Nest Predator Bounties Survive: Senators Still Want to Waste Money Teaching Kids to Enjoy Senseless Cruelty

Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources could have saved the state $500,000 and the moral stain of turning kids into cold-blooded critter killers by defunding the cruel and useless Nest Predator Bounty Program. Instead, they’re going to write a letter.

Senate Ag NR heard Senate Bill 148 Tuesday. They heard from prime sponsor Senator Tim Reed (R-6/Brookings) that we have no evidence that paying people $10 for every tail they hack off of a raccoon, striped skunk, red fox, badger, or opossum boosts pheasant populations:

…[B]ill sponsor Republican Sen. Tim Reed said there is no real scientific evidence from the state that shows the nest predator program works. The science shows that it may be somewhat successful in specific areas during specific times but not as a statewide program, Reed said.

“The question is that you spend $10 in a program all across the state and we don’t have the evidence that it works,” Reed said [Rae Yost, “Bounty Bill Waits for Thursday Vote,” KELO-TV, 2026.02.10].

They heard the tail bounties have invited yucky cheating:

…Dana Rogers, who represented the South Dakota Wildlife Foundation, said some of those predators were likely road kill and not trapped. Rogers said during the program’s first year he counted 23 dead animals on the side of the road with their tails cut off when he traveled from Hurley to Sioux Falls [Yost, 2026.02.10].

But instead of getting rid of waste and cruelty, the committee recovered from deadlock on Tuesday and decided yesterday to kill SB 148 and instead make recommendations to the Department of Game Fish and Parks:

The Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee Thursday rejected Senate Bill 148 that would have eliminated the program in a 7-0 vote to send it to the 41st Day. But, committee chairman Tom Pischke said he’d have the Legislative Research Council (LRC) “form a letter” to the state’s Game, Fish and Parks Commission on recommended changes.

The committee will recommend the program be for youth under 18 and that $250,000 be spent on the program each year. This is a change from adult participation and $500,000 to be spent [Rae Yost, “Bounty Program Ideas to Be Sent to GFP Commission,” KELO-TV, 2026.02.12].

Wasting less money on a program with no scientifically proven merit is still wasting money. And limiting the money only to youth trappers just focuses our error where it does the most damage, teaching kids that cruelty for mere sport is cool.