SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (South Dakota Searchlight) – When Jeff Olson recently saw a photo of a massive buck along with a message suggesting it was a record-breaker, he was immediately skeptical.
Olson is a member of the Black Hills Sportsmen’s Club board of directors and a former state game, fisheries and parks commissioner.
Any true hunter knows that wild deer don’t look like that, and Olson said, pointing to the thick antlers and bulky body, traits that develop when deer are fed food not available in the wild.
This photo proves an open secret in the South Dakota hunting community: Not all game animals photographed in the state are strictly wild animals. Some are private livestock, raised behind high fences and sometimes even fed a customized diet. Private deer, elk or bison and often guided tours to photograph them are sold to clients around the world for thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars.
The photo of the ferocious stag was shared in the Sportsman’s Club newsletter and became fodder for a long-running debate about the impact of shooting animals in captivity.
A fenced-in deer operator confirmed the buck was in captivity but asked that his name not be used in this story. That’s because the actions are controversial among some in the hunting community, who claim the practice is unethical and poses disease risks to wild populations.
Hunting and Shooting
The state Department of Game, Fish and Parks does not regulate deer, elk or other animals kept behind fences. That’s because South Dakota law recognizes those animals that are fenced in as private property, not wild animals.
The state Animal Industry Commission regulates which animals landowners can import and raise, how they are raised and raised, and (in the case of pheasants) how they are released into the wild.
Only after captive-bred pheasants are released for customers to shoot can they legally become wild animals managed by Game, Fish and Parks.
Zach Hunk of the South Dakota Wildlife Federation said they are shooting farmers’ chickens. I’m fine with that; make your money. However, this is not the same as hunting, and I don’t think we should pretend it is.
Les Lindskov owns several hunting preserves in western South Dakota, including a pheasant preserve and an 8,000-acre, high-fenced deer, elk and bison preserve. He also served on the Game, Fish and Parks Commission under former Gov. Bill Janklow.
Large tracts of habitat are far from free, Linzkow said, and hunting preserves and high-fenced deer and elk runs are the best way for many landowners to pay their bills and keep their land wild.
‘I don’t have time for these people,’ he said, referring to those critical of Operation High Fence and Shooting Sanctuary. [They] I had no idea how much land I had improved to produce wildlife.
Outside of government programs to subsidize the practice, Linzkow said, private landowners have little incentive to maintain habitat, and there aren’t many calls for increased government spending.
Shooting a private deer or elk does not require a GF&P permit and the fees associated with big game hunting, and can be done at any time of the year, not during a specific hunting season.
Customers shooting captive pheasants on the preserve do need a permit, but are not required to pay the habitat stamp, public habitat, and hunting fees charged by GF&P. Meanwhile, other pheasant hunters did the same.
The Boone and Crockett Club holds the state record for the largest deer in South Dakota. Club Director Kyle Lehr said the organization will not accept captive deer as submissions and will work with state partners to investigate if anything is suspicious.
Captive deer are disqualified because the animals are private property and the group believes shooting them for sport undermines the fair chase, Lyle said.
Fair chase is when a wild animal is taken in a manner that does not give the hunter an undue advantage over the animal.
Former state GF&P Secretary and Commissioner John Cooper has dedicated his life to wildlife work at the state and federal levels. He said that principle was undermined by animals in captivity who were unfamiliar with wild threats and often lacked the skills necessary to evade predators and hunters.
Cooper said the men were not hunting. Hunting is the pursuit of wild animals raised in the wild. Shooting is what you do after a successful hunt.
Linzkow does not deny that what is happening is not fair chase.
No, it’s not a fair chase, he said. This is a bucket list item for our clients. Where else can a legless Vietnam vet shoot a six-point bull elk?
Raising wild animals
Deer and elk are raised in captivity not only for hunting; They are also farmed for meat and other purposes. The practice has quickly grown into a multi-million dollar industry in rural America, with more than 10,000 locations across the country, according to GF&P.
The industry, which aims to produce breeding stock, trophies and products such as venison and hides, is reshaping wildlife management and challenging regulatory frameworks, a management report from the department said. Since approval in 1993, the number of approved facilities in South Dakota has grown from 19 to 45, primarily for elk.
