Hunting Guide 2021

HUNTING GUIDE 2021

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October 2021

36th Anniversary

Pheasant Country PF Chapter

BANQUET AND AUCTION Largest PF Membership Banquet in US and Canada As seen on NBC Sports!

PHEASANT COUNTRY CHAPTER #872 Mitchell, SD

“Mitchell’s Pheasant Opener Kickoff Celebration”

At the World’s Only Corn Palace

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15TH, 2021

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Doors Open at 5:00 p.m.

Includes Hor D’oevres served by: The Depot • Whiskey Creek • County Fair • Dimock Cheese with a cash bar.

The Corn Palace will be decked out in beautiful fall colors and the Starfire Band will be playing.

2021 Wild Dakota Calendar girls will be here! OVER 130 GUNS TO BE GIVEN AWAY! Auction includes:

Sodak-Gun • 5’ firepit one of a kind • Pepsi Gun Cabinet • Granite Springs Hunt, Mark Anderson John Green, and Nicole Heitzman Original Artwork Finished at Banquet • Hand Carved Items by Troy Bollock Bonnie Bullock Quilt • Vizsla Puppy • Matt Koop Pheasant and Duck Mount • and many more unique items.

Numerous Raffles:

• 36th Anniversary 5 Gun Raffle • Wheel of Guns - 6 Guns -60 Chances- $100.00 per chance • Dice Game • Cabela’s Table • Winchester Shell Pyramid • Silent Auction • $1,000 Case of Cash • 100 Gun Raffle Bash • Miller Lite Table • Shot Glass Raffle • Hog Raffle • Mystery Gun • Fast Draw Raffle • Cooking Raffle and many more raffles!

Veteran’s Raffle, Free to all Veterans.

TICKETS:

Tickets can be purchased at the Corn Palace Box Office from now until the banquet starts, anytime at Sodak or Cabela’s on October 14th & 15th, or from any committee member. Tickets are sold on a first come basis. We have had a huge response and apologize in advance for anyone who does not receive a ticket. Only 700 tickets sold and $60.00 per ticket includes membership and dinner.

Big Gun tickets online also.

Contact:

Dave Allen, President (605)996-8649 or j_allen01@hotmail.com Doug Backlund, Banquet Chair (605) 656-0010 Kevin Bruscher,Treasurer (605) 770-9129 for more information

Order Tickets www.pheasant-country.org

Pheasant Country Chapter 872

Make plans to attend

All are welcome!

October 2021

HUNTING GUIDE 3

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HUNTING GUIDE

October 2021

What to know about South Dakota hunting license and season information

BY MITCHELL REPUBLIC

Here’s a list of what hunters need to know ahead of the hunting seasons in the Mitchell area.

Hunting season dates

► Pheasant • Resident only: Oct. 9-11 • Statewide: Oct. 16 to Jan. 31, 2022.

• *Future opening dates: The pheasant season traditionally opens on the third Saturday in October, which is Oct. 15 in 2022 and Oct. 21 in 2023.

• *Shooting hours: 10 a.m. Central time to sunset for the entire season.

(Central time is used for opening shooting hours statewide.) ► Prairie chicken/grouse • Sept. 18 to Jan. 2, 2022. ► Ducks • Low Plains — north zone: Sept. 25 to Dec. 7 • Low Plains — middle zone: Sept. 25 to Dec. 7 • Low Plains — south zone: Oct. 23 to Jan. 4, 2022.

• High Plains: Oct. 9 to Jan. 13, 2022. ► Deer • Mentored/Apprentice: Sept. 11 to Jan. 1, 2022 • Archery: Sept. 1 to Jan. 1, 2022.

• East River: Nov. 20 to Dec. 5.

• West River: Nov. 13-28; Dec. 11-19 (antlerless only in Dec.) • Black Hills: Nov. 1-30 • Muzzleloader: Dec. 1 to Jan. 1, 2022.

(Mentored hunting is available for South Dakota residents only, and hunter safety practices are required for individuals ages 12-16 who are not participating in a mentored hunt.) ► Antelope • Archery: Oct. 18 to Oct. 31.

