BROOKINGS — The Brookings Wildlife Federation will host South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks waterfowl biologist Rocco Murano at its monthly Infolunch on Oct. 4.

Murano will talk about the status of waterfowl populations, and also review the status of wetland habitat and upland nesting habitat.

The Federation meets at noon in the Brookings County Outdoor Adventure Center, 2810 22nd Ave. S. A buffet lunch will be available for a free-will donation.

At this annual get together the GFP biologists and conservation officers update the locals on new programs, regulations, and wildlife management issues.

Murano has waterfowl data, and also has anecdotal information on other wildlife.

September is the month that fall hunting begins in earnest, with Youth Pheasant Season (9/28), Youth Waterfowl Season (9/7), Light Goose Season, (9/28), Archery Deer Hunting (9/1), and Mentored Youth Deer Hunting (9/14). There are several kinds of licenses for various hunting opportunities, each with a designated hunting season.

GFP has leased 1.5 million acres of private land for public hunting through the Walk-In Area Program and Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program. GFP is working towards 25,000 acres of CREP land in the Big Sioux basin, and 100,000 acres in the Jim River Basin. Here’s the good deal on CREP — the land is enrolled in the Federal Conservation Reserve Program first, so the hunter gets habitat and opportunity.

Last year, 135,500 hunters in South Dakota harvested 1.2 million pheasants. News from pheasant watchers says that we have great pheasant habitat because of a mild winter and adequate moisture, so nesting success was good.

Even where spring flooding destroyed pheasant nests, pheasants probably renested.

Pheasants can re-nest up to four times if nests are destroyed, although brood size gets smaller each time.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service surveys show a 5% increase in the total breeding duck population (34 million), but the total is 16% below the long-term average.

The number of South Dakotans hunting ducks has declined from a peak of about 30,000 in 1998 to about 15,000 in 2021. Murano will explain an experiment to encourage more hunters to hunt ducks by giving novice hunters a break on harvest regulations that require identification of waterfowl species and sex.

The four-year-program (2021-25) is called the two-tier duck regulation experiment. Two-tier means that hunters will be required to select one of two regulation options when they purchase a license. The first option is a six duck limit, with harvest restrictions for species and sex. The second option is a three-duck limit with no species or sex restrictions.

Hunting for white-tailed and mule deer is a fall tradition. Other big game hunting seasons are for antelope, big horn sheep, elk, buffalo, mountain lion and turkey.

The deer hunting rifle season opens Nov. 1 in the Black Hills, Nov. 16 West River and runs from Nov. 23 to Dec. 8 East River — a 16-day season. There are a variety of special hunts starting at other times (archery, muzzleloaders, landowners, youth, on National Wildlife Refuges, etc.).

GFP data shows that there are about 90,500 mule deer and 350,000 whitetails in South Dakota — about the same as in 2022.

Come to the Infolunch to hear what the biologists say about hunting prospects for this fall.

The BWF is affiliated with the South Dakota Wildlife Federation and the National Wildlife Federation. The BWF is in its 43rd year of supplying conservation information and activities to the Brookings community. For more information contact BWF President Bob Kurtz at 605-695-1361.