South Dakota · Elk · 2026 Edition
South Dakota Elk Season 2026: Archery, Muzzleloader & Rifle Dates
01 — Seasons
| Season | Zone note | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Archery Elk | Black Hills units AEE-H1A through H7A | Sep 1 – Sep 30 |
| CSP Early Archery Elk | Custer State Park (CEE) | Sep 1 – Sep 30 |
| Prairie Firearms Elk | Prairie draw units PRE-09A, 11B, 15A, 27A, 35A, 35B, 49A, WRA | Sep 1 – Dec 31 |
| East River Elk (resident-only, over-the-counter) | Prairie unit PRE-ERA — east of the Missouri River, excluding Crow Creek Reservation/tribal land | Sep 1 – Dec 31 |
| Black Hills Firearms Elk | Units H1A, H2A, H3A, H4A, H5A, H7A, H9A | Oct 1 – Oct 31 |
| Black Hills Firearms Elk (segment 1) | Units H1B, H4B, H7B, H9B | Oct 15 – Oct 31 |
| Black Hills Firearms Elk (segment 2) | Units H1B, H4B, H7B, H9B | Dec 1 – Dec 16 |
| Black Hills Firearms Elk | Units H2B, H2E, H2H, H3B, H3E | Oct 15 – Oct 31 |
| Black Hills Firearms Elk | Units H2C, H2F, H2I, H3C, H3F | Dec 1 – Dec 16 |
| Black Hills Firearms Elk | Units H2G, H2J, H3D, H3G | Dec 17 – Dec 31 |
| CSP Firearms Elk | Custer State Park (CUE) | Oct 1 – Oct 31 |
| CSP Special Antlerless Elk | Custer State Park unit CU1 | Oct 15 – Oct 31 |
| CSP Special Antlerless Elk | Custer State Park unit CU2 | Dec 1 – Dec 16 |
South Dakota splits elk hunting into three geographic groups, each with its own numbered sub-units: Black Hills units (archery AEE-H1A through H7A, firearms BHE-H1A through H9B), Custer State Park units (CEE early archery, CUE firearms, CAE-CU1/CU2 special antlerless), and Prairie units (PRE-09A, 11B, 15A, 27A, 35A/35B, 49A, WRA, and the new East River unit PRE-ERA). License availability, resident quotas and exact season dates differ by unit — check GFP's interactive elk unit map before applying.
02 — Tags & bag limits
| Per license | One elk per license — type 21 is 'one any elk,' type 23 is 'one antlerless elk'; only one elk license allowed per person per year, statewide |
|---|---|
| Landowner exception | Landowner-Own-Land Resident Only Antlerless Elk licenses are available in any Prairie Season unit (new for 2026) |
| Check-in requirement | Successful hunters must have their elk checked by a GFP representative within 24 hours of the kill |
03 — Shooting hours
Legal light on opening day (September 1, 2026) 06:35 — 20:47
Rule: All firearms and archery big-game shooting hours (except turkey) are 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset, per the 2026 SD GFP Hunting and Trapping Handbook's Big Game Regulations section. Sunrise/sunset shift daily — the times above are computed for opening day; use your local South Dakota sun times for any other date.
04 — License & tags
Elk hunters in South Dakota need a South Dakota hunting license plus an elk tag. All South Dakota elk licenses are resident-only; there is no nonresident elk season. License type 21 ('one any elk') costs $195 for Black Hills and Prairie units, or $306 in Custer State Park; type 23 ('one antlerless elk') costs $127, or $206 in Custer State Park. A hunter may hold only one elk license per year, and a $10 return fee now applies if a drawn license is returned by the August 1 deadline.
South Dakota licenses & permits — South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks →
05 — Scouting gear
Scouting a unit before South Dakota's opener usually means glassing basins and running a trail camera through summer.
- Hunting binoculars on Amazon →
- Trail cameras on Amazon →
- Trail camera SD cards — class, capacity & format explained →
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. These are category links, not a single named pick — we run no product tests of our own.
06 — FAQ
When does elk season start in South Dakota?
The earliest 2026 opener is September 1, 2026 (Archery Elk). See the table above for every method.
When does elk season end in South Dakota?
The latest 2026 closing date is December 31, 2026. Individual seasons close earlier — see the table above.
Do I need to enter a draw to hunt elk in South Dakota?
Nearly every South Dakota elk license is a preference-point draw with a hard per-unit quota — Black Hills, Custer State Park and most Prairie units all require applying in GFP's spring draw, and a resident who has drawn a given elk season within the previous nine years is not eligible to apply again for that same season in the first draw. The one exception is new for 2026: the East River prairie unit, covering the area east of the Missouri River (excluding Crow Creek Reservation and tribal land), offers an unlimited, resident-only, over-the-counter 'any elk' license for the same September 1-December 31 Prairie season window — no draw or preference points required.
How many elk can you shoot in South Dakota?
2026 bag limits: Per license — One elk per license — type 21 is 'one any elk,' type 23 is 'one antlerless elk'; only one elk license allowed per person per year, statewide. Landowner exception — Landowner-Own-Land Resident Only Antlerless Elk licenses are available in any Prairie Season unit (new for 2026). Check-in requirement — Successful hunters must have their elk checked by a GFP representative within 24 hours of the kill. Limits are set per zone and per permit — check the agency's own regulations before you hunt.
What time can you start shooting elk in South Dakota?
On opening day (September 1, 2026) legal light runs 06:35 to 20:47. The rule is: All firearms and archery big-game shooting hours (except turkey) are 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset, per the 2026 SD GFP Hunting and Trapping Handbook's Big Game Regulations section. Sunrise and sunset shift daily, so work the offset against your local South Dakota sun times for any other date.
Verified · South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks · Last verified 2026-08-15
Publisher's note. Official '2026 Elk' season-and-license PDF (gfp.sd.gov/userdocs/docs/2026elk.pdf), downloaded directly and read via pdftotext -layout. The unit-by-unit license-availability tables (Archery Elk / AEE, Black Hills Firearms Elk / BHE, Prairie Firearms Elk / PRE, Custer State Park Elk / CEE-CUE-CAE) extracted with some column misalignment from the PDF's multi-column layout, so exact per-unit resident tag counts were not transcribed into this file — only the season-date and zone-grouping columns, which extracted cleanly, are used below. Resident-only status, the 2026 rule change consolidating Prairie season dates statewide (Sept. 1-Dec. 31), and the brand-new resident-only over-the-counter 'East River Elk' unit are confirmed from the companion '2026 South Dakota Hunting and Trapping Handbook' PDF (gfp.sd.gov/UserDocs/docs/huntingandtrappinghandbook.pdf), read the same way. Big-game shooting hours ('30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset') are also from the Handbook's Big Game Regulations section. The elk PDF's license-fee tables list resident pricing only, with no nonresident column anywhere, consistent with the Handbook's and GFP's public statements that South Dakota elk hunting is closed to nonresidents.