• Firearms: Oct. 2 to Oct. 17. ► Fall turkey • Nov. 1 to Jan. 31, 2022. *For those seasons not listed here, see the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department website at gfp.sd.gov.

Places to buy hunting licenses in Mitchell

• Cabela’s, 601 Cabela Drive.

• Coborn’s, 1800 N. Main St. • County Fair Foods, 1305 W. Havens Ave. • Cubby’s, 1000 S. Burr St. or 1700 W. Havens Ave. • Northside Sinclair, 1905 N. Main St. • Runnings, 1400 S. Burr St. • SoDak Sports, 515 E. Spruce Ave. • Walmart, 1101 E. Spruce Ave. • Westside Sinclair, 1527 W. Havens Ave.

Cost for licenses

► Resident fees • Habitat Stamp: $10 • Combination (small game and fishing): $55 • Senior combination (age 65 and up): $40 • Small game: $33 • One-day small game: $12 • Youth small game (ages 12-15): $5 • State migratory bird certification: $5 • Predator/varmint: $5 • Furbearer: $30 ► Non-resident fees • Habitat Stamp: $25 • Small game (two 5-day periods): $121 • Youth small game, ages 12-15: $10 • Waterfowl (valid two, five-day periods, lottery only): $116 • Waterfowl (valid 3 days, lottery only): $86 • Predator/varmint: $40 • Furbearer: $275 • State migratory bird certification: $5 • Shooting preserve (annual): $121 • Shooting preserve (5-day): $76 • Shooting preserve (1-day): $46 • 2021 licenses are valid Dec. 15, 2020 through Jan. 31, 2022.

• 2022 licenses will be valid Dec. 15, 2021 through Jan. 31, 2023. *Habitat Stamps are required for most hunting, fishing and trapping in South Dakota. License holders can purchase one-time, good for the entire license year. Purchase is not required for one-day licenses, any youth license, private shooting preserve licenses or landowner hunting licenses.

HUNTING GUIDE 5

October 2021

Pheasant season begins without a state-sanctioned bird count SD continues effort to go younger in recruiting Harrington gave the encouraging, if restrained, report to the GF&P CommisMitchell Republic ion on Thursday, Oct. 7, at a meeting in the Black Hills.

PIERRE — Under mounting doubt In August, a column in the Star Triabout the health of South Dakota’s bune cast doubt on South Dakota state pheasant population, a state official on government’s decision to end an annual the eve of the residential pheasant seapheasant brood count, a roadside tally of son says the Rushmore State is still the wildlife, that historically forecast condiplace for pheasant hunting. tions for hunters coming into the state But Nick Harrington, a communifrom across the nation. cations specialist with South Dakota South Dakota “isn’t the bountiful Game, Fish and Parks, also cautioned dry pheasant destination it once was for bird conditions from an ongoing drought will hunters,” wrote columnist Dennis Andernecessitate hunters use every caution son. “But it’s still the best there is.” and even scout locations to see a sucA national decline in pheasant habitat, cessful hunt. precipitated by narrowing eligibility for “They’re going to be older birds, wary federal Conservation Reserve Program birds,” Harrington cautioned. “But Luke Hagen / Republic you’ve got a really good chance to get out A pair of young pheasants sit alongside a rural road in Kingsbury County. and bag a nice number of roosters.”

PHEASANT: Page 6

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PHEASANT From Page 5

Republic file photo

funding, has seen wildlands converted to farmland, according to Anderson. Moreover, state officials have come up short in proving the Gov. Kristi Noem-sanctioned nest predator plan, which pays kids and adults $10 for every trapped raccoon and skunk, has helped boost pheasant numbers.

At the August GF&P meeting, Secretary Kevin Robling dodged questions about the count, citing a decade-old graduate thesis to suggest the predator program would prove beneficial to pheasants.

On Sept. 8, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources released the annual pheasant forecast, showing a 25% decrease from 2020 with roughly

October 2021

40 birds per 100 miles, compared to 54 birds over the same stretch a year earlier. The report’s author, Tim Lyons, a wildlife research scientist, blamed “widespread drought,” but noted the numbers still exceed the 10-year average.

