Hunters, land managers, animal rights activists - it seems everybody was happy with the outcome of the third annual "There Goes the Neighborhood" contest.

Except the prairie dogs, of course.

The prairie dog shooting contest scheduled for Saturday on public lands around Medicine Bow was called off by organizers after they were informed by Bureau of Land Management officials that a recreation permit was required.

BLM officials and animal rights groups said canceling the event was the right thing to do. "It was great news," said Casey Pheiffer, a deputy campaign manager for the Humane Society of the United States.

But participants were still able to shoot prairie dogs on their own last weekend - which they did in big numbers, on both public and private lands, according to Jim Bowman, organizer of the prairie dog hunt.

The lack of a permit "didn't slow anything down, that's for sure," Bowman said in a phone interview and an e-mail.

"The hunt was a success, even though we didn't award any prizes, per BLM regulations," he said. "But we still hunted … and shot well over last year's mark of 1,000 prairie dogs."

Bowman, a resident of Kersey, Colo., and his friends get together once a year to shoot prairie dogs in southern Wyoming's Carbon County as part of a prairie dog killing contest.

Under contest rules, participants pay an entry fee, shoot prairie dogs in teams of two from sunup to late afternoon and then turn in varmint tails for prize money.