(Custer, SD) — There’s a growing conversation to have more protections for beavers in South Dakota. The state’s Game, Fish and Parks Commission reviewed three petitions presented in yesterday’s meeting that sought various levels of restrictions against hunting and trapping beavers. State law allows citizens to petition the commission for rule changes. A three-year pause on hunting and trapping beavers in the Black Hills was suggested along with scaling back the year-round season to five months. But commissioners tabled the petitions, however, they said they do want to implement some of the ideas into a management plan of their own. South Dakota’s Wildlife Division found that beaver caches were down 73 percent from 2011 to 2023.
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