PIERRE – At its January meeting, the Game, Fish and Parks Commission accepted a petition submitted by a member of the public to establish 500 nonresident, special buck licenses East River.

Currently, there are 500 special buck licenses allocated to residents that must be used on private land and are good for “any deer.”

The additional 500 licenses would be good for “any whitetail,” valid only on private land, and come at a price of $554 for nonresidents. The petition further outlined that this allocation would be annual, that applicants must have permission from a landowner or lessee of private land before applying, and that the applicant must provide the name and phone number of the person with whom they have permission to hunt.

The petition was adopted as written by the commission as a proposal. Public comment is encouraged, and the commission will take final action on this proposal at the March 5-6 commission meeting in Pierre.

To comment in person, the public hearing will be held March 5 at 2 p.m. CST at the Ramkota Convention Center in Pierre. Individuals can comment online at gfp.sd.gov/forms/positions or mail comments to 523 E. Capitol Ave., Pierre, SD 57501. To be included in the public record and to be considered by the commission, comments must include a full name and city of residence and meet the submission deadline of 72 hours before the public hearing (not including the day of the public hearing).