Joshua Haiar, South Dakota Searchlight
For the second time, a committee of state lawmakers denied an attempt by the Department of Game, Fish and Parks to increase the number of waterfowl licenses for out-of-state hunters, leaving the controversial rule change’s future in doubt.
Game, Fish and Parks Secretary Kevin Robling told the committee Tuesday that the proposal is intended to boost hunter numbers.
“The issue is not less ducks, it is less people are picking up the shotgun to hunt ducks across the nation and across South Dakota,” Robling said.
The original plan to add 315 nonresident licenses sparked hundreds of opposing public comments after its introduction in March. The Game, Fish and Parks Commission reduced the proposal to 105 licenses and adopted it in April.
The proposal then went to the Legislature’s Rules Review Committee, a group of six lawmakers. The committee rejected the proposal for the first time on April 15 and sent it back to GF&P.
State law says if the Interim Rules Review Committee sends a rule back “to consider amendments,” the agency may make the amendments and resubmit the rule at the next committee meeting.
During a May 2 GF&P Commission meeting, department lawyer Nick Michels said GF&P would resubmit the proposal without changes “because there were no proposed amendments.”
“It wasn’t exactly clear what the grounds were for the reversion,” Michels said at the May 2 meeting. “I think they just wanted more clarification, honestly.”
On Tuesday, Robling defended the proposal. He said the department supports the change to address a decline in waterfowl hunting participation.
“We need to stop saying ‘no, you can’t hunt here’ to waterfowl hunters before the department has nobody to say no to any longer,” he said.
Robling said the 105 new nonresident licensees would likely harvest 536 of the 32 million ducks that migrate through the region annually.
“For these reasons, the department is very confident this issue of 105 licenses will have no biological impact on duck populations in South Dakota and across the flyway,” he said.
The proposed licenses would only be used on private land in some parts of eastern South Dakota, but not in the northeastern corner of the state, where resident hunters have complained of too much competition for a suitable hunting spot. The change would increase the nonresident license allocation from 6,300 to 6,405, generating about $9,000 for the department. Resident licenses are unlimited.
Residents call for denial
Opponents of the move said they agree the biological impact would be minimal. But they said the change would put greater pressure on a declining number of available hunting spots.
One factor in declining hunter numbers is vanishing waterfowl habitat, according to a 2017 Game, Fish and Parks survey. Over 70% of responding hunters reported being “very concerned” about the loss of hunting opportunities due to a loss of wetlands. One of the culprits for that is “drain tile” — perforated pipes in the soil to drain unwanted water from farm fields.
Another factor is hunting guides, who sometimes pay farmers for exclusive hunting rights on a piece of land. That means more nonresident licenses could create more revenue for guides — resident and nonresident — who lease more exclusive access for hunting.
“That’s the kind of pressure that starts to eliminate resident hunters like myself,” said John Simpson of Pierre, one of several people who testified against the rule change Tuesday.
“Our biggest fear is commercialization,” testified Chuck Dieter, professor emeritus of natural resource management at South Dakota State University. He said there are 25 resident commercial outfitters in the state, and “what’s disturbing to me is there are 28 nonresident guides that come over from other states and guide other nonresidents in South Dakota.”
The state does not require guides to carry a specific guiding license, nor does it track how many acres are leased for exclusive waterfowl hunting access.
Dana Rogers with the South Dakota Wildlife Federation said the commercial guide industry would be the primary beneficiary of the rule change. Rogers said he appreciates the commission rolling back the proposed number of additional licenses to 105, “but that’s not why all of the people were there testifying, submitting public comments.”
“They wanted this to be killed,” he said. “Not amended.”
Rep. Roger DeGroot, R-Brookings, said the testimony about limited access changed his view.
“I was taken aback today when I heard comments that outfitters can lease private land, then allow nonresidents to come and hunt that land,” he said. “It actually changed my whole view of the whole thing.”
The committee then voted 4-0, with two members excused, to send the proposal back to the department again.
“The vote today effectively kills this proposal,” said Committee Vice-Chair and Rep. Jon Hansen, R-Dell Rapids, in comments to South Dakota Searchlight.