South Dakota deer, antelope and elk hunting: units, harvest and land

South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks runs firearm deer hunting in West River and East River units numbered by county, firearm antelope in 27 prairie units, and elk in the Black Hills and on the prairie. GFP projects hunters took 13,315 deer in the 2025 West River season and 12,415 in the East River season, counting special buck and landowner licenses, and 1,584 antelope in the 2025 firearm season. The 2026 West River deer season runs November 14 to 29 and the East River season November 21 to December 6.

Data updated October 2026. Harvest: GFP projections to 2025 (elk to 2024). Licenses and seasons: GFP 2026 applications and handbook. Land: GFP map layers.

Map of South Dakota's 66 counties, each named, with the Missouri River reservoirs — South Dakota's counties. GFP numbers its deer and antelope units by county (01 Minnehaha, 02 Pennington and so on); it does not publish unit lines as open data. County pages are listed below.

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When are South Dakota's 2026 big game seasons?

Statewide dates from GFP's 2026 handbook and its 2026 draw applications. Unit 30A in Gregory County and unit 58D in Stanley County have their own West River dates, and only tags marked antlerless are valid in the December 12 to 20 period.

Season, 2026	Dates
Deer, archery	September 1, 2026 to January 1, 2027 (nonresidents on public land from October 1)
Deer, mentored, youth and apprentice	September 12, 2026 to January 1, 2027
Deer, Black Hills	November 1 to 30
Deer, Custer State Park	November 1 to 30
Deer, West River	November 14 to 29; antlerless tags also December 12 to 20
Deer, East River	November 21 to December 6; antlerless tags also December 12 to 20
Deer, muzzleloader	December 1, 2026 to January 1, 2027
Antelope, archery	August 15 to October 2 and October 19 to 31
Antelope, firearm	October 3 to 18
Elk, Black Hills and Custer State Park archery	September 1 to 30
Elk, Black Hills and Custer State Park firearm (any elk)	October 1 to 31; antlerless dates vary by unit
Elk, prairie	September 1 to December 31

Sources: GFP 2026 Hunting and Trapping Handbook, page 102; GFP 2026 west river deer application; GFP 2026 east river deer application; GFP 2026 firearm antelope application; GFP 2026 elk application.

How do South Dakota's deer and antelope draws work?

West River and East River deer licenses are drawn in up to four drawings. The 2026 first drawing ran May 27 to June 23, and leftover licenses went on sale September 9. Both seasons are part of GFP's combined deer draw, which limits how many applications a hunter can make depending on other applications and licenses held. East River licenses are for residents in the drawings; nonresidents can buy leftovers only.

Firearm antelope licenses are drawn in two drawings; the 2026 first drawing ran June 16 to July 7. Elk licenses are for residents only, one per person per year, and the 2026 first drawing ran April 15 to May 19. An elk applicant who draws using preference points loses them and cannot apply in that season's first drawing for nine years.

Each unit's page shows GFP's own count of how many residents and nonresidents named that unit and license type as their first choice, how many licenses were available and sold, and how many deer or antelope GFP projects were taken. GFP's reports print first-choice applicants by unit, not by preference point level. License types ending in P are good on private land only, not on land GFP leases for public hunting.

South Dakota's deer units

37 West River and 46 East River units have a page. GFP's latest projections: 10,290 deer in these West River units and 8,476 in these East River units.

