South Dakota Gov Kristi Noem
Small Game
She's a pretty cool lady. I didn't know she owns a hunting outfit. Has anyone hunted there?
"Pheasant hunting is a South Dakota tradition Kristi Noem, South Dakota governor Published 2:00 p.m. CT Oct. 18, 2019
I grew up hunting. Dad took us big-game hunting, but it was my Grandma Dorris who made bird hunting such a big part of our family heritage. Still today, it’s something that brings my family together. (And how grateful this mom is for that!)
As much as pheasant season is a family tradition for us, it was our family business for years as well. When things got tight after my dad passed away and we were hit by the Death Tax, we looked to diversify. They say: “When you don’t know what to do, do what you know.” Well, that’s exactly what we did. We focused our attention on hunting and started up a hunting lodge. It was hard work, but I loved it.
Small businesses like this are spread across South Dakota, and they come alive this time of year. Overall, outdoor activities support around 18,000 full- and part-time jobs in South Dakota. This fall sport connects rural South Dakota with visitors from across the country who spend more than $175 million each year.
With such a significant impact on our economy and our family dynamics, I’m committed to enhancing our state’s pheasant habitat. We need to protect this way of life for the next generation.
Over the past decade, substantial changes have occurred across South Dakota’s landscape. CRP has been reduced from its peak of about 1.7 million acres to below 1 million acres. Additional grassland acres have been converted to agricultural row crops. Replacing this lost habitat and providing alternative incentive-based programs is more important now than it’s ever been before.
This year, I’ve set into motion my plan to advance habitat and protect our outdoor culture. My expanded Hunt for Habitat program taps into auction tag and raffle licenses to raise money for habitat. Our nest predator bounty program is focused on reducing predators. We’ve partnered with producers to offer options for trying something new with their least productive acres. And we’re crowdsourcing for solutions too. We want everyone to be involved in this effort – it’s all about getting families outside together, mentoring new hunters, recreating with respect, and introducing kids to the adventure of nature.
As South Dakota’s Sportsman-in-Chief, I’ll continue working to promote our state and our hunting culture. And don’t you worry… we’ll be hitting the fields too! I love that my kids still get excited about this South Dakota sport. It’s like a little piece of my Grandma Dorris still lives on through their excitement for Opening Day.
To all of the hunters reading this, have a safe pheasant season. Hope to see you out there!"
The Hunt for Habitat Super Tag raffle is still open til July 15th. Get your chance to hunt elk in SD along with Deer and Antelope. Help support our habitat programs. Good luck in the draws.
She is a good governor. Good initiatives. But I did not agree with program for auction tags proceeds (sheep/elk/etc) and redirect to pheasant habitat. Those funds should support sheep/elk initiatives.
Gov Noem has done an excellent job of managing the pandemic in our state. On outdoor issues I’ll giver her a solid D+.
Yeah I’d give her a solid D too brotsky
^^ ok, so now she is a Double D +
LOL @ yooper!
My thoughts exactly!
Thankfully Mt Rushmore is in SD Maybe it won’t be destroyed
You solid D guys on her don’t know how lucky you are. Everything is relative and many of our states Governors don’t know what a wild sheep is.
Charlie, it’s all relative to where you choose to live. We simply don’t elect folks that don’t understand outdoor issues because it’s a way of life here. When you elect someone to represent S.D. sportsmen and they use the dollars raised from our license sales to waste them on science that is not proven to work and on private land initiatives that no hunter will benefit from without breaking open their wallet then it deviates from the model of opportunity set by previous Governors and the GFP commission historically. If you are an outfitter in S.D. she is your best friend. If you are a blue collar public lands hunter then she is your worst enemy. We have fought and scrapped to get what little we have from the Governor for public lands hunters and continue to do so. We have to watch our commission agenda like a hawk every single meeting because they try sneak BS in at the last minute without public comment frequently causing us to have to rush to contact commissioners to protect our rights as resident hunters. S.D. hunters have seen her gut good people out of our game department to get her “yes men” in place. Do we have it better than other places? Of course we do, but that has nothing to do with our governor, it has to do with the people that live here that value our outdoor heritage and conservative values.
"Gov Noem has done an excellent job of managing the pandemic in our state. On outdoor issues I’ll giver her a solid D+."
Come to a state where the gov'r is rated F- on everything...
Lol yooper. Right over my head. Ambush for the save.
Brotsky is spot on with his post above. Noem has done great during the pandemic, but her outdoor management could be a lot better.
An example would be the bounty program for predators to increase the pheasant population. The idea isn't horrible, but the biggest problem with our pheasant population isn't predators. It's habitat. The farmers are farming every square inch they can, broke up native prairie about 15 years ago when crop prices went nuts, and CRP is almost non-existent. And now people wonder why the pheasant population is low.
About ten years ago my family planted 10 acres of trees. In the last two years we've planted another 3000. We are doing this while other farmers are tearing out shelter belts. It's sad.
I would trade the worthless Minnesota Gov for her any day!
JayZ - saw the same thing when I grew up in southern MN. Small patches of woods and grass that I used to hunt are now all corn or beans. Every acre that isn’t in crop production was seen as waste. Sad. Now the same thing is happening where I live in MO. Some great turkey hunting along fence rows in river bottoms - is all gone. It’s one huge corn or bean field now.
I agree with Charlie....you don`t know what a "D" really is. She may be a D in S. Dakota but she would be an A in most states.
I`m a big fan of hers and would love to see a "Noem/Grenell 2024" ticket.
The more our population grows virtually unchecked, the less habitat there will be. Its really as simple as that. Yet we cant talk about that, its political suicide.
Preserving outdoor recreation and game management for the purpose of good outdoor recreation and hunting (game management) is important, especially for our pastime. However, far cry from what is really important on other issues.
Again, come to a state where the governor is an imbecile, and it has nothing to do with choice. Sometimes you can't wake up one morning and just suddenly decide to move...
Have any of you SD res's contacted Gov Noem to see about getting more pubic land opportunities? I guess a logical question would be what places could be turned into public hunting land?? She doesn't control the closed Fed lands. How much of SD is public land already?
Have any of you MI res’s researched the issues we’re actually talking about?
Brotsky that was a low blow. JMHO. I think JL was asking a serious question after you and JZ explained the situation to all of us NR, above Anyway you are correct it is all relevant to where you live and we appreciate your explanation of the situation.
Sorry Rich, this is a sensitive topic for me. Certainly wasn’t taking a shot at John. I’ve listed a lot of what the problems are above and have asked for help in writing letters, sending emails, etc in the past on Bowsite related to her actions. The problem isn’t access to public land or the amount of public land we have, it’s the blatant catering to outfitters, NR interests, and wastes dollars on programs that the biologists have proven to be ineffective. If they say it won’t work she finds ones that will tell her what she wants to hear. The common sportsman has been losing in this state under her leadership, and he continues to lose.
If you go to WY for the day and return home, are you supposed to self quarantine for 14 days under threat of house arrest if your state doesn't take the mandate seriously?
Count your blessings in SD that your gov'r is more level headed than you think. Trust us, you don't want what some of us have to put with because our gov'rs do that stuff as well on top of totalitarian public policy. I'd move to SD today if I could.
I’d trade Noem for pole smoker any day just saying guys
Brotsky is spot on here-and the sportsman and women of SD should feel grateful that guys like him are watching their backs.
