My sister and brother in law provide me with many hundreds of acres of private land in CO in which to shoot prairie dogs. First prairie dogs absolutely DO NOT hibernate, they are totally uneffected by cold, they hate cloudy days, rain and wind. The common myth that they are best shot in May/June was not started by people who actually have prairie dogs on their property. ...my brother in law laughs everytime he reads this.
Just in the Denver area we have prairie dogs on nearly every highway island....see them every day.........ask others who live here.
Because CO is several hundred miles wide and a couple hundred miles north to south you need to be more specific about where you will be. Then I may have some ideas. All black tailed prairie dogs (eastern half of CO) are protected and can only be shot on private land with written permission...you can confirm this with the DOW...I have.