Legislators have given the go-ahead to change South Dakota's bighorn sheep hunting license auction.

The legislative Rules Review Committee approved on Monday state rule changes eliminating the Nov. 1 license application deadline and allowing the auction winner to hunt bighorn sheep in the Badlands hunting unit, a large swath of land surrounding the Badlands National Park. The legislators didn't discuss the changes before approving them.

The changes are part of a larger push at the Game, Fish and Parks Department to drum up nationwide interest in the license auction after the world record ram was bagged in Pennington County last year. GFP officials believe the auction bids could jump to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The license auction typically fetches around $85,000, which goes to the GFP Department to use for big game management, preservation, habitat and research. However, the GFP Commission approved last month to divert any auction funds in excess of $85,000 into two different funds: half will go toward the state's game production areas and half will go to the Second Century Habitat Fund, a nonprofit created in May as part of Gov. Kristi Noem's Second Century Initiative to boost pheasant hunting in the state.

South Dakota's game production areas total about 285,000 acres, and the state designates about $4 million annually to maintain them. But a state assessment completed last year identified $19 million in projects that are needed in the game production areas. GFP staff plans to match with federal funds any money it receives from the auction for the game production areas. It'll then use the funding to complete high-impact habitat projects, which have a total price tag of about $1.2 million, wildlife program administer Paul Coughlin told the GFP Commission on Monday afternoon.

The funding change wasn't up for legislative approval on Monday morning because the GFP Commission approved that as an action item, not as an official rule change. The state also has several bighorn sheep hunting licenses available in a general drawing, and about 5,000 people submit applications for those licenses, generating about $50,000 for the state at $10 per application.

The Rules Review Committee approved the two auction changes as part of a larger package of GFP rule changes and Sen. Lance, Russell, R-Hot Springs, was the sole opposition in the 5-1 vote.

https://www.argusleader.com/story/ne...em/1671966001/