A few friends and I are looking to plan for a varmint hunting trip. We are aiming for June of 2013. We are looking for something in the eastern side of South Dakota but are willing to consider anything within about that same distance from the middle of Michigan.

I would love to hear any recommendations for guides or areas.

Im not in that part of the world so arent of much help to you but Im sure someone around here will know of a good reliable guide to recommend .

Eremius, I admire your planning... in this part of the world it's now 2011, in 2 days it will be 2012, but June 2013...

I try to get as many ducks lined up as possible before the holidays in hell.

Call the SD Game and Fish and ask them about the prairie dog hunting and what ever other varmints are in the area. Some p dog shooting is south of I 90. The prairie dog pups come out in May when one can get a lot of shots with rimfire rifles. The pups are small 6-8 Oz ,about two inches from back to brisket with a body about 8 In long. I like using low muzzle blast rifles in the spring when the pups are dumb so I use 17 HM2, 17 HMR, and 17 Fireball rifles. By mid summer I use the 17 Fireball and 204 Ruger. But what ever rifle you use get them tuned up so that the rimfire shoots one inch or less 100 Yd groups and the centerfires shoot .75 or less 100 Yd groups. I like 6-18 X AO scopes on my centerfire rifles and 4-14X AO on the RF rifles. My next p dog rifle will be the Hornady 17 Hornet.