There are many reasons for the prairie dog fishing. First, and foremost is to help fight the war on terrorism. The Department of Homeland Security and the Patriot Act have been in the news over the past year. Now all patriotic Americans can do their part to help stop terrorism. These cute little rodents are known to be carriers of the bubonic plague, the Black Death. This plague was responsible for the deaths of over twenty five million people a few short centuries ago. Imagine if a terror group found a way to extract the bacterium named Yersinia pestis from a prairie dog? We would no longer be concerning ourselves with the likes of anthrax or even chronic wasting disease.

Prairie dog fishing can help the economy by assisting in keeping the cost of beef affordable. Cattle are often victims of prairie dogs. They can step in a prairie dog hole and break a leg. Crippled cattle on the open range will suffer a painful death often eaten alive by coyotes and other predators. The ranchers will have to pass along the loss, resulting in higher prices for the consumer.

Prairie dog fishing will spur new markets. If it catches on real good we will have to create prairie dog breeding farms to restock the depleting numbers of the wild dogs. Tackle shops will flourish in new markets and new equipment will be invented for the sport.

We can also feed the hungry. Photos and commercials of starving children across the globe are bombarding us every day on the television. If this sport takes off, we could send missionaries to underdeveloped countries to teach people how they can catch prairie dogs and other gopher like creatures to feed themselves. Yes, “Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today.  Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime”

And the best reason of all is it is good clean family fun. Now you do not have to live near a body of water to pass along the joy of fishing to your children. A good three pound prairie dog with its powerful legs clawing desperately into the terrain can give as good a fight as a seven pound large mouth bass.

Prairie dog fishing is safe for children because it does not involve firearms, or sharp objects and does not require a large body of water. In 1998, 4,406 people drowned, including 1,003 children younger than 15 years old. Many of these children's deaths could have been prevented had tthey not been fishing near water