Unit	Season	GFP's description	Licenses, 2026	Deer taken (latest year)	First-choice resident applicants
Deer unit 01A	East River	Minnehaha (restrictions; see unit desc.)	300	160	685
Deer unit 02A	West River	East Pennington / Southeast Meade	702	419	689
Deer unit 02C	West River	Southeast Pennington	135	77	464
Deer unit 03A	East River	Brown (exc. Sand Lake NWR)	900	372	1,404
Deer unit 04A	East River	Beadle	450	220	37
Deer unit 05A	East River	Codington	600	287	835
Deer unit 06A	East River	Brookings	500	223	730
Deer unit 07A	East River	Yankton	50	19	774
Deer unit 08A	East River	Davison	50	33	50
Deer unit 10A	East River	Aurora	200	110	431
Deer unit 11A	West River	North Bennett	189	112	189
Deer unit 11B	West River	South Bennett	81	38	118
Deer unit 12A	East River	Bon Homme	50	32	17
Deer unit 13A	East River	Brule (exc. 13L)	550	213	810
Deer unit 13L	East River	Brule, public lands around Brule Bottom and Pease GPAs	20	13	32
Deer unit 14A	East River	Buffalo (exc. Pease GPA)	200	74	369
Deer unit 15A	West River	Butte	1,404	1,048	1,144
Deer unit 15B	West River	Southwest Butte / Northeast Lawrence	810	638	529
Deer unit 16A	East River	Campbell	380	210	541
Deer unit 17A	East River	Charles Mix (exc. Lake Andes NWR)	200	65	3
Deer unit 18A	East River	Clark	800	383	176
Deer unit 19A	East River	Clay	50	22	1
Deer unit 20A	West River	Corson	648	312	555
Deer unit 21A	West River	East Custer / Central Pennington	378	239	739
Deer unit 21B	West River	Central Custer / South Central Pennington	108	67	144
Deer unit 22A	East River	Day (exc. Waubay NWR)	900	368	168
Deer unit 23A	East River	Deuel	600	255	438
Deer unit 24A	West River	Dewey	486	214	315
Deer unit 24B	West River	Dewey, Little Moreau Recreation Area and GPA	22	14	57
Deer unit 25A	East River	Douglas	150	28	452
Deer unit 26A	East River	Edmunds	700	419	857
Deer unit 27A	West River	North Fall River	189	97	448
Deer unit 27B	West River	South and West Fall River	378	218	510
Deer unit 27L	West River	Fall River, Hill Ranch complex	17	16	59
Deer unit 28A	East River	Faulk	1,000	508	1,195
Deer unit 29A	East River	Grant	500	256	602
Deer unit 30A	West River	Gregory (November 7-10 and 23-29); 30B: Gregory (November 14- 29)	1,188	458	1,101
Deer unit 31A	West River	Haakon	1,107	768	817
Deer unit 32A	East River	Hamlin	700	286	211
Deer unit 33A	East River	Hand	310	182	731
Deer unit 34A	East River	Hanson	100	60	19
Deer unit 35A	West River	West Harding	513	321	710
Deer unit 35C	West River	East Harding	486	337	530
Deer unit 35L	West River	Harding, Custer Gallatin NF (exc. West Short Pines and Long Pines)	108	69	713
Deer unit 36A	East River	Hughes (exc. areas around Pierre)	400	219	601
Deer unit 37A	East River	Hutchinson	50	26	629
Deer unit 38A	East River	Hyde	310	174	693
Deer unit 39A	West River	North Jackson	297	172	466
Deer unit 39B	West River	South Jackson	405	229	270
Deer unit 40A	East River	Jerauld	200	86	17
Deer unit 41A	West River	Jones	432	256	305
Deer unit 42A	East River	Kingsbury	700	291	555
Deer unit 43A	East River	Lake	400	179	322
Deer unit 44A	East River	Lincoln (exc. Newton Hills SP)	50	23	282
Deer unit 45A	West River	South and Central Lyman	486	219	398
Deer unit 45B	West River	Southeast Lyman	243	133	354
Deer unit 45C	West River	Northeast Lyman	55	15	44
Deer unit 45D	West River	Fort Pierre National Grasslands area	87	50	360
Deer unit 46A	East River	McCook	200	102	227
Deer unit 47A	East River	McPherson	900	463	405
Deer unit 48A	East River	Marshall	550	250	591
Deer unit 49A	West River	Western Meade	972	586	671
Deer unit 49B	West River	North and Central Meade	648	470	598
Deer unit 50A	West River	Mellette	594	335	709
Deer unit 51A	East River	Miner	750	301	816
Deer unit 52A	East River	Moody	400	145	663
Deer unit 53A	West River	North Perkins	918	673	1,228
Deer unit 53C	West River	South Perkins	1,026	767	710
Deer unit 54A	East River	Potter	450	230	404
Deer unit 55A	East River	Roberts	550	258	680
Deer unit 56A	East River	Sanborn	150	94	673
Deer unit 57A	East River	Spink	900	369	654
Deer unit 58A	West River	Stanley	324	241	599
Deer unit 58D	West River	Stanley, Wheelchair for mobility users only (Nov 21-22)	10	2	5
Deer unit 59A	East River	Sully, west of US 83	175	107	545
Deer unit 59B	East River	Sully, east of US 83	95	46	536
Deer unit 60A	West River	Tripp	702	325	816
Deer unit 61A	East River	Turner	50	26	30
Deer unit 62A	East River	Union	50	41	161
Deer unit 63A	East River	Walworth	550	248	1,099
Deer unit 64A	West River	Ziebach	405	237	320
Deer unit 65A	West River	Oglala Lakota	81	37	52
Deer unit 67A	West River	Todd	162	81	95

Sources: GFP 2026 West River and East River deer applications; GFP harvest projections (2025 for most units).

