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SD Turkey Hunting

Hunting Information

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 Details below from SDGFP Website

About South Dakota Turkey Hunting


South Dakota Marriam TurkeySouth Dakota offers a spring and fall turkey hunting season to both residents and nonresidents.

  • The spring season application process opens in mid January with a late February deadline. The tradition start for the season is the second Saturday in April, running through the third Sunday in May. It includes a prairie firearms season, archery season, Black Hills season, and Custer State Park season.
  • The fall season application process opens in mid June with a late July deadline. The season traditionally runs from Oct. 1-Jan. 31. This season covers most of the state, with the exception of Custer State Park were there is no fall season. There is no fall archery season, however archery equipment may be used for the firearms season.

Male and female turkeys have distinct differences. The male is substantially larger than the female, with feathers of red, purple, green, copper, bronze, and gold iridescence and a small, featherless, reddish head that can change to blue in minutes. The male turkey typically have a "beard" consisting of course feathers that stick out from the breast. While the average beard is 9 inches in length, archery and firearm hunters set out each year to hunt down the "Tom Turkey" with a record beard.
 
Female on the other hand have feathers that are less prominent in color with shades of brown and gray and their wing feathers have white bars.