A new hunting policy is taking shape as elk push into unfamiliar territory
Elk have long been creatures of the west. They belong to the Black Hills, to rugged ridgelines and pine-covered slopes where the terrain suits them. But something has been shifting quietly across South Dakota — elk are showing up where they have no business being, wandering east of the Missouri River into farm country, and the people whose livelihoods depend on those fields are not happy about it.
South Dakota's legislative committee took a hard look at the situation and decided action was needed. In a 4-2 vote, the committee approved a rules package that opens the door to unlimited elk hunting licenses east of the Missouri River and expands the number of elk licenses available inside Custer State Park, where the herd has grown well beyond what managers are comfortable with.
What's Actually Happening Out There
The numbers tell a clear story. The Black Hills hold an estimated 8,000 elk, and as many as 2,000 more are scattered across the western plains of South Dakota. East of the Missouri, the population is smaller but growing — and according to Tom Kirschenmann, director of wildlife for the Department of Game, Fish, and Parks, that trend is not being celebrated.
"They can create a lot of damage, and it's a very, very challenging management activity," Kirschenmann said.
The elk turning up east of the river are mostly concentrated between Pierre and Chamberlain. A significant portion of them have been found on the Crow Creek reservation, which will not be included in the unlimited hunting unit — the Department of Game, Fish, and Parks is already in direct conversation with the tribe's wildlife department about how to handle elk management on that land.
The agency has made one thing clear: it has no intention of managing a permanent East River elk population. These animals are considered a problem to be addressed, not a new chapter in South Dakota wildlife management.
Why Farmers Are Fed Up
Anyone who has seen what a herd of elk can do to a crop field understands why this issue carries urgency. Elk are large animals with large appetites, and when they move into agricultural land, the destruction can be significant. Fencing offers limited protection, and chasing them off one field often just sends them to the next one.
For farmers in the Pierre to Chamberlain corridor, this has moved beyond a nuisance. It is a financial problem, and they have been pushing for a real solution. The committee's decision to allow unlimited hunting licenses in the East River unit is designed to give the state the flexibility it needs to respond aggressively if the situation demands it.
The unlimited structure does not mean that an unlimited number of hunters will flood the area without coordination. It means the state is removing a hard cap that would otherwise limit its ability to manage what it views as an intrusive and growing problem.
The Opposition's View
Not everyone on the committee was convinced this approach was the right call. Senator Liz Larson and Representative Erik Muckey, both Democrats from Sioux Falls, cast the two votes against the package.
Larson acknowledged that crops are being damaged. That part is not in dispute. But she raised questions about moving too fast without a clear picture of what unlimited hunting would actually do to the elk population east of the river.
"I don't see enough evidence that we know how this would affect the elk populations," she said. "I feel like this is a very new, new area that they're going into."
Her concern is a reasonable one to consider, even if the majority of the committee landed on the other side. East River elk are a new enough phenomenon that population data is still limited. Kirschenmann himself declined to offer a specific estimate of how many animals are currently living in the region. That uncertainty cuts both ways — it supports acting carefully, but it also supports having the tools available to respond decisively if numbers grow faster than expected.
Custer State Park: A Different Kind of Problem
While the East River situation is about elk showing up somewhere they're not supposed to be, the Custer State Park situation is about an established herd that has grown beyond what managers want to sustain.
The park typically manages its elk population in the range of 500 to 600 animals. A recent count put the number somewhere between 750 and 775 — considerably above that target. The result is a herd that has outgrown the park's management plan, and the response is an increase in antlerless elk hunting licenses.
Under the new rules, the cap on antlerless elk licenses at Custer State Park rises from 20 to 100. That is a substantial increase on paper, though Kirschenmann made clear the agency does not plan to issue all 100 licenses right out of the gate.
The expectation heading into this year is that approximately 50 licenses will be made available, divided across two separate windows. Twenty-five licenses will be offered during a two-week stretch in October, and another 25 will come available during a two-week period in December.
That split is intentional. As Kirschenmann explained, spreading the licenses across two periods will "minimize congestion of the hunters on each other," which improves both the experience for hunters and the overall effectiveness of the management effort.
How This Plays Out for Hunters
For elk hunters in South Dakota, this represents a meaningful expansion of opportunity. Custer State Park is well-established elk country, and the chance to hunt there has historically been limited by low license numbers. Fifty licenses in a single year is a significant step up from what has been available in recent seasons.
The East River unit is a different calculation. Elk hunting east of the Missouri River is not something South Dakota has offered in any structured way before. Hunters willing to scout unfamiliar ground and work with landowners in the Pierre to Chamberlain region could find themselves in a situation that doesn't look like a traditional elk hunt — more farmland, more open country, and a population that the state actively wants reduced.
There are practical questions that remain. Access will be a key factor, since much of the land east of the river is private agricultural ground. Building relationships with landowners who are already frustrated by elk damage could be an advantage, since those landowners have every reason to welcome hunters who can help solve their problem.
The Crow Creek reservation exclusion is also worth understanding clearly. Elk on that land will not be part of the unlimited unit, and hunters will need to respect those boundaries. The state is working through proper channels with tribal wildlife management, and that process moves separately from the broader East River rules.
The Bigger Picture
What this committee vote reflects is a state wildlife agency dealing with a situation that is still developing in real time. Elk are moving, populations are shifting, and the old management frameworks are no longer adequate on their own.
The Black Hills have long been the center of elk management in South Dakota. The Custer State Park herd has existed for decades and has a well-developed management history. But elk wandering east into crop country is a newer and less predictable challenge, and the unlimited license structure is the agency's way of giving itself room to maneuver.
Kirschenmann's department is not trying to build something in the East River region. The goal is the opposite — to prevent a population from taking root and expanding into a full-scale management burden. The tools approved by the committee give the state the flexibility to respond as conditions change, whether that means issuing more licenses, fewer, or adjusting the geographic boundaries of the hunting unit.
Whether that approach will satisfy everyone is another question. Critics like Larson want more data before committing to a strategy, and that is a fair instinct when dealing with wildlife populations that can shift quickly. But the majority of the committee concluded that waiting for more complete information was itself a risk — one that farmers already dealing with crop damage were not in a position to absorb.
What Comes Next
The rule changes are now in place, and the focus shifts to implementation. The department will set final license numbers based on updated population assessments, and hunters interested in either the East River unit or the expanded Custer State Park season will want to stay close to announcements from Game, Fish, and Parks as the application periods approach.
For hunters who have been watching South Dakota elk opportunities for years, this is a moment worth paying attention to. The rules just got bigger, the geography just expanded, and the state is actively looking for hunters to help solve a problem that farmers have been raising for some time.
That alignment of hunter interest and wildlife management need does not come around all that often. When it does, the people who show up prepared are the ones who come home with a tag filled.
