1. What's an assault weapon? (Or, more accurately, what weapon is not an "assault weapon"?)
2. What's the problem with hunting prairie dogs? It's not as if they're in short supply or are beneficial in any way (other than as a food-chain member)
3. If you'd read with some effort, you'd realize that the idea the author is proposing is preposterous (as well as false, emotion-laden, and intentionally deceptive). Spraying bullets at small, fast targets who hide underground would simply be wasting money and making noise. Why spend $40 in ammo in 6 seconds just to scare away the varmint hordes and ruin the hunt for everyone? The entire point of the exercise is one-shot-one-kill (and don't terrify the rest into hiding for the day). If you just want to make holes in the dirt and hear loud noises, you don't need prairie dogs to do so. There are plenty of places to go shooting at fake targets that don't run away.
I hunt varmints of all kinds; but when hunting coyotes I often have an AR-15. My favorite rifle is a 7mm Mag Sako, but it only holds five rounds. Coyotes many times give me 7-10 targets in one spot. I want to get rid of as many as I can, stopping to reload is not and option. Plus 5.56 is cheaper that 7mag.A good day is 25-30 coyotes in the back of the truck.