HuntingRulebook

South Dakota · Deer · 2026-27

Deer tags

South Dakota · 2026-27

Tags held

0

resident prices

Spend

$0

at the printed fee schedule

Seasons covered

—

drop a pin first

Bucks taken

0 of 1

South Dakota prints no single annual antlered limit. A licence is one deer of the type it names — an "any buck" licence is one buck, an "any deer" licence is one deer of either sex — and a hunter who draws more than one licence may take one deer against each. The archery season sets its own ceiling: a resident may hold at most three archery deer licences, and at most one statewide any-buck licence, which rules out the East River and West River any-buck licences entirely. Resident archery booklet p. 1; Big Game Regulations p. 1.

You

What you pay, and in several states what you are even offered.

Residency

South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks prices residents and non-residents differently, and sells some tags to only one of them.

Licences

Without one of these there is no legal way to hunt deer here.

Tags and permits

Good anywhere in the state.

Nothing in your wallet yet

Tick what you hold and the calendar starts answering for you rather than for everybody. South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks sells them at the link below.

Muzzleloader any buck deer (ST1-02): the deadline has passed

Applications closed 23 June 2026, 8am CDT. There is nothing to do about it this season.

East River one any deer (01): the deadline has passed

Applications closed 23 June 2026, 8am CDT — first draw. There is nothing to do about it this season.

East River one any buck deer (02): the deadline has passed

Applications closed 23 June 2026, 8am CDT — first draw. There is nothing to do about it this season.

East River one any whitetail deer (11): the deadline has passed

Applications closed 23 June 2026, 8am CDT — first draw. There is nothing to do about it this season.

East River one antlerless whitetail deer (13): the deadline has passed

Applications closed 23 June 2026, 8am CDT — first draw. There is nothing to do about it this season.

West River one any deer (01): the deadline has passed

Applications closed 23 June 2026, 8am CDT — first draw. There is nothing to do about it this season.

West River one any buck deer (02): the deadline has passed

Applications closed 23 June 2026, 8am CDT — first draw. There is nothing to do about it this season.

West River one any antlerless deer (03, 03P): the deadline has passed

Applications closed 23 June 2026, 8am CDT — first draw. There is nothing to do about it this season.

West River one any deer and one any antlerless deer (08): the deadline has passed

Applications closed 23 June 2026, 8am CDT — first draw. There is nothing to do about it this season.

West River two any antlerless deer (09P): the deadline has passed

Applications closed 23 June 2026, 8am CDT — first draw. There is nothing to do about it this season.

West River one any whitetail deer (11): the deadline has passed

Applications closed 23 June 2026, 8am CDT — first draw. There is nothing to do about it this season.

West River one antlerless whitetail deer (13, 13P): the deadline has passed

Applications closed 23 June 2026, 8am CDT — first draw. There is nothing to do about it this season.

West River one any whitetail and one antlerless whitetail (18): the deadline has passed

Applications closed 23 June 2026, 8am CDT — first draw. There is nothing to do about it this season.

West River two antlerless whitetail deer (19, 19P): the deadline has passed

Applications closed 23 June 2026, 8am CDT — first draw. There is nothing to do about it this season.

Black Hills one any buck deer (02): the deadline has passed

Applications closed 23 June 2026, 8am CDT — first draw. There is nothing to do about it this season.

Black Hills one buck whitetail deer (12): the deadline has passed

Applications closed 23 June 2026, 8am CDT — first draw. There is nothing to do about it this season.

Custer State Park one any whitetail deer (11): the deadline has passed

Applications closed 23 June 2026, 8am CDT — first draw. There is nothing to do about it this season.

Refuge one any deer (01): the deadline has passed

Applications closed 23 June 2026, 8am CDT — first draw. There is nothing to do about it this season.

Special Buck any deer (01): the deadline has passed

Applications closed 14 April 2026, 8am CDT — first draw. There is nothing to do about it this season.

Special Buck any whitetail deer (11): the deadline has passed

Applications closed 14 April 2026, 8am CDT — first draw. There is nothing to do about it this season.
Buy licences and tags at South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks

Prices are what the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks printed for 2026-27, and are here to help you recognise a tag rather than to sell you one.

South Dakota deer seasons, 2026-27

South Dakota’s 2026-27 deer seasons run September 1, 2026 to January 1, 2027, and what is open on a given day depends on the county your stand is in. Drop a pin above and this app reads the county off it, then answers the rest from there — the dates, the legal arms, the bag limits and the shooting hours, transcribed page by page from the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks digest. It is a planning aid, not the law: check the digest before you hunt.

Every screen for South Dakota

  • Today in South Dakota — Whether the season is open at your pin this morning, what you may take, and the legal light either end of the day.
  • Map in South Dakota — Drop a pin and see the unit, the public land and the property lines under it.
  • Weather in South Dakota — Wind, temperature and the scent cone over your ground, hour by hour, for the days you can still choose between.
  • Calendar in South Dakota — Every day your tags are good for in your unit, from opening day to the end of the season.
  • Rut in South Dakota — When the rut runs where you hunt, and which week is worth taking off.
  • Rules in South Dakota — The legal arms, bag limits, antler restrictions and shooting hours that apply at your pin.
  • Tags in South Dakota — The licences and permits you hold — what turns the published season into your season.

The other states

Every state — the app opens on whichever one your own pin falls in.