Similarly, North Dakota officials count a 23% decrease over 2020 numbers.

But at the behest of a marketing work group, GF&P ended the pheasant count in 2020, meaning out-of-state hunters are dependent on assurances from state officials that they’ll have a good harvest.

Harrington on Thursday provided such, saying a farmer in Moody County told him he’d yet to see any birds, “But he started combining, and he hasn’t seen as many birds in 15 years.”

The state resident pheasant hunt opened Oct. 9 with the nonresident hunt — what Harrington called “the super bowl” — begins Oct. 16. Last year, GFP claims that 1.1 million birds were taken,

averaging nine birds per hunter.

Overall, South Dakota brings in roughly $287 million during the annual pheasant hunt, according to numbers from the Department of Tourism. This year GF&P has also contracted with 605 Magazine, a multimedia company in Sioux Falls, to create content promoting hunting amongst a younger demographic.

One video showcases a rancher north of Belle Fourche in northwestern South Dakota who maintains a walk-in hunting area on his property, while another video highlights so-called CHAP (Controlled Hunting Access Program) land in southern Bon Homme County along the Missouri River.

GF&P did not respond to a query on the price of this advertising campaign.

But the state agency has said they will evaluate the videos’ effectiveness after this hunting season.

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October 2021

Meet Jake Hanson, South Dakota’s regional rep to Pheasants Forever with his wife, Emily, was named South Dakota’s regional representative to Mitchell Republic Pheasants Forever, the nation’s largWhen Jake Hanson moved to South est-nonprofit organization dedicated to Dakota in 2015, he had never been upland habitat conservation. pheasant hunting, but six years on, it’s In his new role, Hanson has a wide hard to imagine his life without it. range of responsibilities, the largest of Almost immediately after being introwhich is overseeing and assisting the duced, Hanson felt a strong emotional con- various mission-oriented events put nection and knew he had to get involved on by the 33 active Pheasants Forever with the future of his newfound passion. chapters in South Dakota. The chapters “I grew up in northern Minnesota spread to each corner of the state and where we didn’t have grasslands, we had have a combined membership of more forests, so I wasn’t a pheasant hunter,” than 6,000. Hanson expects the number Hanson said. “But there was just someof chapters to reach 35 soon, perhaps thing about walking that prairie landeven by the end of 2021, as a student-led scape that made me feel not only more chapter on the campus of Northern State connected to the land but also that sense University in Aberdeen and an all-womof urgency to do my part to conserve this en’s chapter based in Sioux Falls are both Courtesy of Jake Hanson, Pheasants Forever for generations to come.” in the works.

South Dakota regional representative Jake Hanson (left) and friends pose for a Fast forward to late July of this year, and Hanson, who lives in Sioux Falls photo during a pheasant hunt.

HANSON: Page 8

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HANSON

management and fundraising, which gives him a unique lens to view a range of administrative and hands-on proFrom Page 7 gramming roles. Hanson graduated with a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, and is nearing completion of a master’s degree in nonprofit leadership and a certification in natural resource management from the University of Denver.

During his first couple months on the job, Hanson was busy with a flurry of meetings throughout August and September as well as preparing for the organization’s busiest month of the year in South Dakota. Fourteen chapters have banquets during October to coincide with pheasant hunting opener, along with other large fundraising efforts and outreach events.

Looking to the future, Hanson is Founding a chapter is an early part excited about the campaign Pheasants of Hanson’s Pheasants Forever story as Forever launched just before he was well. A few years ago, Hanson was part of a group that started a Watertown-based hired. Known as ‘Call of the Uplands,’ chapter, for which he served as president the campaign aims to raise $500 million to use toward the improvement of 9 miluntil taking up the regional position. lion acres of upland habitat, introduce While Hanson says having a back1.5 million new people to the uplands ground in conservation biology is comthrough various outreach and educationmon within the organization, his own al programs and permanently protect background is actually in nonprofit

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75,000 acres of land.

