Elk NetworkSouth Dakota Announces Elk Hunting Tags for 2025

Below is a portion of a South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks news release.

The South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks (GFP) held its April Commission meeting at the Matthews Training Center in Pierre. The Commission had several proposals and finalizations for upcoming seasons and regulations.

Black Hills Elk

The Commission proposed the Black Hills and Custer State Park elk hunting seasons with the following dates:

• Black Hills and CSP Archery: September 1 – 30
• CSP Firearm: October 1 – 31

Black Hills Firearm

• Any Elk Units: H1A, H2A, H3A, H4A, H5A, H7A, and H9A – Oct. 1 – 31
• Antlerless Elk Units: H1B, H4B, H7B, and H9B – Oct. 15-31 and Dec. 1-16
• Antlerless Elk Units: H2B, H2E, H2H, H3B, and H3E – Oct. 15 – 31
• Antlerless Elk Units: H2C, H2F, H21, H3C and H3F – Dec. 1 – 16
• Antlerless Elk Units: H2D, H2G, H2J, H3D, and H3G – Dec. 17-31.

897 any elk licenses and 1,335 antlerless elk licenses are recommended for the 2025 Black Hills and Custer State Park elk hunting seasons. This would result in 115 additional any elk licenses and 515 additional antlerless elk licenses compared to 2024.

The following recommendations represent a 15% increase in any elk licenses and a 63% increase in antlerless elk licenses from 2024 to 2025.

Prairie Elk

The Commission adopted the Prairie Elk Season with the following dates:

• Any Elk & Antlerless Elk Units: PRE-09A – Sep 1 – Dec 31
• Any Elk Units: PRE-11B any elk – Sep 1 – Oct 15
• Any Elk Units: PRE-11C – Oct 16 – Nov 30
• Antlerless Elk Units: PRE-11D – Sep 1 – Oct 31
• Antlerless Elk Units: PRE-11E – Nov 1 – Dec 31
• Any Elk & Antlerless Elk Units: PRE-15A – Sep 1 – Dec 31
• Any Elk & Antlerless Elk Units: PRE-27A – Sep 1 – Dec 31
• Any Elk & Antlerless Elk Units: PRE-35A – Sep 15 – Dec 31
• Any Elk & Antlerless Elk Units: PRE-35B – Sep 15 – Dec 31
• Any Elk & Antlerless Elk Units: PRE-49A – Sep 15 – Oct 31 & Dec 1 – 31
• Any Elk & Antlerless Elk Units: PRE-WRA – Sep 1 – Dec 31

The Commission expanded the West River Prairie Elk unit (PRE-WRA) to include all counties west of the Missouri River not currently in an existing Prairie Elk or Black Hills Elk hunting unit and to expand the season dates for Prairie Elk Unit 9A, to expand season dates for Prairie Elk Unit 27A to Sept. 1 – Dec. 31, and to allow the use of landowner-own-land, resident-only antlerless elk license for this unit.

The Commission approved a tag allocation of 136 “any elk” and 280 “antlerless elk” licenses for the Prairie Elk Hunting Season.