Wildlife Damage Management, Internet Center for
Date of this Version
April 1987
Abstract
I am to address the policy of the Department of Game, Fish and Parks toward predator control and management in relation to waterfowl. Waterfowl has always had a high priority with the state of South Dakota. As a state agency, we could have said "let the Feds do it," but we did not take that approach (1) because South Dakota is a production state, lying where it does on the northern end of the Central Flyway, and (2) because we have a healthy population of waterfowl hunters. We sell about 40,000 duck stamps annually. The Department has recognized the importance of waterfowl to the state and its hunters and consequently has given waterfowl a higher priority than it might otherwise have had.