“It’s probably the boldest campaign the organization has ever undertaken, but there’s never been a greater need than right now to protect the grasslands as they continue to disappear across the nation,” Hanson said, citing the loss of 53 million acres of United States grasslands since 2009.

Hanson’s motivation has always come from a genuine passion for hunting, working with hunting dogs and the land, which is why he’s dedicated this chapter of his life to the Pheasants Forever mission.

“If you have that love within you, I think you have a significant responsibility to care for those resources and pass that love on to the next generation,” Hanson said. “I strive every day to pass this love onto others so we can keep the cycle moving in the right direction.”

Courtesy of Jake Hanson, Pheasants Forever

South Dakota regional representative Jake Hanson kneels next to his dog, Jep, during a pheasant hunt.

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October 2021

Deer, elk carcass disposal rules now statewide MITCHELL REPUBLIC

PIERRE – The 2021 hunting season is the first in South Dakota to have new rules about how deer and elk hunters dispose of carcass remains to help manage chronic wasting disease.

In May, the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Commission approved new rules for all deer and elk hunters. Those hunters transporting a deer or elk from the county of harvest must dispose of all carcass remains in a garbage container or at a permitted landfill.

This applies statewide regardless of CWD status in the respective county. For taxidermists and game processors, all carcass remains need to be disposed of in the same way regardless of harvest location.

“This is a big change for hunters,” said GF&P Terrestrial Section Chief John Kanta in a statement earlier this year. “We will be working hard to get the word out and to make sure our hunters know why this is important. … We all need to do our

part to protect our deer and elk herds and make sure that carcasses are disposed of properly.”

Previously, the rule was only required in CWD endemic areas.

Since the first in-state case was discovered in 2001, South Dakota has confirmed cases of CWD in 17 counties of western and central South Dakota.

Hunters are recommended to leave as much of the unusable carcass as possible at the location of the harvest in a discrete location on both public and private lands. It is illegal to dispose of carcass remains on road ditches, private property without permission and public land different from the location of the harvest.

Mitchell area big-game carcass disposal sites include the Mitchell Regional Landfill, Tri-County Landfill, of Pukwana, Southern Missouri Recycling and Waste Management’s landfill near Lake Andes, and community landfills in Winner and Burke.

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October 2021

A personal pheasant hunting history Roger Wiltz writes about his lifetime of hunting South Dakota’s famous bird My earliest recollection of South Dakota pheasants dates back to the end of World War II. My father had worked 24/7 in the Chicago Chrysler plant on aircraft engines, and like all those related to the war effort, he needed a break.

He and a buddy headed for Oldham, South Dakota in his 1937 Studebaker.

In later years he spoke of how difficult it was to get shotgun shells, and of the “clouds” of pheasants. I remember that old Studebaker, but mostly I recall a trunkful of dead pheasants. I’d like to tell you that right then I made up my mind to someday go after those South Dakota pheasants, but that wasn’t the case.

Fast forward about 15 years later. In early September 1960, I boarded the Chicago and Northwestern “Dakota 400” train in downtown Chicago and headed for Brookings. Around midnight, I was greeted at the Brookings train station

by John Frank, Mike and John Sterner.

They brought me to Gym Dorm, my new home, in the basement of the gym otherwise known as The Barn.

That first weekend at South Dakota State College’s Gym Dorm found me alone, as most everyone had gone home. That didn’t matter. I had my Winchester Model 97, and I would go Courtesy of Roger Wiltz pheasant hunting Saturday morning. I John L. Wiltz, father of Roger Wiltz, holds his take of World War II-era pheasants knew absolutely nothing about seasons, hours, or bag limits, but I had purchased in rural South Dakota near Oldham. a hunting license.

That Saturday morning, I walked out to the SDSC agronomy farm.

Pheasants were everywhere! Some flew, some ran, and some just looked at me. As I walked back to Gym Dorm that morning with my shotgun and an armload of pheasants, I received some strange looks from passersby.

Somehow, I never got arrested.

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coach, Ralph Ginn, actually came to our room and confiscated our shotguns for skipping chemistry lab to go hunting.

