Depredation

Eligibility

§         Only a resident who was not issued an elk license from the current regular elk drawing may register for an elk depredation hunt.

Residency

To apply for this hunt, a person must:

§         Actually live within and be a bona fide South Dakota resident for at least 90 days with the intent to make it home.

§         Have a South Dakota driver license or expiration dated South Dakota state ID.

§         Have his/her motor vehicles registered in South Dakota.

§         Make no claim of residency or resident privileges in any other state.

The following persons are eligible for resident licenses:

§         Nonresident minors under age 18 who are the legal dependent of a South Dakota resident.

§         Military personnel (and spouse and dependent children under age 18) who enter active full-time military service from South Dakota and retain resident privileges while in active military service by maintaining South Dakota as “Home of Record.”

The following persons are entitled to resident licenses without the above requirements if they have resided in the state for 30 days immediately before buying or applying for a license:

§         U.S. Armed Forces personnel and spouses stationed in South Dakota.

§         Nonmilitary persons residing on restricted military reservations in South Dakota

§         Employees of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs or VA hospital, or patients in a VA hospital.

§         Full-time students attending a South Dakota post-high school institution.

§         Foreign exchange students at either public or private high schools (Completion of a HuntSAFE course required for those under age 16).

Age Eligibility

Residents and nonresidents must be at least 12 years old to hunt and residents under age 16 must have successfully completed a HuntSAFE course.

Submitting Fees

There will now be a $20 fee for people if they draw an elk depredation permit. All other species remain free of charge.

Submitting Applications

Applications may be submitted only by completely filling out all field below and then hitting the “Submit” button.  There are no phone or paper applications associated with the depredation hunt pool.

Preference Points

No preference points are issued and participation in a depredation pool hunt does not affect preference points or eligibility in future drawings for regular hunting seasons.

Selections

A maximum of 10 counties can be selected.

TO APPLY:

Please verify that the information you enter below correctly represents your contact information and the species and county or counties you are interested in.

Big game depredation hunts are generally conducted in response to severe crop and livestock feed losses that cannot be resolved using traditional non-lethal forms of depredation control. They may involve turkey, deer, elk or antelope. In the past, these hunts have most often been organized during severe winters when both the weather and road conditions have deteriorated.

Depredation hunts require that hunters work closely with the landowner and the conservation officer. These hunts are usually very site-specific to individual farms and ranches and are conducted in close cooperation with the affected landowner(s). Additionally, these hunts are very specific to the species causing the problem to the landowner. In most cases it is imperative that hunters be able to respond quickly to the call to participate in a depredation pool hunt.

With this in mind, we would ask big game depredation pool applicants to consider listing only those counties nearest where they reside in order to reduce travel time and difficulties associated with the distance from their residence to a hunt area. Applying for a depredation hunt county strictly because it’s your favorite hunting area is neither recommended nor necessary, and the results generally are not positive for either the hunter or the affected landowner. Also, we would ask applicants to only select those species they are serious about shooting. Selecting for a species or county that you decline to participate in after being asked to come out and shoot, does not help Game, Fish and Parks or the affected landowner.

Thank you for your consideration.

Please enter information in each field the way you would like it to appear in the table. If you need to edit previously entered information, select the field, re-enter the new information, then submit.