Regulation of captive cervids (the deer and elk families) requires an annual license from the Animal Industry Commission, which ranges in price from $10 to $100. This committee, in partnership with GF&P, oversees facility inspections and management, including disease surveillance.
High-fence cervids in South Dakota range from reindeer used in Christmas parades to elk raised for jerky and velvet, said Beth Thompson, a state veterinarian.
Thompson, who heads the Animal Industry Council, said they all have different business plans when raising the animals.
Thompson and GF&P believe the spread of disease between captive and wild cervids is a concern, particularly chronic wasting disease.
Thompson said if CWD is on either side of the fence, the first call is to GF&P.
Origin of deadly diseases
Chronic wasting disease affects the brains of deer, elk, caribou and moose. It was first discovered in captive black-tailed deer in Colorado in the 1960s.
Former GF&P biologist George Vandel said it was devastating. Every early case we see can be traced back to Operation High Fence.
In South Dakota, GF&P first identified the disease in 1997 at seven captive elk facilities in Custer, McPherson and Pennington counties. Fandel said the disease could be spread between pens through practices such as sharing breeding stock. Raising any animal in a closed, captive environment increases the likelihood of illness, he said.
Subsequent research, conducted in collaboration with South Dakota State University, found no incidents of the disease in a sample of free-ranging deer and elk between 1997 and 1999.
The first wild elk case was confirmed in a white-tailed deer in Fall River County during the 2001 hunting season, and the first wild elk case was discovered in 2002.
The state has since conducted more than 18,000 tests, primarily on animals submitted by hunters, and confirmed cases in 297 white-tailed deer, 142 black-tailed deer and 282 elk in wild populations.
GF&P collaborated with the SDSU Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory for testing and the USDA performed confirmatory analysis.
Results are typically available within 7 to 10 days, and updates can be found on the GF&P interactive online map.
GF&P’s management report said mandatory testing of all captive deer and elk that died in South Dakota has been mandatory in the past. In 2012, after 15 years of mandatory CWD testing, the Animal Industry Council now administers a voluntary scheme.
Since 1997, 6,676 captive cervids (deer, elk, moose) have been tested in South Dakota, with 130 testing positive (125 elk, 5 white-tailed deer).
“I didn’t know there was much you could do,” said Linzkov, the reserve’s owner.
Operations are encouraged to take disease mitigation efforts seriously, Linzkow said. Businesses rely on healthy inventories.
“No one cares about disease more than me,” Linzkov said. We make sure to test them and if found, we put them all down immediately.
private and public interests
Cooper, the former GF&P secretary, said hunting in South Dakota helps manage public wildlife through science-based harvest limits. The practice also funds conservation efforts through license fees and taxes on equipment and ammunition.
For-profit operations can lead to science taking a backseat to revenue, he said, citing pheasants as an example.
Pheasant populations used to be determined by nature. He said weather and habitat quality pretty much determine the number of years, not how many pheasants I want to raise and release on the property.
Cooper said the industry began influencing wildlife management decisions in the state after the state began treating the shooting of privately held pheasants as hunting.
The state ended its count of wild pheasants to ensure that South Dakotans did not inadvertently discourage hunters from coming to our state because of media headlines about low bird numbers. GF&P staff used to drive the same rural routes every year, count the flocks or hens they saw, and then extrapolate population estimates from that.
Decades of science have been thrown out the window, Cooper said.
Linzkov said the count was inaccurate from the beginning. Permit fees required to photograph pheasants on private reserves will also be returned to GF&P, helping to improve wildlife habitat for everyone.
Live a life, he says, referring to hunting purists who see something wrong with private operations. They’re doing justice to everything from tourism dollars to habitat improvements on private lands. Before I started introducing pheasants, there had never been a pheasant in this land.
Before their introduction in 1908, there were no wild pheasants anywhere in South Dakota. This species originated in China.
Thompson, the state veterinarian, said there are currently no known diseases transmitted from captive pheasants to wild populations.
Unless we’re talking about avian influenza, which we know comes from wild birds, Thompson said. So no, I don’t know what effect CWD has on deer.
This year, bird flu was discovered in a captive pheasant sanctuary in Iowa. Thompson said the disease has not yet been detected on South Dakota’s reservations.
This article was produced by South Dakota Searchlight, which provides free news and commentary on critical issues facing the state at SouthDakotaSearchlight.Com.
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