Private Shooting Preserves

Private Shooting Preserves Permit Application

The private shooting permit can be issued to an individual (South Dakota residents only), co-partnership, association, or corporation owning, holding or controlling by lease or otherwise any contiguous tract of land (must touch at the corners or sides) of at least 160 and not to exceed 2,560 acres.

A shooting preserve may not be located within one mile of publicly owned land managed for hunting and wildlife without prior Commission approval. The one-year private shooting preserve fee is $100.00 for the preserve season plus 40 cents for each acre of land within the preserve. The three-year private shooting preserve fee is $300.00 for the three preserve seasons plus $1.20 cents for each acre of land within the preserve.

The shooting preserve season runs from September 1 until March 31 of the following year. Shooting hours are restricted from sunrise until sunset. The game birds that can be licensed for South Dakota preserves include pheasants, partridges, quail, and turkey.

• The bag limits will vary for each species.
• The applicant is required to submit a plan of operation which includes information about the facilities available on the preserve, services offered, species of game birds to be hunted, bag limits planned, number of birds expected to be released, age of birds at time of planned release, and approximate dates of planned bird releases.
• The applicant must provide a full legal description of the acres involved, listing the section(s), township, range, and county.
• The applicant must provide a written lease agreement for any land not owned by the permitee.
• The preserve boundaries must be outlined on a plat map provided with the preserve application.
• An aerial map outlining the preserve boundaries is also required.
• A minimum of 300 rooster pheasants must be released within the preserve during the first year of operation and a minimum of 600 rooster pheasants each season thereafter.
• Hen releases are allowed on the preserves, but their numbers cannot be included on the game release records, nor can they be used to meet the required minimum release total for the preserve.
• The total harvest of released and wild birds cannot exceed 100% of each species of birds released.

All pheasants released on the shooting preserve must be marked by either toe clipping or by the enlarged nares from some type of anti-pecking device. In either situation, this marking must be done before the birds are six weeks of age. A department representative must verify the marking method and release of the birds. All birds must be kept until they are at least 15 weeks of age. Species of game birds hunted and tagged on the preserve may include only those species listed on the preserve permit. All birds must be released on preserves from August 1 through March 31.

Birds must be released on the preserve before hunting can start. Waterfowl and other game species not listed on the preserve permit may be hunted within the preserve, but only with the appropriate licenses and during legal seasons, according to state laws and regulations.

All birds, both released and wild, harvested on preserve acres must be tagged with a GFP issued serial numbered kill tag. These tags are used to identify birds harvested on preserve acres. Any bird harvested on non-preserve acres should not be tagged.

A preserve hunter may transport or be in possession of up to 20 undressed or processed pheasants with attached kill tags from the beginning of the hunting preserve season through the end of the statewide pheasant season. From the end of the statewide pheasant season through the end of the private shooting preserve season, a preserve hunter may transport or be in possession of up to 15 undressed or processed pheasants with attached kill tags. Possession of more than 20 tagged pheasants will be allowed, provided the hunter can document multiple days of hunting on a preserve operator's guest register record.

Game harvest and release records must also be maintained and recorded daily throughout the entire preserve season by the operators. The department will provide operators access to an online records keeping system.  

Throughout the entire preserve season,  any permitted bird (released or wild) harvested on preserve acres must be tagged with a department issued  preserve kill tag even during the normal state season. Any birds harvested on non-preserve land are not to be tagged. 

There is a charge of 25 cents for each kill tag used, which is paid at the end of the preserve season, when left-over tags are returned to the department.  Unused tags not returned, are assessed a fee of $2.00 each.

New and renewal applications for private shooting preserves will be received in the Pierre office from January 1 through March 1. The department will print a public notice of any new preserve application and those preserve applications located within one mile of the publicly defined land.

The one-mile distance permitted from public land is measured in a straight-line distance from the preserve to the closest point of the public land managed for wildlife and/or hunting. 

Permits are sent out to permittees in late spring.

If you are considering setting up a shooting preserve, please contact your local wildlife conservation officer and discuss your plans before applying for a private shooting preserve permit.

Administrative Rules for Private Shooting Preserves

Sales Tax Information

State Laws for Private Shooting Preserves

Private Shooting Preserves by Size

Acreage	Number
160	24
161-320	40
321-640	53
641-960	32
961-1279	18
1280-1919	36
1920-2559	18
2560	9

Private Shooting Preserve Renewals

Year	Not Renewed	Renewed	New	Total
2012-13	12	185	18	203
2013-14	16	187	14	201
2014-15	18	183	14	194
2015-16	13	181	19	200
2016-17	17	183	14	197
2017-18	2	195	19	214
2018-19	17	199	26	225
2019-20	23	202	13	215
2020-21	15	201	29	229
2021-22	14	210	16	226
2022-23	16	208	19	227
2023-24	13	214	21	234
2024-25	28	208	27	235

Private Shooting Preserve Pheasant Harvest and Release Records

Year	Number of PSP	Species	Birds Released	Total Birds Harvested	Released Birds Harvested	Wild Birds Harvested
2010-11	207	Pheasant	356,727	242,705	185,094	57,611
2011-12	297	Pheasant	386,563	243,196	200,337	43,744
2012-13	203	Pheasant	403,380	237,965	202,991	36,630
2013-14	201	Pheasant	434,005	260,426	234,590	25,836
2014-15	194	Pheasant	420,074	268,316	234,003	34,313
2015-2016	200	Pheasant	432,304	279,383	243,168	33,196
2016-17	197	Pheasant	438,287	280,536	250,029	30,507
2017-18	214	Pheasant	468,668	283,254	264,291	18,963
2018-19	225	Pheasant	499,442	305,987	279,243	26,74
2019-20	215	Pheasant	499,179	306,430	283,988	25,316
2020-21	213	Pheasant	451,662	276,571	252,597	23,974
2021-22	226	Pheasant	579,672	350,581	330,674	21,104
2022-23	227	Pheasant	597,137	359,535	338,488	21,047
2023-24	234	Pheasant	612,857	375,716	354,133	21,863

Private Shooting Preserve Other Game Bird Harvest and Release Records 

Species	Birds Released	Total Harvested	Percentage
Partridge	5863	1413	25%
Quail	210	21	10%
Turkey	0	0	0%