South Dakota Bighorn Sheep Season Purposed
OutdoorHub 12.13.13
The South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Commission has proposed the 2014 bighorn sheep hunting season with two slight modifications from 2013.
One proposed change would limit the auction license holder to hunting strictly in Unit 2, which is comprised of Custer County west of Highway 79, excluding Custer State Park, Wind Cave National Park and Jewel Cave National Monument.
The other proposed change would modify the current boundary description for Unit 1 to include only the geographic area of the Rapid Creek bighorn sheep sub-herd population. This would include the portion of Pennington County from Highway 385 and the Pennington County line, south on Highway 385 to Sheridan Lake Road, east on Sheridan Lake Road to Highway 79 in Rapid City and north on Highway 79 to the Pennington County line.
The season will run from Sept. 1 – Dec. 31 with one “ram bighorn sheep” license available for Unit 1 and two “ram bighorn sheep” licenses available for Unit 2. One of the two licenses in Unit 2 will be auctioned by the Wild Sheep Foundation as part of a fundraiser for bighorn sheep management in South Dakota.
These proposed rule changes will be finalized at the Jan. 9 GFP Commission meeting, which will be held in Fort Pierre at the Holiday Inn Express. To view the full proposals on those seasons, visit www.gfp.sd.gov/agency/commission/default.aspx and look under the “Rule Proposals” heading.
To comment on any of the proposals, send a letter to South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Commission, 523 E. Capitol Ave., Pierre, SD 57501; or email wildinfo@state.sd.us. Comments on proposals will be taken until 5 p.m. CST on Jan. 8. To be included in the public record, please include your full name and city of residence.
For those who would like to comment in person on these proposed rule changes, the GFP Commission will host a public hearing beginning at 2 p.m. CST as part of their meeting.
