South Dakota Hunting and Fishing for Active Duty Members

Three separate provisions cover people who are serving rather than people who have served. A resident stationed away. Section 41-6-16.2 lets any South Dakota resident on active duty in the armed forces who is stationed outside the state fish and hunt small game without paying a fee and without holding the licence that would otherwise be required. Two conditions attach. Migratory bird hunting still needs a migratory bird certification permit and a federal migratory bird stamp. And while engaged in the activity the person must possess and display military orders showing active duty stationed outside South Dakota together with a valid military identification card. The section expressly does not apply to a person serving on active duty for training as a member of the reserve or National Guard, so a Guard member home for annual training is outside it. A nonresident on active duty. Section 41-6-18.5, added in 2025, lets a nonresident on active duty annually purchase one fall three-day temporary nonresident waterfowl licence for any unit where temporary nonresident waterfowl licences are issued. The licence is valid only on private land, a military identification card must be presented, and a federal migratory bird stamp and migratory bird certification permit are still needed. The department caps these at one hundred a year, and the commission may not count them against any other licence limit, so they come out of a separate allocation rather than competing with the general nonresident pool. A licence lost to a deployment. Section 41-6-19.7 covers the case that hurts: a Guard or reserve member drawn an elk, bighorn sheep or mountain goat licence under 41-6-19.6 who is ordered into active federal service before the licence can be used. After release the member may request, and shall be issued, a replacement licence on the same or substantially similar terms, for the hunting season immediately following release. Where the release falls inside a season the member chooses between the remainder of the current season and the next full one. Given how rarely those tags come up in the lottery, this is the difference between a once in a lifetime draw and nothing. None of these three is a disability benefit and none asks about a discharge. They run on current service.