Licenses
Photo © Sam Stukel
Preference Points
Note: Preference points will be available for purchase September 15-December 15 in Go Outdoors South Dakota.
Seasons with a limited number of licenses have a preference system for applicants who are unsuccessful on their first choice in the first drawing.
Some useful information on preference points in lottery drawings include the following:
- One point may be purchased each year the applicant is unsuccessful.
- Applicants must choose to purchase preference if unsuccessful at time of application or purchase preference in their licensing profile prior to December 15.
- Preference points will be available for purchase September 15-December 15.
- Accrued preference points are required to be used for any season during the first draw, first choice selection.
- Applicants can choose to use preference for their second choice during a first drawing and for any subsequent drawing for both the first and second choice.
- Applicants who draw a license using preference and subsequently decide to return the license to the Licensing Office prior to the start of the applicable season, will have their preference points reinstated, be reimbursed their license fee, and maintain their eligibility for future drawings.
- Preference points may be purchased starting at age 10 for all species, except paddlefish, where there is no minimum age.
Purchased preference points are automatically credited to an application, even if you do not apply for the applicable season the following year.
Preference points cannot be transferred to another person.
*Preference points for access permits can only be obtained by applying and being unsuccessful in the drawing.
Please note that many units within certain seasons are highly sought after and cannot be drawn without preference points. Some units can be drawn with one year preference, but others require two or more year’s preference. To see approximately what your chances are of drawing a license in a particular unit, you can view last year’s draw statistics.
Frequently Asked Questions
Learn more about the cost of preference points for residents and nonresidents, how to purchase them and more in the frequently asked questions section.
Cubed Preference Points
Following a presentation by South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks (GFP) this past December, the GFP Commission requested public input on a proposal to cube preference points for all 36 limited draw seasons; in which preference points can be purchased and accrued. After receiving over 400 public comments, the GFP Commission approved the proposal at their January meeting.
Purpose
To increase the drawing odds of applicants who have more years of accumulated preference points, while still allowing applicants with fewer preference points a chance to draw a limited license.
The drawing will run the exact same way as before. The GFP Licensing Office will still have the same breakdown of preference point pools for every season, however, now GFP will cube the number of times a person’s name is in the draw before the draw is run.
While this will improve the odds for people with more years of preference points drawing a license, it will not guarantee them one. This does not change the drawing to a true top down preference point system. A hunter with the most preference points will still not be guaranteed a license before another hunter with less preference points, but the odds of drawing a license will be increased.
The cubing of preference points also does not affect the price of preference points or the number of preference points a hunter can acquire in any given year. Only one point can be purchased each year for each season, if you did not receive a first choice license in the first draw.
The cubed preference point system will not be applied to special buck, Francis Case paddlefish snagging or spring turkey drawings until 2019. It will first be applied to the 2018 elk and Gavin's Point paddlefish snagging drawings and then used for all limited draw seasons - there are 36 total.
Drawing Procedure for Deer, Antelope and Turkey
Landowner with Preference Pool
50% of all licenses available in a unit are offered to those who qualify for landowner status and have preference.
The license program does a random drawing of this group and issues licenses to those who are selected.
Balance of unissued licenses fall to the landowner pool (those landowners without preference points).
Landowner Pool
Any licenses remaining from the landowner with preference pool are issued at this point.
The license program does a random drawing of this group and issues licenses to those who are selected.
Balance of unissued licenses fall to the 2+ preference pool.
Unsuccessful applicants fall to their respective preference pool.
50% of all licenses available, and any remaining licenses from the landowner pool, are issued at this point in the drawing sequence.
Applicant groups are entered into the drawing once for the current application, and once for each year of preference represented by the group application.
Example: Two individuals apply in the same envelope. One has 3 years of preference, while the other has 2 years of preference. The group would be entered into the drawing 3 times (once for this year’s application and 2 more times for the lowest preference point total represented in the group application).
The license program does a random drawing of this preference group, as well as those who were unsuccessful in previous preference groups (landowner group), and issues licenses to those who are selected.
1+ Preference Pool
Any remaining licenses from the 2+ Preference Pool are issued at this point in the drawing sequence.
Applicant groups are entered into the drawing once for the current application, and once for each year of preference represented by the group application.
