December 2022 Newsletter
BLACK HILLS SPORTSMEN CLUB
The Newsletter of the Black Hills Sportsmen and Sportswomen
Mission Statement: To promote the conservation, sound management, and sustainable use of wildlife and wildlife habitat and to protect the privilege of sportsmen to hunt and fish through advocacy and education.
The Newsletter of the Black Hills Sportsmen and Sportswomen
Mission Statement: To promote the conservation, sound management, and sustainable use of wildlife and wildlife habitat and to protect the privilege of sportsmen to hunt and fish through advocacy and education.
December 2022
Renew online at www.blackhillssportsmenclub.com OR send us a check to PO BOX 9161, Rapid City, SD 57709
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Greetings From Your President
Well I hope everyone had a successful November? I think opening day for west river deer was the coldest day I can remember opening day deer hunting in… I was in the Southwestern part of the state and the cold and wind sure made for a tough hunt. I unfortunately will be eating tag soup this season as the lack of spotted critters was very minimal. We saw more elk than deer.. How about everyone else? Any big ones? Send us in those hunting pictures!
December always brings some of my favorite hunting opportunities especially public land hunting. The colder weather tends to drive away the fair weather hunters and opens up quite a bit of opportunity. Its always a good feeling being the first set of tracks in the snow up to your favorite tree row. Getting out and knowing no human has been through and just guaranteeing yourself a bird or two before you even get out of the truck. I hope everyone else gets a chance to get out this December and makes some fresh tracks.
Send us your hunting Pictures. We need to spice up the photos section.
Well I hope everyone had a successful November? I think opening day for west river deer was the coldest day I can remember opening day deer hunting in… I was in the Southwestern part of the state and the cold and wind sure made for a tough hunt. I unfortunately will be eating tag soup this season as the lack of spotted critters was very minimal. We saw more elk than deer.. How about everyone else? Any big ones? Send us in those hunting pictures!
December always brings some of my favorite hunting opportunities especially public land hunting. The colder weather tends to drive away the fair weather hunters and opens up quite a bit of opportunity. Its always a good feeling being the first set of tracks in the snow up to your favorite tree row. Getting out and knowing no human has been through and just guaranteeing yourself a bird or two before you even get out of the truck. I hope everyone else gets a chance to get out this December and makes some fresh tracks.
Send us your hunting Pictures. We need to spice up the photos section.
~Cody Hodson~
This is a picture of my Grandson, Racyn Bradley, with a deer he got with his new Win.243 rifle. The rifle was a birthday gift.
One shot one deer. I told him nice shot. He said, "what did you expect?" I said, "nothing less"
Thanks,
Gordon Bradley
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A big thanks to our speakers last week. It is always great to hear from our partners with the Game Fish and Parks. I am very excited about that fact the the Outdoor Campus now has a person who will be working with our local schools again. The position had remained vacant since covid. The campus is a great asset to our outdoor community but there is only so much they can do with a limited budget and staff. I want to encourage all members of our club to volunteer at the outdoor campus. The more help they have, the more people they can reach to teach about our wonderful resources.
John Kanta gave an update on the shooting range. The Meade Co commission met last week to discuss a new ordinance they want to put in place on shooting ranges. It appears that they will go to all means to put a stop to this project or a least slow it down. It is very frustrating and please find the time to let them know why we support this project.
There is a big issue facing the Game and Fish Commission and we will discuss this at our next meeting. The SD bowhunters have put petitions before the commission multiply times. They are now addressing those issues. I sit on yet another working group to discuss these issues. It needs to be made clear that these groups have no authority to do anything. but we still need to be at the table. The biggest benefit is you get to hear the opinion of other user groups. The commercial operators have a paid attorney that was quite vocal. There were non-residents at this meeting and a few landowners. Lots of varied opinions. Transferable tags were even brought up. While the department is not required to implement any ideas from this group, you can see why it is important to be at the table. There were 3193 comments on their survey. This is a big issue and we will need to get a position statement to the commission asap.. Dana Rogers with SD Bowhunter will be at the meeting. The two big focuses are overcrowded public land and unlimited archery tags for non-residents. The change in the deer draw has been implemented for 3 years and it is up for review. The group may tackle this issue also
See you at the next meeting.
Your input is important
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We have put a lot of time into the web page also. If anyone has input or would like us to add to our webpage please email us at blackhillssportsmenclub@gmail.com
~ Jeff Olson, Treasurer ~
Hank Tolleson with his 2022 Hills Whitetail Buck
Aaron Mills with his 2022 Hills Bull Elk (Shot Opening Day)
Upcoming Events
A big thanks to our speakers last week. It is always great to hear from our partners with the Game Fish and Parks. I am very excited about that fact the the Outdoor Campus now has a person who will be working with our local schools again. The position had remained vacant since covid. The campus is a great asset to our outdoor community but there is only so much they can do with a limited budget and staff. I want to encourage all members of our club to volunteer at the outdoor campus. The more help they have, the more people they can reach to teach about our wonderful resources.
John Kanta gave an update on the shooting range. The Meade Co commission met last week to discuss a new ordinance they want to put in place on shooting ranges. It appears that they will go to all means to put a stop to this project or a least slow it down. It is very frustrating and please find the time to let them know why we support this project.
There is a big issue facing the Game and Fish Commission and we will discuss this at our next meeting. The SD bowhunters have put petitions before the commission multiply times. They are now addressing those issues. I sit on yet another working group to discuss these issues. It needs to be made clear that these groups have no authority to do anything. but we still need to be at the table. The biggest benefit is you get to hear the opinion of other user groups. The commercial operators have a paid attorney that was quite vocal. There were non-residents at this meeting and a few landowners. Lots of varied opinions. Transferable tags were even brought up. While the department is not required to implement any ideas from this group, you can see why it is important to be at the table. There were 3193 comments on their survey. This is a big issue and we will need to get a position statement to the commission asap.. Dana Rogers with SD Bowhunter will be at the meeting. The two big focuses are overcrowded public land and unlimited archery tags for non-residents. The change in the deer draw has been implemented for 3 years and it is up for review. The group may tackle this issue also
See you at the next meeting.
Your input is important
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
We have put a lot of time into the web page also. If anyone has input or would like us to add to our webpage please email us at blackhillssportsmenclub@gmail.com
~ Jeff Olson, Treasurer ~
Hank Tolleson with his 2022 Hills Whitetail Buck
Aaron Mills with his 2022 Hills Bull Elk (Shot Opening Day)
Upcoming Events
PLEASE NOTE THESE DATES WILL ALL BE LISTED ON THE BHSC WEBSITE UNDER "EVENTS"
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LATER MONTHS:
Interested in volunteering for Outdoor Campus West?
For anyone interested in being a volunteer mentor please contact Katie Schlafke or Clint Whitley.
Katie (primary contact for all volunteers)
Katie.Schlafke@state.sd.us
Clint (contact for volunteer hunting/shooting mentors - Hunting 101)
clint.whitley@state.sd.us
For other kinds of volunteering - please visit their website linked below:
https://www.volgistics.com/ex/portal.dll/ap?ap=1970180025
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- Quote of the Month -
" Without hunting there would be no conservation, without conservation there would be no wildlife."
— Rob Keck
" Without hunting there would be no conservation, without conservation there would be no wildlife."
— Rob Keck