Elk, Mountain Goat, Bighorn Sheep and Gavins Point Paddlefish Applications now Available

It was the most normal thing I have done in over a month, even though I know I'm probably not going to be successful.

Applications for elk, mountain goat, bighorn sheep, and Gavins Point paddlefish are now open. You can do your app online on the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks website, or you can do the old school paper applications and send those out with a postmark of May 15.

I put in my apps for prairie elk and archery elk. It felt so good to apply to do a normal activity!

If you don't know where to apply the smartest thing you can do is use the GFP Hunt Planner. It has all of the draw statistics and also success statistics for every unit broken down by license type. That will help a lot to apply to the units that you have the best chance for success of not only drawing a tag but also being successful hunting. It will also help you avoid applying for a unit with no chance of success.

If you are going after elk, bighorn sheep, or mountain goat, you will have a very low chance of drawing anyway, just because of the lower opportunity in the state. Elk is not impossible but people will fail for over twenty years before finally drawing a tag.