WATERTOWN, S.D. — People who use hounds to hunt mountain lions in South Dakota need to broaden their footprints exterior of simply Custer State Park.
The South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department on Thursday throughout its common fee assembly heard from members of the general public on a proposal to permit hounds hunters to tree the animals within the Black Hills Fire Protection District, which might enhance the vary of searching from the 71,000 acres of Custer State Park to greater than 1 million acres.
Some members of the general public are frightened this variation might rapidly deplete the harvest quota of mountain lions through the searching season and endanger the inhabitants of the animal that was as soon as listed as a state threatened species.
Members of the general public weighed the advantages of increasing the season for a choose group of hunters with the pursuits of the broader searching group, and the well-being of the species itself.
Former South Dakota legislator Tim Goodwin, of Watertown, and his son David Goodwin each spoke in opposition to the enlargement of the season for hound hunters.
David Goodwin stated if the fee approves the houndsman-friendly petition, it could “open the floodgates” for houndsmen, South Dakotans and nonresidents to pounce on the chance opened by the looser season restrictions. The present proposal opens the floodgate for the commercialization of hound searching within the state, Goodwin stated, and threatens to tarnish public relations and unsettle the season for boot hunters, which is an individual who hunts with out hounds.
“We don’t need to hunt any more lions, and boot hunters are doing an outstanding job,” Goodwin stated.
Currently, the mountain lion quota for a season is 60 mountain lions, or 40 females.
Mountain lion harvest quota numbers are solely up to date as soon as per day through the season, and David Goodwin stated this might end in a frontload of kills at first of the hound searching season, and will put the massive cat inhabitants vulnerable to dropping too low to adequately rebound the following season.
“We don’t need 200 cats killed opening day,” David Goodwin stated.
Leading the petitioning effort, is houndsmen. The authentic petition was put ahead by Jeremy Wells of Sturgis, president of the South Dakota Houndsmen Association.
Finn Sackerson, a South Dakota houndsman, stated on the discussion board that he enjoys, very a lot, searching along with his dogs. He stated that this proposal would give houndsmen like himself the chance to take pleasure in a sport that “is little understood” by most of the people. The indisputable fact that hound searching is hemmed in to solely be permitted in Custer State Park makes the game troublesome and unsuccessful.
“Custer State Park has been a whole lose for houndsmen,” Sackerson stated.
Nancy Hilding of the Prairie Hills Audobon Society submitted six petitions to amend guidelines relating to mountain lion searching within the state of South Dakota, together with a request for license payment will increase for mountain lion hunters, restrictions on canine searching in areas with out tree or rock cowl and a proposed requirement for hound hunters to maintain their dogs collared with GPS collars whereas searching.
Sackerson stated he agreed with the GPS collar requirement, and would not thoughts seeing that petition transfer ahead.
Opponents to the proposal wrote to the Commission that increasing the vary at which hound hunters can harvest mountain lions was placing in danger a fragile and necessary wildlife administration system.
“Mechanisms should be put in place to discourage commercialization of this useful resource,” John Wrede, a retired pure useful resource biologist at South Dakota Game Fish and Parks, wrote in remark to the fee.
The GFP Commission is predicted to make a decision relating to the unique hound searching petition in October.
Caleb is a Report for America corps member masking rural points and the South Dakota state legislature for the Mitchell Republic.
