august management take for canada geese
South Dakota Residents Only
Season Dates: August 4-26, 2012
Open Area: Brookings, Brown, Clark, Codington, Day, Deuel, Hamlin, Hanson, Hutchinson, Grant, Kingsbury, Lake, Lincoln, McCook, Marshall, Miner, Minnehaha, Moody, Roberts, Spink, Turner and Union counties.
Daily Bag Limit: 15 Canada Geese
Possession Limit: None
License Requirement:
- Annual resident Small Game or Combination license
- AND State Migratory Bird Certification.
- Federal stamp is not required.
Shooting Hours: 1/2 hour before sunrise to sunset
All other restrictions are the same as for the regular goose season, including nontoxic shot requirements.
Waterfowl Hunting Tools
- Waterfowl population index / hunting opportunity thunderstorm map.
The South Dakota Game Fish and Parks will be updating this map to assist hunters with their scouting and hunting of waterfowl. The map will be updated on a weekly basis by area GFP field staff.
- Public Hunting Areas: We offer over 1 million acres of Walk-In Areas (private land leased for public hunting) to supplement our many other public hunting opportunities.
- Hunter Harvest Survey Reports: A scientific sampling of hunters is taken after many hunting seasons. The information you provide is not only valuable to our biologists, but is good background information for you on the past year.
Attention
Canada
Goose Hunters!
Your participation can help reduce the Canada Goose population and help Sportsmen Against Hungers' campaign to feed the hungry!
| (re)Introduce The Sport Giveaway |
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Enter GFP's "(re)Introduce The Sport" giveaway! Early goose seasons have warm weather, birds that decoy well and abundant access. This provides a great opportunity to take a new hunter, or help a former waterfowler re-connect with the sport. Take a "goose hunting newcomer" with you, then enter our drawing for a chance to win several prizes! To be eligible, send e-mail to: wildinfo@state.sd.us, include:
You may enter yourself once for every new hunter you take with you during the August Goose Management and Early Canada Goose season. A new hunter is defined as someone who did not possess a South Dakota migratory bird certification in 2011. Prizes include: Benelli Vinci 3" Shotgun, 1 dozen full body Dakota Field goose decoys & 1 dozen Dakota Field shell goose decoys. Prizes subject to change. |
feed the hungry
Help feed the hungry with Sportsmen Against Hungers' goose donation program. Geese taken from August 4-26 and September 1-21 may be donated to these participating processors. FREE - it does not cost you to donate your geese! View participating processors, or view them on the August Goose Management map below.
August goose management Map
This map shows the counties open for hunting during the August Management Take, as well as locations of the participating goose donation processors.
Did You Know?
Resident Canada goose numbers have shown an increasing trend since the early 1990's in South Dakota and are monitored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's annual May Breeding Waterfowl Survey. This survey showed a spring population index of 270,000 Canada geese in South Dakota during 2012. The most recent 3-year average (2008-2010) is 143,000 birds. This is significantly higher than our management plan goal of 80,000-90,000. These large numbers of resident Canada geese are causing significant crop depredation in eastern South Dakota. The August Management Take is a tool intended to help reduce the Canada goose population. An estimated 30,300 Canada geese were harvested during the 2011 August Management Take.