12/12/2011
By: Eric Ellefson
Despite the loss of key habitat due to CRP contracts expiring and exceptionally cold winters, upland hunting enthusiasts flock to South Dakota to hunt pheasants.
According to numbers released by SD Game Fish & Parks, hunters and anglers were not deterred from buying their 2011 licenese.
Chris Peterson, the director of administration for the state Game, Fish and ParksDepartment, said "If the recent spurt of strong sales continues through the Dec. 15 close of the 2011 licensing year, revenue from the nonresident small-game licenses will be off only $500,000 to $600,000 from a year ago".
Nonresidents purchased 89,795 small-game hunting licenses through Nov. 28. The number was down about 4,300 so far. Nonresidents bought about 102,000 in 2010. Those licenses are mostly for
pheasant hunting.
Total Hunting & Fishing numbers through Nov. 28 were:
- Resident combination: 43,408 this year and 43,117 last year;
- Resident small game: 31,420 this year and 34,668 last year; and
- Resident annual fishing: 57,972 this year and 58,628 last year.
Total
license sales of all types were 379,476 this year so far, down 0.9 percent from the 382,899 last year at this point.