(We got them back on the promise not to skip any more classes).

Few of us had transportation, but when one of us hunters had wheels, we “road hunted.” This was highly frustrating for me at first. One of the guys would yell, “I see one!” and they would pile out of the car on that side.

I’d frantically search, but I couldn’t see the bird. And then the day came when I learned to spot an eye or a ringedneck. I could spot birds with the best of them. Trespass laws were liberal back then, and we could hunt any land that wasn’t posted.

I especially remember opening day 1963 at Wessington Springs – the home of my future wife, Betsy. Eight of us had our four-bird limit before we finished walking that first cornfield. We were back at the house within the hour.

Brookings was not the heart of South Dakota pheasant country, but we always bagged our birds. Following graduation in 1964, my first home in the state was Willow Lake. Clark County pheasants were plentiful, and at that time neighboring Spink County and Redfield might have been South Dakota’s pheasant capital. The fall of 1966 brought us to Parkston, and though it wasn’t the heart of pheasant country, I could bag a limit with minimal effort.

The fall of 1971 brought us to Burke and Gregory County. Once again, ringnecks were abundant – especially if we headed northwest toward the

PHEASANT: Page 11

October 2021

PHEASANT From Page 10

Winner area. At this time and for some years, Winner was considered the heart of South Dakota pheasant country.

Perhaps it still is.

In 1976, we moved to Wagner — our present home. It didn’t take long to make new friends, and soon Sunday afternoon hunts became a 35-year tradition. I can’t remember our core group of Dave Isebrands, Don Kaberna, Bob Wiechmann, Curt Kaberna and myself not having our limit by 3:30 p.m.

It ended with the untimely deaths of Bob and Don. My opening day Saturdays were and still are spent with the John Uecker group which often numbers 10 or more. As recently as 2014, I wrote about taking a lunch break around 2 p.m. and finishing up our limit by 4 p.m.

While on a 2004 Argentine hunt, I met a Seattle physician who had bought

HUNTING GUIDE 11 an old home in Mott, North Dakota that served as their annual pheasant hunt headquarters. At that time, Mott may have been the nation’s pheasant hunt capital, but I’ve since heard that even Mott pheasant hunting has fallen off of its once-prestigious reputation.

Our current pheasant number decline is more or less a recent situation as well as somewhat of a mystery. Across the state, our wild bird numbers are way down. Some blame predators. Others fault the widespread use of modern farming practices including herbicides and insecticides.

I feel that I can say for certain that habitat is the key to recovery. I can also say that in spite of declining numbers, South Dakota is still our nation’s pheasant capital. It’s also a great place to call home.

Wiltz writes a regular outdoors column for the Mitchell Republic.

He can be reached by email at rwiltz@charles-mix.com.

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October 2021

A century of traditions in South Dakota

BY STEVE NELSON For the Mitchell Republic

No one is really sure who released the first pheasants in South Dakota, but the city of Redfield certainly has to be given credit for the first successful release. That was in 1908. A Sturgis newspaper account notes that around 1900 the first birds were put out in Meade County, and nothing further was written about that particular release.

Some years later, a Dr. A. Zeitlitz released birds into Split Rock Creek near Sioux Falls. Those birds seemed to have survived for a couple years but then disappeared.

In Redfield in 1908, H.P. Packard, J. Scualkle and H.A. Hageman secured three pairs of pheasants from Oregon.

A grandson of one of the gentlemen called me several years back to fill in some of the missing parts of the history.

It seems that the birds arrived late and instead of releasing them into the South Dakota winter, the birds were kept in a warm barn until spring and then let out.

L.J. Howard, who at that time was the Spink County clerk of courts, went with the men to Hageman’s Grove just north of Redfield and released the birds. Over the years the number of pheasants grew.

The Game, Fish and Parks Department purchased 48 of the birds and released them into privately subscribed fields near Redfield.

The first one-day season took place on Oct. 30, 1919 in Spink County. Each person holding a small game license was allowed to shoot one pheasant.

Since then, the birds have come a long way. More on that later.

One particular account has this season opening on Oct. 1, 1919.

