PIERRE — The South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks held its March commission meeting at the Ramkota River Center in Pierre on March 6-7.
The commission had several proposals for upcoming …
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PIERRE — The South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks held its March commission meeting at the Ramkota River Center in Pierre on March 6-7.
The commission had several proposals for upcoming seasons and one finalization.
The commission continued discussions to align two rules with the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, which was a recommendation made by the U.S. Coast Guard. The first rule clarifies the usage of personal flotation devices be used in accordance with any requirements on the approval label or owner’s manual. The second rule clarifies required fire extinguishers be in serviceable condition and not expired.
The board continued discussions to expand the West River Prairie Elk unit (PRE-WRA) to include all counties west of the Missouri River not currently in a Prairie Elk or Black Hills Elk hunting unit. A modification to the proposal to expand the season dates for Prairie Elk Unit 9A was approved, in addition to the expanded season dates for Prairie Elk Unit 27A to Sept. 1 – Dec. 31, and to allow the use of landowner-own-land, resident only antlerless elk license for this unit.
The commission received the department recommendation of 136 "any elk" and 280 "antlerless elk" licenses for the Prairie Elk Hunting Season, and license numbers for this season will be determined by the commission during the April meeting.
The proposed 2025 bighorn sheep hunting season would run Sept. 1 – Dec. 31.
The commission proposed to expand the BHS – BH4 unit to include those portions of Lawrence and Meade Counties west of Interstate 90.
The commission proposed seven total licenses for the bighorn sheep hunting season.
The commission continued discussions on the 2025 mountain lion hunting season outside the Black Hills Fire Protection District, with the dates of Dec. 26, 2024 - Dec. 25, 2025.
The board continued discussions on the proposal to allow the initiation of the pursuit of a mountain lion with dogs outside the Black Hills Fire Protection District to occur anywhere, where permitted by the landowner.
The panel continued discussions on the 2025 duck hunting season dates:
Included in this proposal would be to allow the take of three pintail ducks in the traditional bag limit and to decrease the “bonus blue-winged teal season” from 16 to nine days. Both of these proposals are in conjunction with changes made to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Federal Register.
The board continued discussions on the 2025 goose hunting season dates:
The commission also continued discussions on the proposal to repeal the Special Canada Goose season in Unit 3 and move Bennett County into Unit 2.
The commission reinstated the rule prohibiting the leaving of human remains at Bear Butte State Park.
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. March 30. The next regular commission meeting will be April 3-4 at the Matthews Training Center in Pierre.
