Hunting

The North American Grasslands Conservation Act would authorize about $300 million in federal spending annually for several years to incentivize states, landowners and tribes to restore and conserve grasslands.

People have submitted over 50,000 acres of inaccessible public land in South Dakota to be reviewed by the federal government.

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.

A nonprofit says it’s reached 1 million pounds of donated meat since 1989. Sportsmen Against Hunger helps hunters donate their game meat to South Dakotans in need.

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.

Though it can be hard to imagine in our current drought, torrential rains and floods can happen all at once, or over time. In the northeastern corner of the state, shifting weather patterns decades ago turned farm country into lake country. And for one farm family, that heartbreak created a new beginning.

A federal program pays farmers to keep marginal land out of crop production, and South Dakota enrollments are higher than they’ve been since the 1990s.That helps wildlife and the environment. But market forces could reverse the trend.

An appreciation for the outdoors is baked into South Dakota's identity. Winner is no exception. The rolling hills and open prairies of Winner are one of the nation's most sought-after habitats for pheasant hunters.

Dakota Life visited Winner and featured "the pheasant hunting experience" from the Tripp County area. Rich KOO-cher-a or Kooch is known by hunters locally and from all around the country.