South Dakota Hunting Seasons Proposed

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CUSTER STATE PARK – The South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Commission has proposed changes in several fall hunting seasons, including West River Deer, Black Hills Deer, Archery Deer, Archery Antelope, Youth Deer, Muzzleloader Deer, Fall Turkey and the August Management Take for Canada Geese.

Changes proposed for the West River Deer Season include:

• Adjust the number of resident licenses that were issued in 2011 by increasing one-tag licenses by 1,590 to 2,625; increase two-tag licenses by 830 (1,660 tags) to 16,735 (33,470 tags); and reduce three-tag licenses by 4,960 (14,880 tags) to 3,340 (10,020 tags)
• Adjust the number of nonresident licenses that were issued in 2011 by increasing one-tag licenses by 128 to 212; increase two-tag licenses by 67 (134 tags) to 1,342 (2,684 tags); and reduce three-tag licenses by 397 (1,191 tags) to 268 (804 tags)
• Modify the boundary for Fall River County Unit 27L to add some public lands adjacent to the Cheyenne River and Angostura Reservoir and make the unit boundary more easily identifiable for hunters
• Only unfilled antlerless tags would be valid during the antlerless deer extension beginning the Saturday after Christmas and running for nine consecutive days
• Eliminate antlerless deer hunting during the Antelope Rifle Season

Changes proposed for the Black Hills Deer Season include:

• Adjust the number of resident licenses that were issued in 2011 by reducing "any deer" licenses by 200; "any whitetail" licenses by 500; "antlerless whitetail" licenses by 50
• Adjust the number of nonresident licenses that were issued in 2011 by reducing "any deer" licenses by 16; "any whitetail" licenses by 40; "antlerless whitetail" licenses by four

Changes proposed for the Archery Deer Season include:

• Add Brookings, Deuel, Hamlin and McCook counties to the area where only one, one-tag "antlerless" deer license is valid
• Antlerless deer licenses would not be valid for Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge
• Allow issuance of access permits for five "antlerless deer" and five "any deer" resident-only licenses for Blood Run Nature Area, along with the 45 "antlerless deer" and five "any deer" resident-only licenses for Adams Nature Area
• Modify an existing rule to allow an individual to possess an uncased bow and allow the use of bow-and-arrow to hunt deer and turkey within the Blood Run Nature Area

Changes proposed for the Archery Antelope Season include:

• Eliminate the two-tag license valid for one "any antelope" and one "doe/fawn antelope"
• Include those portions of Custer and Pennington counties within the Black Hills Fire Protection District (except Custer State Park) and issue by lottery drawing five special-access permits to licensees who possess a valid "any antelope" resident archery license

Changes proposed for the Youth Deer Season include:

• Add Brookings, Codington, Deuel, Grant, Hamlin, Lake, Lincoln, McCook, Minnehaha, Moody, Roberts, Turner and Yankton counties to the restricted area where only one youth deer license is valid

Changes proposed for the Muzzleloader Season include:

• Add Brookings, Deuel, Hamlin, and McCook counties to the restricted area where only one, one-tag "antlerless" deer license is valid

Changes proposed for the Fall Turkey Season

• Offer residents 410 more one-tag licenses and 1,550 fewer two-tag licenses in East River units
• Offer 500 fewer one-tag licenses for residents and 40 fewer nonresident licenses in the Black Hills
• Close Harding and Turner counties to fall turkey hunting
• Season dates Oct. 1-Jan. 31

 

Changes proposed for the August Management Take of Canada Geese include:

• Expand the hunting area to include Brown, Hutchinson, Spink, and Turner counties

More information and highlights from the May GFP Commission meeting are available online.

People who wish to provide written comments on those commission hunting proposals may do so until 5 p.m. Wednesday, June 6. Comments may be mailed to Game, Fish and Parks Commission, 523 E. Capitol Ave., Pierre, SD, 57501 or emailed to wildinfo@state.sd.us . Comments must have the sender's full name and address in order to become part of the public record.
Comments may also be made in person at the next GFP Commission meeting during a public hearing at 2 p.m. CDT on Thursday, June 7, at the Ramkota in Pierre.

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