Non-trophy bison hunting season begins at Custer State Park

SPEARFISH – The non-trophy bison hunting season has begun at Custer State Park.

Though it typically takes place in the fall during the annual Buffalo Roundup, this year’s non-trophy season began Jan. 25.

The non-trophy hunt is meant to remove excess cows and bulls from the herd. The cows are selected on fertility and average 1,000 pounds, while the bulls primarily are 2 years old and average about 950 pounds.

A non-trophy bull permit costs $2,256, and a cow permit costs $1,756. Permits are available to South Dakota residents and people from outside the state.

There are 15 non-trophy bull and 10 cow permit holders this season. Each of them gets to keep the meat, head and hide of the bison they kill.

Gary and Cole Blom, a father and son from Yankton, were the first permit holders to take a shot this season, guided by a buffalo herd manager at the park, the Black Hills Pioneer reported. They were taking the meat back to Yankton to be processed, and planned to send the hides to Michigan for tanning.

The non-trophy bison season is scheduled to go through March 11.

Trophy bison hunts are a management tool to remove the oldest breeding bulls from the herd. Those hunts typically are limited to bulls over 10 years old and about 2,000 pounds.

A trophy bull permit costs $5,000. The number of trophy licenses has dropped from 10 to eight over the last couple of years because the older bulls can have a fairly high mortality rate after the summer rut from injuries, meaning fewer are necessary to cull.

The trophy bison hunt ran from Nov. 30 to Jan. 15.