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Commission proposes three bighorn sheep hunting licenses

Bob Mercer Journal correspdonent Dec 15, 2017 Updated 12 hrs ago


The state is proposing that three bighorn sheep licenses be made available for hunters in 2018.


PIERRE | Three hunting licenses for bighorn sheep in a Black Hills unit might be available in South Dakota for 2018 and again in 2019.

The state Game, Fish & Parks Commission formally proposed on Friday raising the number to three for the next two seasons.

The licenses would be for the Custer County unit commonly known as Elk Mountain.

Two sheep licenses were drawn there this year.

A public hearing will be scheduled for 2 p.m. on Jan. 11 in Pierre.

South Dakota and Wyoming wildlife officials jointly manage the bighorn herd that crisscrosses the border between the states.



Tom Kirschenmann is South Dakota’s chief of terrestrial resources. He said Wyoming likewise would offer three licenses.

The bighorn license that South Dakota typically gives the Wild Sheep Foundation to auction would come South Dakota’s three, according to Kirschenmann.


He said the foundation’s Midwest chapter was the only applicant for the right to auction one of the South Dakota licenses.

The auction would occur in the Twin Cities-area in March. The auction proceeds would come back to South Dakota for bighorn sheep activities, Kirschenmann said.

“We would work the logistics with them to carry that out,” he said.