For all her celebration of hunting in South Dakota, Governor Kristi Noem isn’t listening to South Dakota hunters. Her Game Fish and Parks Commission evidently shut resident hunters out of the decision-making process that led the commission to offer more nonresident waterfowl licenses:
George Vandel is a board member for South Dakota Waterfowl Association. He said the push for an increase of 300 out-of-state licenses for waterfowl excluded in-state organization opinions.
“When it comes to this process it is important to note that we weren’t involved. The wildlife federation nor the waterfowl association was involved in the process. We find that disappointing,” said Vandel. “We think that this is important enough and with the membership that we have with over 3,000 in the wildlife federation, the waterfowl association has over 300, it would have been nice, had we known, we certainly would have been involved.”
There’s concern the increase in nonresident waterfowl licenses will encourage commercializing hunting in the state, limiting the amount of public land for residents to hunt.
Mitch Richter is a contractor with South Dakota Wildlife Federation. He agreed that the waterfowl proposal should have had local input.
“We just don’t think that there were enough people involved in this. We’re happy to work with guides and outfitters as well, they should be a part of the proposal, but we are interested in working with it. We’d like you to vote it down today and direct the department to work with a stakeholder group,” said Richter.
…The GFP commission voted unanimously to approve 300 additional nonresident licenses [Evan Walton, “GFP Commission Increases Nonresident Waterfowl Opportunity,” SDPB, 2023.05.07].
The point of hunting is not simply to make money. Hunting is supposed to get South Dakotans outdoors, build their understanding of and respect for wildlife and the environment, and inspire them to participate in crafting conservation policies that will sustain our ducks and geese and pheasants, our wetlands and grasslands, and all of our other natural resources for future generations to enjoy as much as we do. Shutting out conservation groups who have taken that mission to heart most dearly and actively discourages South Dakotans from investing their time and energy in conservation projects and makes it more likely that our waterfowl and the privilege of shooting at them will just go to the highest, most rapacious bidders.