Game Fish & Parks

A pandemic-related surge in outdoor activities has slowed. Park visits and license sales around the state are down after record-breaking numbers earlier during the COVID-19 pandemic.

After over four years since its closure in 2018, South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks reopened the Lake Hiddenwood Recreation Area near Selby.

South Dakota expands fish consumption advisories on new lakes due to increased mercury levels.

Trappers have submitted about 16,000 tails as part of the state’s Nest Predator Bounty Program so far this year. 2,000 of those tails have been submitted by youth trappers.

Hunters take to the South Dakota prairie every year for the fall pheasant season. It can be a lifestyle — or a vacation. But now the hunt on public lands faces a challenge, and some say the state is redefining the tradition.

A bill designed to prevent the spread of zebra mussels died in the Legislature. The aquatic invasive species is infiltrating South Dakota waters.

The Game, Fish and Parks Department is ready to purchase land for a state-of-the-art public shooting range even though the South Dakota Legislature has yet to fund part of the $12 million project.

Land acquisition for Good Earth State Park finds the South Dakota Department of Game Fish and Parks hosting two open house meetings to gather public input on recreational development for Spring Creek Country Club.

South Dakota's Game, Fish, and Parks Department wants to build a 400-acre shooting complex north of Rapid City that could host around 180 shooters at a time for free public use.

The "open fields" bill has been resurrected, amended, and passed in the South Dakota Senate.House Bill 1140 puts restrictions on Game Fish & Parks…