never know...he may of had a bad experience with a client that set the rule in place to begin with. I know some of my rules have been established from that. I don't want to discuss the reasons behind the rule...just trust that I have good reasons. jmo

Do you have a lot of rules in your boat? Just curious.

Brian with Blackfoot runs a top notch operation, I have hunted with him for years. He manages his dogs like most people manage whitetail. He is a busy guy and it does take him some time to get to emails. He will treat you right

Generally, no. But I do have some hard, fast rules for a reason. I mostly fish offshore. Offshore can be very dangerous and it's expensive. So, I don't allow consumption of alcohol on the way out or while fishing. You can drink all you want for the ride home.

Why? Alcohol dehydrates the body rapidly. A dehydrated person is more susceptible to heat stroke and sea sickness, which will only worsen the condition.

If we've spent hundreds of dollars to run offshore, I'm not going to jeopardize the trip for everyone because one guy can't control himself. If I have to drop everything and run 40 miles or more back to port to drop off that one idiot it's going to double everyone's investment and cut into fishing time (which is very limited already).

Furthermore, anything can happen offshore. A squall can pop up, rough seas, high winds...you name it. If things get bad (and they do) my hands will be full handling the boat and keeping us safe. I cannot babysit a drunk at the same time.

In the end I'm the captain. It's my boat and I'm liable and responsible for all on board. If something happens then it is me that gets served the lawsuit. I'm the one that has to answer to the Coast Guard and file reports. I'm the one that has to deal with the insurance company. Therefore, I have to have a few simple, easy to follow rules to make sure we all have a good time and return safely with coolers full of fish.