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South Dakota

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South Dakota Unit Finder

Answer six questions and get South Dakota hunting units ranked by habitat fit, 2026 season dates, public land and GFP harvest history.

How the South Dakota finder works

South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks issues deer, antelope, elk and turkey licenses by hunting unit. This tool scores every unit for the species you pick using GFP's mapped harvest results for 2023–2025, with white-tailed and mule deer kept separate, plus USGS land-cover and elevation data and the share of public land in each unit.

Season fit uses the 2026–27 dates from the GFP Hunting and Trapping Handbook: East River, West River and Black Hills firearm deer seasons, statewide archery and muzzleloader deer, antelope archery and firearm seasons, Black Hills and prairie elk, and spring and fall turkey.

Species covered

  • Mule deer
  • White-tailed deer
  • Elk
  • Pronghorn antelope
  • Mountain lion
  • Wild turkey

Upland birds (ranked by county)

  • Ring-necked pheasant
  • Sharp-tailed grouse
  • Gray (Hungarian) partridge
  • Forest grouse

Waterfowl and migratory birds (ranked by county)

  • Ducks
  • Canada and dark geese
  • Snow and Ross's geese
  • Mourning dove
  • Sandhill crane
  • Tundra swan

About every species on the species page →

Data sources

South Dakota hunting FAQ

Which South Dakota units are best for mule deer?

Mule deer harvest is concentrated West River. Pick mule deer in the tool and it ranks units on GFP's reported mule deer harvest per square mile, separate from whitetails.

Does the tool show hunter success rates for South Dakota?

No. GFP's unit harvest maps report the number of animals taken but not the number of hunters, so units are ranked on harvest totals and density instead.

Are Walk-In Areas counted as public land?

No. GFP Walk-In Areas are not published as open map data, so the public-land share counts only federal, state and local land from USGS PAD-US. Check the GFP Hunting Atlas for Walk-In Areas.

Why do some Black Hills elk units show several unit codes?

Some Black Hills elk licenses cover the same ground with different seasons. Units with the same boundary are combined into one result, with their harvest added together.

South Dakota harvest leaders

The hunting units with the highest average reported harvest for each species. High totals often reflect large areas and many hunters; the tool above also weighs harvest per square mile, hunter success, habitat and access.

Mule deer (2023–2025 average)

  1. Unit 31A: 385 per year
  2. Unit 53A: 354 per year
  3. Unit 49B: 286 per year
  4. Unit 53C: 280 per year
  5. Unit 35A: 274 per year

White-tailed deer (2023–2025 average)

  1. Unit BH1 Black Hills: 1,938 per year
  2. Unit 15A: 1,083 per year
  3. Unit 30A/30B: 894 per year
  4. Unit 03A: 802 per year
  5. Unit 15B: 788 per year

Elk (2023–2025 average)

  1. Unit H2B/H2C/H2D Black Hills: 305 per year
  2. Unit H2E/H2F/H2G Black Hills: 235 per year
  3. Unit H3E/H3F/H3G Black Hills: 122 per year
  4. Unit H1A/H1B Black Hills: 121 per year
  5. Unit H3B/H3C/H3D Black Hills: 90 per year

Pronghorn antelope (2023–2025 average)

  1. Unit 27A: 326 per year
  2. Unit 35A: 310 per year
  3. Unit 15B: 224 per year
  4. Unit 35B: 210 per year
  5. Unit 49A: 184 per year

Mountain lion (2025)

  1. Lawrence County: 14 per year
  2. Custer County: 7 per year
  3. Pennington County: 6 per year
  4. Meade County: 4 per year
  5. Fall River County: 1 per year

Wild turkey (2023–2025 average)

  1. Unit BH1 Black Hills: 2,282 per year
  2. Unit 30A: 458 per year
  3. Unit 49A: 445 per year
  4. Unit 48A: 353 per year
  5. Unit 29A: 304 per year

Ring-necked pheasant (2023–2024 average)

  1. Brown County: 80,216 per year
  2. Beadle County: 63,907 per year
  3. Spink County: 56,988 per year
  4. Brule County: 56,636 per year
  5. Lyman County: 48,524 per year

Sharp-tailed grouse (2023–2024 average)

  1. Perkins County: 11,346 per year
  2. Stanley County: 10,475 per year
  3. Lyman County: 6,752 per year
  4. Meade County: 6,058 per year
  5. Pennington County: 4,412 per year

Ducks (USFWS 10-year average)

  1. Day County: 26,387 per year
  2. Brown County: 16,516 per year
  3. Marshall County: 14,844 per year
  4. Kingsbury County: 12,762 per year
  5. Clark County: 11,995 per year

Canada and dark geese (USFWS 10-year average)

  1. Hughes County: 11,777 per year
  2. Day County: 10,352 per year
  3. Kingsbury County: 5,483 per year
  4. Brown County: 5,478 per year
  5. Roberts County: 5,428 per year