South Dakota's antelope units

Unit	GFP's description	Licenses, 2026	Antelope taken (latest year)	First-choice resident applicants
Antelope unit 02A	east Pennington	51	33	272
Antelope unit 11A	Bennett/Oglala Lakota	21	13	60
Antelope unit 15A	northwest Butte	51	37	269
Antelope unit 15B	Butte/north Lawrence	255	155	868
Antelope unit 20A	Corson	62	44	127
Antelope unit 21A	Custer/central Pennington	128	79	282
Antelope unit 24A	Dewey	51	16	62
Antelope unit 27A	Fall River/southwest Custer	357	254	1,358
Antelope unit 31A	Haakon	26	12	100
Antelope unit 35A	Harding, west of US Hwy 85	153	111	733
Antelope unit 35B	Harding, east of US Hwy 85	153	127	668
Antelope unit 36A	Hughes	6	5	33
Antelope unit 38A	Hyde, Hand, Buffalo	6	2	14
Antelope unit 39A	Jackson	51	33	237
Antelope unit 41A	Jones, excl. PRA-45B	6	14	58
Antelope unit 49A	north Meade	153	127	540
Antelope unit 49B	south Meade/north Pennington	51	36	247
Antelope unit 50A	Mellette, Todd	21	11	52
Antelope unit 53A	Perkins, north of SD Hwy 20	77	53	378
Antelope unit 53B	south Perkins/north Meade	204	90	465
Antelope unit 58A	Stanley, excl. PRA-45B	21	24	84
Antelope unit 59A	Sully	6	3	43
Antelope unit 63A	Campbell, Potter, Walworth	6	2	28
Antelope unit 64A	Ziebach	102	95	305

Sources: GFP 2026 firearm antelope application; GFP harvest projections.

Elk

GFP's 2026 elk application lists Black Hills firearm units H1 through H9, archery units, Custer State Park licenses and prairie units, plus an East River unit with unlimited resident licenses sold over the counter. Every elk license is for residents. See the Black Hills elk units and the prairie elk units.

How much of South Dakota is open to hunting?

By the maps GFP publishes, 3,595,968 acres of South Dakota, 7.3%, are public land open to hunting under each manager's rules, and GFP's Walk-In Area and CREP programs add 1,494,490 acres of private land open to public hunting from 2,617 tracts. The most Walk-In and CREP acres: Butte County (238,977), Harding County (183,204), Perkins County (117,767), Meade County (84,498) and Corson County (79,323).

Manager	Acres	Share of South Dakota
National forest or grassland	2,006,410	4.1%
Walk-In Area or CREP (private land open to hunting)	1,494,490	3%
School and public land	754,844	1.5%
Game production area (GFP)	299,257	0.6%
BLM	275,529	0.6%
Waterfowl production area	162,323	0.3%
State park or recreation area (rules vary)	101,019	0.2%
Corps of Engineers	49,045	0.1%
National wildlife refuge (rules vary)	45,982	0.1%
Other GFP land (access sites, lakes)	13,212	0%
Bureau of Reclamation	2,578	0%

Walk-In Areas are working farms and ranches GFP leases for public hunting. No permission is needed to hunt them, driving is allowed only on signed trails, and landowner permission is needed for night hunting, fishing and trapping. CREP land is open year-round to public hunting and fishing. Controlled Hunting Access Program areas need permission first. GFP's handbook counts over 1.4 million acres in the Walk-In Area program.

Game production areas are state land managed by GFP for wildlife and public hunting; the handbook counts about 725 of them and more than 286,000 acres, and its Managed Lands map names 611. Hunting is not allowed in Badlands National Park, Wind Cave National Park, Jewel Cave National Monument or Mount Rushmore National Memorial.

