South Dakota is home to a small, but healthy, population of elk. Elk are primarily found in the Black Hills but small populations can also be found scattered throughout the prairie landscapes of western South Dakota. The Black Hills population consists of over 6,000 elk in total.

Trophy potential for South Dakota is solid with some nice bulls being killed each year, particularly on the Custer State Park hunts. Tags are available to residents of South Dakota only and are distributed through a weighted lottery drawing.

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Specifics of the elk draw

With the South Dakota elk draw hunters will have a few decisions to make when submitting their application. In total, there are 5 separate season types that hunters can apply and build points for. Hunters can submit one application per season type during the first application period but are only eligible to draw one license per year. There is a draw order that applicants will also need to pay attention to in order to ensure they draw the specific tag they are wanting. If an applicant draws a license they will not be eligible to draw licenses from any subsequent applications but can still build points from those.

Elk draw order:

Boone and Crockett Entries: Typical

Units listed below may not have a current hunt for this species. Units in this table are included if any part of the unit is found within the county.

Boone and Crockett Entries: Nontypical

Units listed below may not have a current hunt for this species. Units in this table are included if any part of the unit is found within the county.