Where did he come from?

Actually, the ringneck, or Chinese ringneck, or common pheasant was imported to America from Asia.

Archaeological evidence suggests that large pheasants lived in southern France some 13 million years ago.

In 1881 Judge O.N. Denny released some 100 pairs in the Willamette

Valley in Oregon and that’s where the pheasant in America gained his foothold. The birds came to South Dakota in 1898.

The annual life of a pheasant can be broken down into four major phases (Nesting, Brood, Rearing, Foraging and Winter Survival). Pheasants live to be 2-3 years old.

One season when things were good, the season opened at noon Saturday on Oct. 17. At that time, 92,465 residents and 101,922 non-residents took to the field. They harvested 1.648 million birds, a number that did not include preserve bags of around 250,000 birds.

Residents and non-residents seemed to be satisfied with that season. That year, the counties with the highest reported harvests, listed from highest to lowest were Spink, Lyman, Brown, Tripp, and Beadle. What year was that?

It was 2009, not that long ago.

That figure includes the youth only, resident public land only, and game preserves seasons.

We know that pheasants prefer to run.

When startled or with a good dog on their trail, they will flush. It’s normally this wild flush that gives them the power to reach speeds up to 60 miles per hour.

That, combined with a tail feather that may reach 20 inches or more in length, make them a formidable target.

When hunting this season, keep in mind that the pheasant prefers to run, and usually will only fly when startled, or nosed up by a good dog.

Their hearing is uncanny, and when you slam the car door before entering a field, they know you’re there, and may already be headed for heavy cover, especially in late season.

They are short-distance flyers but can reach speeds up to 50 miles an hour when startled and even faster with a good wind at their backs. Be sure to give them plenty of lead.

Once they associate hunters with danger, they are quickly on their way to a safe place, like cattails and bulrushes around a slough.

TRADITION: Page 13

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TRADITION From Page 12

Pheasants are native to Asia with their original range extending between the Black and Caspian Seas in Manchuria,

HUNTING GUIDE 13 Siberia, South Korea, mainland China, and Taiwan. They like woodland, farmland, scrub, and wetlands.

Nelson, of Pierre, is a longtime outdoor writer and photographer. His column was made available through the S.D. Newspaper Association.

Pheasant facts to know There are some things you may know and may not about this colorful bird: ► Weight: Male ring-necked pheasants weigh 2 to 3 pounds, while hens average 2 pounds. ► Length: Males measure 24-35 inches long with a rooster’s tail often accounting for more than 20 inches of that length. Hens are smaller with a much shorter tail. ► Flight speed: 38-40 mph but can reach 60. ► Favorite foods: corn, seeds, and insects. ► Preferred habitat: undisturbed grass. ► Average nest initiation: early May. ► Average incubation start: late May. ► Length of incubation: 23 days. ► Average first hatch: mid-June. ► Average clutch size: 12 eggs. ► Average nest success: 40-60 percent. ► Average hen success: 50-70 percent. ► Average rate of chick survival: 50 percent. ► Major nest predators: fox, racoon, skunk. ► Major adult predators: man, fox, hawks, owl. ► Survival rate: mild winter, good habitat, 95 percent. ► Survival rate: severe winter, good habitat, 50 percent. ► Survival rate: mild winter, poor habitat, 80 percent. ► Survival rate: severe winter, poor habitat, 20 percent.

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October 2021

Canada goose donation program expanded for Sportsmen Against Hunger The South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in cooperation with South Dakota Sportsmen Against Hunger are encouraging Canada goose hunters to take advantage of expanded hunting opportunities, which will allow greater harvest of Canada geese to hopefully increase donations of surplus harvested geese to families in need.

One expansion is the adding much of eastern South Dakota to the Canada goose August Management Take area, which would be open for hunting from August 21-31. The daily limit would be 15 birds per day with no possession limit. A description of the open area can be found on the GF&P website (gfp. sd.gov/goose) and in the 2021 GF&P Hunting and Trapping Handbook.

