Licenses
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Hunting and Fishing Licenses
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APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
Application Information
Hunter Responsibility to Obtain Hunting Access
Prior to applying for a license, a hunter should ensure they have access to hunting areas and understand potential game availability for those hunting areas and seasons. In addition to obtaining a license, a hunter must obtain permission if they wish to access private land. Access is not guaranteed on private land and hunters are also required to determine if the managing entity of public land expressly prohibits hunting. The Game, Fish and Parks Department is not responsible for ensuring hunting access for hunters simply because licenses are available. Hunters can call Game, Fish and Parks offices to learn more about hunting opportunities before applying for a license.
Submitting Applications
Applications must be submitted online. If someone does not have internet access, they can apply by calling 605.223.7660 or by visiting any GFP Wildlife Division Office.
Apply for a license. If you do not already have an account, you will be required to create one. You will begin by selecting a season to apply for and your first-choice hunting unit. Please note that you are required to provide a credit or debit card number to finish the transaction. Upon completion and submission of your application, you are then placed directly into the drawing for the unit you selected.
Successful Applicants
Successful applicants for limited licenses are selected at random by computer lottery. Online applicants’ credit/debit card will be charged at the time of the drawing.
Unsuccessful Applicants
Unsuccessful applicants’ credit/debit card will only be charged for a preference point if the customer selected the option to purchase a preference point.
Social Security Number
The last four digits of your Social Security Number are required. The Social Security Number information is required from all U.S. residents before this application will be processed [SDCL 25-7A-56.2]. This information will be kept confidential. The information is required to be in compliance with state law on collection of delinquent child support payments.
South Dakota law prohibits the issuance or renewal of any hunting or fishing license if an individual owes $1,000 or more in past-due child support unless the individual enters into a repayment agreement with the Department of Social Services for payment of the delinquent child support [SDCL 25-7A-56; 25-7A-1(28)]. There is a requirement to enter into a repayment agreement with the Dept. of Social Services even if the individual is presently making child support payments, or if child support is being withheld from wages or income. To enter into the required repayment agreement, individuals must contact the Department of Social Services - Office of Child Support Enforcement, 700 Governor’s Drive – Kneip Building, Pierre SD 57501, or call 605.773.6456.
Drawing Statistics
View past drawing results. Current season information is available once the drawing is complete.
Residency Requirements
Residency
To apply for a resident license a person must:
- Have a domicile within South Dakota for at least 90 consecutive days immediately preceding the date of application for, purchasing, or attempting to purchase any hunting, fishing, or trapping license/permit. A domicile is a person’s established, fixed, and permanent home in which the person physically lives and, whenever absent, has the present intention of returning, and
- Make no claim of residency in any other state or foreign country for any purpose, and
- Claim no resident hunting, fishing, or trapping privileges in any other state or foreign country, and
- Transfer applicant’s driver’s license and motor vehicle registrations to SD prior to any application.
- Documentation showing a mailing address, ownership of a property or business, or employment in the state is not sufficient by itself to prove that a person has a domicile in or is a resident of this state.
Exceptions, the following persons are eligible for resident licenses:
- Any person who previously had a domicile in SD who is absent due to business of the United States or SD, or is serving in the armed forces of the US, or the spouse of an active duty military person;
- Any person who previously had a domicile in SD who is absent due to the person's regular attendance at a post-high school institution as a fulltime student or in a medical or dental residency program;
- Any person in the active military of the US or that person's spouse who is continuously stationed in SD;
- Any person who is a patient in any war veterans' hospital within SD;
- Any person who is an employee of the veterans' administration or any veterans' hospital in SD;
- Any person residing on restricted military reservations in SD;
- Any person attending regularly a post-high school institution in SD as a full-time student for 30 days or more immediately preceding the application;
- Any foreign exchange student over 16 years of age attending a public or private high school who has resided in the state for 30 days or more preceding the application;
- Any foreign exchange student who is between the ages of 12 and 16 who has completed the GFP course of instruction in the safe handling of firearms and has been issued a certificate of competency upon completion of instruction and who has resided in SD for 30 days or more preceding application for a license;
- Any person who is a minor dependent of a resident of SD;
- For the purpose of acquiring resident small game and fishing licenses: any person who does not reside in South Dakota, but who is a member of the South Dakota National Guard or of any other unit of a reserve component of the armed forces of the United States located in South Dakota.