Example: Two individuals apply in the same envelope. One has 2 years of preference, while the other has 1 year of preference. The group would be entered into the drawing 2 times (once for this year’s application and 1 more time for the lowest preference point total represented in the group application).
0+ Preference Pool
Any remaining licenses from the 1+ Preference Pool are issued at this point in the drawing sequence.
Applicant groups are entered into the drawing once for the current application.
The license program does a random drawing of this preference group, and issues licenses to those who are selected.
No licenses will be issued to an applicant in the 0+ Preference Pool unless all applicants in the 1+ Preference Pool have been issued a license.
2nd Choice Pool
If licenses remain after all first choice applications have been drawn, applications with a second choice are then selected through a random drawing.
Any licenses remaining after this second choice drawing are then available in the next application drawing.
Drawing Procedure for Elk
Black Hills Rifle, Archery and Prairie Drawings
Landowner Pool50% of all licenses available in a unit are offered to those who qualify for landowner status and are approved by Region 1 staff.
The license program does a random drawing of this preference group and issues licenses to those who are selected.
Balance of unissued licenses fall to 10+ Preference Pool.
Unsuccessful applicants fall to their respective preference pool.
10+ Preference Pool
30% of all licenses available, and any remaining licenses from the landowner pool, are issued at this point in the drawing sequence.
Applicant groups are entered in to the drawing once for the current application, and once for each year of preference represented by the group application.
Example: Two individuals apply in the same envelope. One has 13 years of preference, while the other has 11 years of preference. Their group is assigned a number. The number would be entered in to the drawing 12 times (once for this year’s application and 11 more times for the lowest preference point total represented in the group application).
The license program does a random drawing of this preference group, as well as those who were unsuccessful in previous preference groups, and issues licenses to those who are selected.
Unsuccessful applicants fall to the subsequent preference group and preference points associated with the application remain in tact.
2+ Preference Pool
15% of all licenses available, and any remaining licenses from the 10+ Preference Pool, are issued at this point in the drawing sequence.
Applicant groups are entered in to the drawing once for the current application, and once for each year of preference represented by the group application.
The license program does a random drawing of this preference group, as well as those who were unsuccessful in previous preference groups, and issues licenses to those who are selected.
Unsuccessful applicants fall to the subsequent preference group and preference points associated with the application remain in tact.
0+ Preference Pool
5% of all licenses available, and any remaining licenses from the 2+ Preference Pool, are issued at this point in the drawing sequence.
Applicant groups are entered in to the drawing once for the current application, and once for each year of preference represented by the group application.
The license program does a random drawing of this preference group, as well as those who were unsuccessful in previous preference groups, and issues licenses to those who are selected.
Unsuccessful first choice applicants will be issued one additional preference point at the end of the year.
Custer State Park Firearms, Custer State Park Antlerless and Early and Late Archery Drawings
Please keep in mind:
CSP Early Archery Elk and CSP Firearms Elk are a once in a lifetime license.
CSP Late Archery Elk hunters can apply every year.
CSP Antlerless Elk hunters cannot apply for 9 years after drawing a license.
15+ Preference Pool
34% of all licenses available are issued at this point in the drawing sequence.
Applicant groups are entered in to the drawing once for the current application, and once for each year of preference represented by the group application.
The license program does a random drawing of this preference group and issues licenses to those who are selected.
Unsuccessful applicants fall to the subsequent preference group and preference points associated with the application remain in tact.
10+ Preference Pool
33% of all licenses available are issued at this point in the drawing sequence.
Applicant groups are entered in to the drawing once for the current application, and once for each year of preference represented by the group application.
The license program does a random drawing of this preference group, as well as those who were unsuccessful in previous preference groups, and issues licenses to those who are selected.
Unsuccessful applicants fall to the subsequent preference group and preference points associated with the application remain in tact.
0+ Preference Pool
33% of all licenses available are issued at this point in the drawing sequence.
Applicant groups are entered in to the drawing once for the current application, and once for each year of preference represented by the group application.
The license program does a random drawing of this preference group, as well as those who were unsuccessful in previous preference groups, and issues licenses to those who are selected.
Unsuccessful first choice applicants will be issued one additional preference point at the end of the year.