On the second day of the two-day meeting, South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks commissioners discussed big game licenses and rule changes for the 2024 season.
Staff proposed limiting bighorn sheep to 16 licenses. The commission wants to remove an approved hunting area and add its license to a more active hunting area.
The commission also offered proposals for Custer State Park bison hunting season. Proposals include allowing archery for trophy and non-trophy bison hunts, a decrease in hunting days for trophy bison, and an overall increase in trophy bison licenses.
Elk hunting saw adjustments with an increase in licenses and public acreage. Over 1,900 licenses available for the 2024 hunting season.
Tom Kirschenmann is the Director of Wildlife for South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks. He said the number of applications for big game in the state prove the public’s general interest.
“There are some applications submitted in there as well for some spring turkey, and paddle fish in Custer State Park. You can see the demand for applications coming in, based on the number of licenses we have there," said Kirschenmann. "Certainly, the demand for all of those opportunities remains very strong and highly desired by many sportsmen and women across the state of South Dakota.”
A point of contention for some commissioners was the increase in publicly accessible land for deer hunting.
Commissioner Travis Bies voiced his opposition.
“Are we going to do that across the board with all seasons? Because the rifle hunters can’t bear the brunt of no antlerless tags. Are we going to get into the muzzle loader and archery and cut those antlerless tags to help increase these substantially increased areas? It can’t just be one, it's got to be across the board plan, I would think,” said Bies.
Bies was assured that the allocation of antlerless tags would be distributed among the various hunting types.
Commissioners also proposed new regulations requiring hunters to gain landowner permission to install trail cameras, even on publicly available private land. The proposal suggests individuals would need to list their name, address, phone number, and GFP hunter identification number on the camera.
A similar proposed rule applies to identifying a tree stand.
The commission also established that areas north of Fort Pierre that are technically located within Mountain Time Zone can utilize Central Time zone for hunting hours as the local communities operate on Central Time.
The next commission meeting is scheduled for April 4-5.