To buy a license, a resident age 16 or older needs a valid South Dakota driver’s license or a state-issued and expiration-dated South Dakota ID card. Either can be obtained at a state driver’s license office. Hunters under age 16 are required to provide a certificate of completion from a hunter safety education course unless participating in the mentored hunter program.
Termination of Residency
A person (other than a person who fits into one of the previous EXCEPTIONS) is deemed to have terminated their South Dakota resident hunting, fishing, and trapping status if the person does any of the following:
- Applies for, purchases, or accepts a resident hunting, fishing, or trapping license issued by another state or foreign country;
- Registers to vote in another state or foreign country;
- Accepts a driver's license issued by another state or foreign country; or
- Moves to any other state or foreign country and makes it the person's domicile or makes any claim of residency for any purpose in the other state or foreign country; or
- Resides in any other state, territory, or country for an aggregate or 180 or more days in a calendar year.
However, a person who has lawfully acquired a resident hunting, fishing, or trapping license and who leaves the state after acquiring the license to take up residency elsewhere may continue to exercise all the privileges granted by the license until the license expires if the person's respective privileges are not revoked or suspended.
Group Applications
If you want to apply for a limited draw license with a group of people, you may do that during the online application process. Either all the group members will be successful for a license or none of them will be successful.
Requirements:
- Group Applications with matching first and second choices, submitted in the same group, will be treated as a group application.
- Access permit applications require the use of preference points.
- If a group is successful, each individual’s preference points within the group will be reset to zero for that season, unless the applicant did not use preference points to obtain the license.
- Applicants with preference points should be aware when applying with applicants with fewer preference points: doing so gives all applicants the lowest preference point balance represented within the entire group.
- Residents and nonresidents may apply together in the same group. Either all in the group will be successful or all will be unsuccessful. This is valid only in seasons and units where both resident and nonresident licenses are available for a specific drawing. It should be noted that in most instances, residents who apply with nonresidents will have a diminished chance of drawing a first-choice license.
- No more than six persons may submit applications for any license limited in number jointly except that no more than two applications may be submitted jointly for elk. No group applications are accepted for mountain goat and bighorn sheep seasons.
To create a group:
- The individual submitting the initial application will be provided a group number after the application is submitted. This group number will appear on the confirmation receipt that may be printed. It also appears in the confirmation email sent to the applicant and is also available by selecting the “More Info” button under the Limited Draw Applications & Award section of the group leaders profile.
- An applicant allows additional hunters to join the group by providing the group number to them.
Age Eligibility
Residents and nonresidents must be 12 years old by December 31 to hunt, unless they are participating in the mentored hunter program. See mentored hunter program information that describe which species and seasons are eligible.
Except for individuals participating in the mentored hunter program:
- Residents under age 16 must successfully complete a HuntSAFE course.
- Nonresidents under age 16 must include the certificate number from their hunter safety card, or a current or previous hunting license issued to them from any state.
- Residents and nonresidents who have not completed the HuntSAFE course at the time of application must leave their HuntSAFE number blank within their profile, but they can still apply. If successful in the draw, their license will be held until the GFP License Office is notified of the HuntSAFE card number once the course has been successfully completed.
Resident Landowner Preference
- One-half of the resident licenses are set aside for the first choice in the first drawing for residents who qualify for landowner preference in select seasons.