South Dakota's game production areas

GFP's Managed Lands map shows 611 named game production areas covering 299,336 acres. The largest: Shadehill Reservoir GPA (6,714 acres), Brush Creek GPA (6,009 acres), Little Bend GPA (5,495 acres), Buryanek GPA (5,384 acres) and Hill Ranch GPA (5,330 acres). Every GPA of 1,000 acres or more has a page: 4 Mile - Clubhouse - Barretts, Arikara, Battle Mountain, Belle Fourche Reservoir, Bitter Lake - Day, Blythe, Boyer, Brule Bottom, Brush Creek, Buryanek, Carpenter, Cattail, Center - Charles Mix, Chain Lake (Holoubek), Chantier Creek, Chip Allen - Miner, Collins, Cottonwood Lake - Sully, Coxes-Mirror Lakes, Dry Lake #1 & N Dry Lake, Dry Lake #2, East Vermillion Lake, Elm Creek, Friendshuh, Goose Lake - Codington, Gray Area, Hanson - Campbell, Harrison-Badger-Trucano, Hawkins, Hill Ranch, Iona, Kiowa, Lake Thompson Northeast, Lake Thompson South, Landing Creek, Lindley, Little Bend, Little Moreau, Long Lake 3, Mail Shack, Medicine Knoll Creek, Mickelson Memorial Marsh, Minneconjou, Mydland Pass, Neugebauer, Okobojo Creek, Paulson, Putney #3, Putney Slough, Renziehausen, Rifle-Calahan, Round - Bullhead, Roy Lake, Running Water, Shadehill Reservoir, Siebrasse Area (DOT), Sioux Poinsett, Southern Gregory, Spring Valley - Custer, Springfield Bottoms, Star Valley, Stone Lake, Sutton, Swan Creek, Swan Lake - Clark, Terry Redlin, Todd, Turgeon, Whetstone, White Rock, Whitewood Slough, Whitlocks Bay, Willow Dam, Zabrasha.

Hunting land by county

Each county's page lists its Walk-In Areas, GPAs, public land and units: Aurora, Beadle, Bennett, Bon Homme, Brookings, Brown, Brule, Buffalo, Butte, Campbell, Charles Mix, Clark, Clay, Codington, Corson, Custer, Davison, Day, Deuel, Dewey, Douglas, Edmunds, Fall River, Faulk, Grant, Gregory, Haakon, Hamlin, Hand, Hanson, Harding, Hughes, Hutchinson, Hyde, Jackson, Jerauld, Jones, Kingsbury, Lake, Lawrence, Lincoln, Lyman, Marshall, McCook, McPherson, Meade, Mellette, Miner, Minnehaha, Moody, Pennington, Perkins, Potter, Roberts, Sanborn, Spink, Stanley, Sully, Todd, Tripp, Turner, Union, Walworth, Yankton, Ziebach.

Questions hunters ask

When is deer season in South Dakota in 2026?

The West River firearm season runs November 14 to 29, 2026, and the East River season November 21 to December 6, with antlerless tags also valid December 12 to 20. The Black Hills season is November 1 to 30, archery runs September 1, 2026 to January 1, 2027, and muzzleloader December 1, 2026 to January 1, 2027, by GFP's 2026 handbook and applications.

Can nonresidents hunt deer in South Dakota?

Yes. West River units have nonresident licenses in the drawing, listed on each unit's page. East River licenses go to residents in the drawings, and nonresidents can buy leftovers. Nonresident archery hunters may hunt public land from October 1.

What is a Walk-In Area?

Private farm or ranch land GFP leases for public hunting. No permission is needed to hunt a Walk-In Area; travel is on foot except on signed trails, and night hunting, fishing and trapping need the landowner's permission. GFP's maps show 1,568 Walk-In tracts this year.

What is a game production area?

State land owned by South Dakota and managed by Game, Fish and Parks for wildlife habitat and public hunting, fishing and trapping. Every GPA of 600 acres or more has a page here with its map and the land around it.

How many deer were taken in South Dakota in 2025?

GFP projects 13,315 deer in the 2025 West River firearm season and 12,415 in the East River season, counting special buck and landowner licenses.

Get a South Dakota hunt plan when they open

Hunt plans for South Dakota are coming. Join the list and you'll hear first. The first 50 hunters in each new state get their plan free.

Until then, the free FilledTag app for iPhone has a map that works in every state, South Dakota included.

Where these numbers come from

Harvest and first-choice applicants: GFP big game harvest projections, 2020 to 2025.
Licenses, seasons and draws: GFP 2026 west river deer application; GFP 2026 east river deer application; GFP 2026 firearm antelope application; GFP 2026 elk application; GFP 2026 Hunting and Trapping Handbook.
Land: GFP public hunting atlas layers (Walk-In Areas, CREP, school and public land, federal land) and GFP Managed Lands.

FilledTag is not part of South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks. GFP's hunting pages and its handbook are the final word on every rule.

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