Volunteer Hunter Program

• This is not a hunting season, but a depredation assistance program.
• Only South Dakota residents 18 years of age or older are eligible.
• Open areas are on identified private property (i.e. public land is NOT open).
• No calls, blinds or decoys are allowed for this program.
• Only shotguns with non-toxic shot shells may be used.
• Shotguns with a shell capacity of more than 3 shells are allowed.
• Shooting from road right of way is prohibited.
• Shooting from vehicle is prohibited.
• Shooting geese not in flight is prohibited.
• Geese with visible young may not be taken.
• Shooting is allowed from 30 minutes prior to sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset.
• Volunteer Hunters must have permit and reporting form in possession while in the field.
• Each permittee is limited to 50 geese.
• Permittee may have up to 3 designated volunteers.
• Permittee will be required to keep log of birds harvested.
• Permittee must submit report to GFP of total birds harvested by May 10.
• Harvested geese must be donated to Sportsmen Against Hunger (SAH). Harvested geese CANNOT be breasted. Harvested geese must have a fully feathered wing or attached head when transported.

This program was developed to provide a list of hunters willing to harvest antelope, deer, turkey or Canada geese on private land and to enable landowners to contact those hunters directly.

Hunters enter their own information directly on the Web. GFP acts only as a host for the list of hunters and plays no active role in this program.

The list is accessed by landowners who may contact hunters directly if they wish to have these individuals hunt on their land.

Names are deleted from the Volunteer Hunter system each year. If you wish to be a part of the current hunting season included in the volunteer hunter program you will need to register again after the first drawing for that particular hunting season are complete.