RAPID CITY — The South Dakota Game, Fish and Park Commission held its monthly meeting on Sept.5-6 at the Outdoor Campus in Rapid City.

Wildlife finalizations

Bobcat hunting and trapping seasons

The commission finalized the 2024-25 and 2025-26 bobcat hunting and trapping seasons with the following dates:

2024-25

• Residents: Dec. 26, 2024 – Feb. 15, 2025
• Nonresidents: Jan. 11 – Feb. 15, 2025

2025-26

• Residents: Dec. 26, 2025 – Feb. 15, 2026
• Nonresidents: Jan.y 10 – Feb. 15, 2026

Commissioners included a change for bobcat hunters or trappers to limit harvest to one bobcat in the Black Hills management zone. The harvest limit of one bobcat in the East River management zone and unlimited bobcats in the West River management zone remained unchanged. The Commission also clarified management zone descriptions and reporting and registration requirements for harvested bobcats.

Bait

The board updated scientific names for certain species of crayfish to reflect updates in taxonomic classification.

Fish limits

The commission changed the existing harvest regulation on Belle Fourche Reservoir to two fish daily limit with a 15-inch minimum.

Private fish hatcheries

Board members voted to change the annual reporting requirements for private hatcheries by requiring an annual summary to be submitted rather than individual records.

Salmon snagging

The commission voted to allow snagging of all salmon species during the months of October and November on Lake Oahe.

Spring turkey

The board finalized the 2025 and 2026 spring turkey hunting seasons with the following dates:

2025

• April 12 – May 31, 2025: Single-season prairie units
• April 26 – May 31, 2025: Black Hills and Black Hills archery
• April 12 – 30, 2025: Split-season early prairie units (08A and 44A) and Unit 58B
• May 1 – 31, 2025: Split-season late prairie units (08B and 44B)
• April 12 –30, 2025: Access Permit Areas

2026

• April 11 – May 31, 2026: Single-season prairie units
• April 25 – May 31, 2026: Black Hills and Black Hills archery
• April 11 – 30, 2026: Split-season early prairie units (08A and 44A) and Unit 58B
• May 1 – 31, 2026: Split-season late prairie units (08B and 44B)
• April 11 –30, 2026: Access Permit Areas

Depending on the geographic area being hunted, the mentored and archery spring seasons align with the prairie and Black Hills seasons, respectively.

The commission expanded the archery statewide turkey hunting unit to include the portion of Lake County south of state Highway 34.

The board changed the name of the unit including Aurora and Douglas counties to PST-10A from PST-18A.

The commission approved a vote to limit the number of nonresident licenses to 2,225 one-tag male turkey licenses in the Black Hills hunting season unit.

License numbers for the 2025 and 2026 spring firearms prairie turkey hunting season units will be 7,287 resident and 318 nonresident licenses; with the Black Hills season having unlimited resident single “male turkey” licenses and 2,225 nonresident single “male turkey” licenses, and Custer State Park having 100 resident only “male turkey” licenses.

Good Earth State Park will have 5 archery “male turkey” access permits and Adams Homestead and Nature Preserve will have 30 archery and 20 mentored youth “male turkey” access permits.

Wildlife and parks proposal

Fee adjustment proposal

The Department is recommending adjustments to fees within the both the Division of Parks and Recreation and the Division of Wildlife.

Some of the adjustments include:

• Establish nonresident Park Entrance licenses and set fee at $60 single and $90 double
• Increase resident Park Entrance licenses to $40 single and $60 double
• Create a rule for the department to sell habitat conservation plate emblems at $50 per vehicle set and $30 per motorcycle
• Increase resident boat license fees by $5 for under 19 ft motorized, $10 19ft and over motorized, and $3 for non-motorized
• Increase nonresident fishing licenses by $13
• Increase resident fishing licenses by $3
• Increase nonresident small game licenses by $21
• Increase resident combination licenses by $5.

For a complete breakdown of the proposed fee package, go here.

Public comment opportunity and upcoming meeting

To hear the discussion on any of the topics on the agenda, audio from the meeting is available through South Dakota Public Broadcasting and will soon be available on the GFP website as part of the meeting archive.

To see these documents in their entirety, go here.

To be included in the public record and to be considered by the commission, public comments must include a full name and city of residence and be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Sept. 29.

The next regular commission meeting will be Oct. 3-4 at the Huron Convention Center.