Game Fish & Parks wants to give hunters more hours and more weeks to shoot more pheasants. But South Dakotans seem to be much less inclined to harvest more pheasants than out-of-state visitors are:
Among hunters who wrote letters and emails, twice as many said they were opposed as those who said they supported the additional opportunities the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department wants to provide for the pheasant season.
A KELOLAND News count found that approximately 120 hunters and two organizations said they were against all of the proposals, while approximately 61 hunters and one organization said they supported the changes.
A third group of 29 hunters supported some parts, opposed others and in some instances suggested different steps.
Most of the opposition came from South Dakota residents, while much of the support came from hunters outside South Dakota [Bob Mercer, “Majority of Hunters, Mostly from South Dakota, Oppose Changing Current Pheasant Regulations,” KELO-TV, 2020.09.02].
Game Fish and Parks heard public comment yesterday and continues taking public comment today. Then the commission will likely decide on whether to expand opportunities to shoot our state bird.
I drove back and forth across the state a number of times this summer and saw ONE pheasant (dead) along I-90. At least I think it was a pheasant. I remember past years seeing a lot of birds in the road ditches. Hunters can come to SD for a longer time but I think they’ll go home disappointed.
And this is typical of NOem’s administration. Ask for comments then disregard what the majority says and go ahead with your misguided plans anyway. That’s what they did with the trap-and-dismember fiasco.
Has GF&P offered any reason for this? They don’t do any type of count or survey now, so is this just the latest whim of the Kruel Kristi government?
If we hunted to the ring necked pheasant to extinction in SD, I for one would welcome changing the state bird to the meadowlark exclusively.
Chinese virus.
Chinese bird.
‘merica
Maybe pheasants smuggled covid in on their 5G networks when they last visited the Motherland.
The reason you see so few birds is becAuse drumpf cut their visas from China. Some local troll likely convinced drumpf pheasants were the ones who released covid and brought it to America.
Mike, now that’s funny. 😆 😆