Another change is the lengthening of that portion of the Early Fall Canada

Goose Unit 1 hunting season in which geese can be donated. The new dates are Sept. 1-30, with a daily limit of 15.

The changes being implemented are due to South Dakota currently having a resident Canada goose population that is above the population objective and causing excessive damage to agricultural crops and urban landscapes, as well as creating public safety issues to airports.

Hunters may donate harvested Canada geese by taking their geese to participating game processors, who will process the birds at no cost to the hunters, and who will deliver the processed and packaged goose burger to Feeding South Dakota food banks and associated food pantries. SAH will pay for the processing through SAH Processing Certificates provided to hunters by processors for completing and giving back to the processor.

Hunters will need to check the

A flock of Canada geese flies over a wetland north of Mitchell.

Sportsmen Against Hunger website (www.feedtheneedsd.com) or GF&P website (sdgfp.maps.arcgis.com), or call toll-free 1-800-456-2758, for names and locations of goose processors and to find out if a particular processor will accept whole birds or just the breast meat.

In fall and winter 2020-21, 20,086 pounds of game meat were provided to needy families through SAH and local food relief agencies. This meat was

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primarily a result of donation of 470 deer, three antelope, 755 pheasants, 1,182 Canada geese, and 320 pounds of cleaned walleye. Other game meat came from community game meat food drives, hunter direct donations of processed meat to food relief agencies, and salvage processing of confiscated or non-hunter killed game.

Source: South Dakota Sportsmen Against Hunger

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October 2021

HUNTING GUIDE 15

South Dakota 4-H launches educational outdoors program this fall

BY BRANDEN HULL Mitchell Republic

South Dakota State University Extension and South Dakota 4-H have recently started a new program that provides experiences and education to young people interested in outdoor education and natural resources.

The yearlong program called Outdoor, Wilderness and Life Skills, or OWLS, is run by the SDSU 4-H community, which stands for head, heart, hands and health.

The program was adopted from University of Minnesota Extension and is now in the state of South Dakota for the first time.

The OWLS program, that originally was supposed to start in fall 2020 but was delayed due to COVID-19, begins in the month of October and will end in July each year. So far, the program consists of monthly webinars and quarterly campouts. The monthly webinar is a resource to those participants about what will be expected of them monthto-month and what else to expect going forward.

Different activities such as “Leave No Trace Principles,” “Ten Essentials of Survival,” and others will be explained in detail virtually at the monthly webinar before the in-person learning begins.

SDSU is providing similar opportunities in the yearlong program, but with a different age range intended for different results. University of Minnesota Extension allows kids as young as 11 to register, while SDSU Extension designed its program for ages 14 and up.

“It targets a different group, so rather than just a one-off program that might get the youth interested, but not invested, we have youth that are invested in the program and interested in what they’re learning,” SDSU Extension Youth Outdoor Education Field Specialist Katherine Jaeger said. “And then repetitive exposure in topics and skills, is the way things can build up so we can build on what we learn … We want to build on skills incrementally throughout the year.”

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Luke Hagen / Republic

South Dakota State University (SDSU) Extension and South Dakota 4-H have unveiled a brand new, yearlong program for youth interested in outdoor education and natural resources.

Outdoor skills range from fire building, tree identification, fishing, fish cleaning and archery will be taught to the youth with comprehensive training. Experts from South Dakota 4-H, as well as South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks (GF&P), will partner to provide and demonstrate outside skills in three hands-on camping experiences, along with a year-end adventure.

“The program provides hands-on environmental natural resources, skills and practices,” Jaeger said. “We wanted to create an outlet for them to learn those skills and practice them in safe ways.”

The purpose of the OWLS Program is to educate and engage teen participants in a variety of activities to better prepare them to be good stewards of the land.

A sample calendar for year one of OWLS could include events from canoeing, kayaking and outdoor cooking in Oakwood Lakes State Park to snowshoeing, camping and winter survival in Custer State Park.

“It’s designed towards youth that want to dive into outdoor education and natural resources a little bit deeper,” Jaeger said. “There’s nothing like this in the state, so it’s a need we’re filling here.”

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HUNTING GUIDE

October 2021

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