South Dakota 5 rooster limit?

Here it is:

Pheasant Proposal Fails

PIERRE, S.D. â?? A proposal to increase the daily bag limit of pheasants from 3 to 5 was defeated at the monthly GFP Commission meeting in Pierre on Thursday.

A proposal needs five votes from the eight member Commission to become rule, but there were only four supporting the measure so the proposal failed to pass.

The bag limit for pheasants will remain at 3 daily and 15 in possession.

-GFP-
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Probably a wise decision at this point in time. Makes more sense later in the season when more corn will be off--and it appears that the portions of the state that are very wet will be locked in with ice. Even a week or two from now would make more sense that starting immediately, which is what they were considering.

Otherwise the risk is that hunters will flock to the state and in some very popular parts of it--have very poor hunting. When they just raised the limit. Not a great move from a PR/long term non-res funding standpoint.
 
tmrichardson said:
I guess I don't get that at all. Looking at landman's first post in the road hunting topic (which he didn't start I don't think), all he's talking about is support for the five bird increase.
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Yes, that is what I'm trying to say. The GF&P's has made recommendations to the Commission to increase pheasant hunting opportunities because we have plenty of unharvested roosters. Those recommendations included a longer season to the end of January and just recently an increase in the limit to five birds per day in the late season. The Commission listens to to the recommendations from the GF&P but they also hear from landowners who are fed up with being bothered by roadhunters and don't want any more of it. The Commission has, so far, sided with the landowners on this issue and voted down the recommendations from the GF&P's.

It is my opinion that we would have a longer season if the legislative session would end road hunting and/or we would have a five bird limit if road hunting wasn't part of the problem. Jeff Vonk, our new head of GF&P, is from Iowa. I'm sure he sees the probem by now and must recognize that in order to maximize our pheasant resource we must first restrict road hunting enough to satisfy landowners.

I can see why the hunting guides would also be against the five bird limit since it probably would not increase revenue while making it more work to limit or finish the day. Also wild bird fee operations would have the risk of depleting their bird population for future customers while not significantly increasing revenue. For example, if a guide is able to charge $150 per day for three birds he probably can't get $250 per customer for five birds per day. Consider too that the five bird proposal was short notice and most guides already have hunters booked for the remainder of this year.

LM
 
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landman said:
I can see why the hunting guides would also be against the five bird limit since it probably would not increase revenue while making it more work to limit or finish the day. Also wild bird fee operations would have the risk of depleting their bird population for future customers while not significantly increasing revenue. For example, if a guide is able to charge $150 per day for three birds he probably can't get $250 per customer for five birds per day.

LM
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This is a valid point from all persons perspectives since pheasants ARE a limited resource. The resources managers( guides, hunters, residents, landowners, etc) are the stakeholders in managing this limited resource.

Currently the pheasantn numbers statewide have not been seen to support the increased limit even on the short-term.

Even if state says you can take 5 the landowner or manager can still say you can only take 3.
 
UGUIDE said:
This is a valid point from all persons perspectives since pheasants ARE a limited resource. The resources managers( guides, hunters, residents, landowners, etc) are the stakeholders in managing this limited resource.

Currently the pheasantn numbers statewide have not been seen to support the increased limit even on the short-term.

Even if state says you can take 5 the landowner or manager can still say you can only take 3.
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Uguide; The Game, Fish and Parks made a statement that the pheasant numbers are sufficient to support the increased limit. Are you saying that they are wrong and that we won't have a surplus of roosters at the end of the season?

I see that Minnesota, with far fewer pheasants, has a limit of 2 birds per day until Dec 1 when it increases to 3 birds per day to the end of the season. Do you feel that MN's liberal bag limit, considering the low pheasant population, is not a good thing?
 
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landman said:
Uguide; The Game, Fish and Parks made a statement that the pheasant numbers are sufficient to support the increased limit. Are you saying that they are wrong and that we won't have a surplus of roosters at the end of the season?
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Com' on Landman, you know as well as anyone that local populations vary WIDELY. Don't put words in my mouth. I'm never worried about overharvesting at any of my camps because I give the birds more credit than that.

COME ON MAN!?!?
 