- To be eligible for landowner preference, a landowner or tenant must operate at least 160 acres of private land within the unit applied for as first choice for antelope, deer, and turkey. For elk, a landowner must own or operate at least 240 acres and have 500 elk use days.
- "Operate" means: to lease or hold fee title to farm or ranch real property and be directly involved in the management decisions made for agricultural purposes on the farm or ranch.
- "Agricultural purposes" includes the producing, raising, growing, or harvesting of food or fiber upon agricultural land, including dairy products, livestock, crops, timber, and grasslands.
- Land leased solely for hunting, fishing or trapping does not qualify for landowner preference.
- A landowner or tenant, but not both, may claim landowner preference for the same qualifying property.
- Immediate family members residing with the applicant are eligible for antelope, deer, and turkey landowner preference. For elk, the immediate family member may also live on land owned or leased by the resident farmer or rancher or in the closest community within SD.
- Employment on a farm or ranch alone does not qualify an individual for landowner preference.
- Shareholders of a corporation, members of a limited liability company holding a membership interest in the company, partners in a partnership, and beneficiaries of a trust entitled to the current income and assets held in trust; all organized and in good standing under the laws of South Dakota are eligible for landowner preference if:
- The entity holds title to 160 acres or more of private land located within the hunting unit applied for;
- The shareholder, member, partner, or trust beneficiary applying for landowner preference is a resident; and
- The shareholder, member, partner, or trust beneficiary has responsibility for making the day-to-day management decisions for agricultural purposes on the farm or ranch.
- Nonresident landowners do not qualify for landowner preference but may qualify for some deer season landowner-own-land licenses.
Fees
Payment for applications submitted online must be made with a valid credit card (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express). Your credit card is not charged until you are either, 1) successful in the drawing, or 2) unsuccessful in the drawing but elected to receive a preference point. Elk, mountain goat, and bighorn sheep applications have a $10 nonrefundable application fee.
Nonpayment in the form of a cancelled credit card will result in your license being withheld and the blocking of any future license purchases until the unpaid fee, along with any penalties, is paid in full.
Habitat Stamp
A person 18 years of age or older is required to purchase a Habitat Stamp ($10 for residents and $25 for nonresidents) when applying for or purchasing any hunting, fishing, or trapping license. A person is not required to purchase more than one Habitat Stamp within a license year.
Surcharge
The license fee - except for licenses to take fur-bearing animals, one-day small game licenses, predator/varmint licenses, migratory bird certification permits, youth deer licenses, youth small game licenses, and mentored youth big game licenses - includes a $6 surcharge established by the South Dakota Legislature. Surcharge monies are divided between programs for wildlife damage management and public hunting land access, programs that benefit both landowners and hunters.
Preference Point and Application Fees
For elk, mountain goat, and bighorn sheep, an applicant shall receive a single preference point per year and season, if unsuccessful for that season. For other seasons, an applicant can choose to purchase a preference point. Preference points are $5 for residents and $20 for nonresidents. There is no cost for preference points for free limited access permits or combined deer seasons for youth 15 or younger, during the calendar year.
Preference Points
Seasons with a limited number of licenses have a preference point system.
One preference point may be obtained each year the applicant is unsuccessful. Preference points cannot be transferred to another person.
Preference point use is required for the first choice of the first draw and for access permit applications. Preference point use is optional in subsequent draws.
If a person chooses to use their preference points, and they are successful in drawing that license, they will lose all accumulated preference points for that season. If a person chooses not to use their preference points and are successful in drawing a license, they will not lose their preference points for that season.
Applicants for a combined deer drawing that is or was 15 or younger during the calendar year (and has not been previously successful in a first-choice drawing) will receive a bonus preference point for the season applied for prior to the respective drawing taking place.
Preference points for some limited issue license seasons can be purchased from September 15 – December 15, through GFP’s online licensing system in lieu of an application.
If you have any questions about your preference points, please contact the GFP Licensing Office at 605.223.7660.