UGUIDE said:
Com' on Landman, you know as well as anyone that local populations vary WIDELY. Don't put words in my mouth. I'm never worried about overharvesting at any of my camps because I give the birds more credit than that.

COME ON MAN!?!?
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Uguide: Here is what you said.

Currently the pheasantn numbers statewide have not been seen to support the increased limit even on the short-term.

How did I misunderstand?

What I'mtrying to say, along with the GF&P, is that we have plenty of birds, more than enough for a longer season and a more liberal bag limit. The GF&P's is telling us that we won't hurt future populations by harvesting more roosters. However the GF&P Commission is refusing to increase the limit or season because of the very vocal opposition from landowners and hunting operations. The thrust of the opposition is that landowners are being bothered by road hunters and birds in winter cover are being disturbed due to road hunting. I look at MN, Nebraska and other states that have no issue with a longer season and liberal bag limits, considering their pheasant population, and wonder why SD has such a problem. My deduction is that if we can eliminate or at least further restrict road hunting the opposition from landowners will go away and then SD will get the longer season and more liberal bag limits. I feel that the Commission would like to do more to utilize our pheasant hunting resource but won't until the lawmakers in Pierre do something about roadhunting.
 
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landman said:
I feel that the Commission would like to do more to utilize our pheasant hunting resource but won't until the lawmakers in Pierre do something about roadhunting.
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Sounds like a hostage situation to me. I suppose raising limit is no different than extending season. Too many stakeholders and politics in way to get a short-term amendment passed.

Landman, do you know any details about who these commission members are and who they represent?
 
UGUIDE said:
Sounds like a hostage situation to me. I suppose raising limit is no different than extending season. Too many stakeholders and politics in way to get a short-term amendment passed.

Landman, do you know any details about who these commission members are and who they represent?
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A list of the Commisioners can be found at:

http://www.sdgfp.info/Commission/Commissioners.htm

They are appointed by the Governor so they can come from any background or educational level. I met Commissioner Suzie Knippling last spring at a conservation meeting and had a nice visit about hunting.
 
leave the limits the same

Allow people to start hunting earlier in the day like many other states so they have better odds of getting their limit of three birds. Giving hunters a better and more realistic chance at success of harvesting their limit of birds would go a long way in cleaning out your surplus number of roosters.

I have always believed that on the last day of the season I want to see nothing but hens rather than an even number of roosters. That is just my opinion as I have no science to back it up. I have read that any one tract of land has a carrying capacity that is determine by its food sources and availability of cover. Whatever that capacity is I would want to see hens filling those available spots rather than roosters.

Good luck to all of you when it comes to thinning the herd.
 
sorry for bringing this up.. but this would make a bigger impact of rooster population decrease. thats 2 birds more than the usual limit making it a huge impact if you multiply that.

it will add up fast. there will be more hen population if the 5 limit does pass or it if did. I havent heard or seen anything about this yet.


I know Pierre just shot 79 (number could be wrong) mule deer just in the city limit of Pierre alone! They are common to see a deer run in front of you and so fourth. I saw a NICE huge mule deer on halloween night (or was it a real buck and not a doe in a buck costume!?) and that sucker was HUGE. i have not seen it since the city put their law enforcement to reduce the population of deer within the city limits.
 
Thought I would chim in on this one. I am opposed to increase the limit to 5 birds...seems like biologist in the past have gotten themselves into trouble trying to manage using the maximum sustained yield concept. My opinion is that 3 birds per person per day is plenty....I know of too many hunters that toss birds into the freezer that never get eaten. I would also think that a 5 bird per day limit would promote folks to "party" hunt, reduce the amount of resting time available during the cold months and lastly increased predation on hens. More roosters during the winter = less hens that get eaten by coyotes. My two cents.
 
With the current look of things in SD weather-wise, when you now factor in the unforeseen heavy winter-kill factor - I can't help but wonder if the GF&P guys are now smiling that they didn't pull the trigger on the 5-bird limit?
 
hen said:
With the current look of things in SD weather-wise, when you now factor in the unforeseen heavy winter-kill factor - I can't help but wonder if the GF&P guys are now smiling that they didn't pull the trigger on the 5-bird limit?
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They probably really wish it would have passed. Roosters will kick hens out of winter cover and consume valuable food. A lack of roosters is never a problem it's a lack of hens.
 
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