PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota bobcat hunters and trappers will now have an opportunity to harvest the furbearers in certain East River counties this year.

The Game, Fish and Parks Commission has finalized a proposal to allow licensed hunters and trappers to take bobcats in Buffalo, Brule, Charles Mix, Bon Homme and Yankton counties from Dec. 8 – 30.

Trappers or hunters participating in the East River Bobcat Season are limited to one bobcat each.

The West River Bobcat Trapping and Hunting Season will run from Dec. 8, 2012 – Feb. 15, 2013 and is open to all counties west of the Missouri River.

South Dakota trappers will have three new rules this year.

Mink trappers will now have to wait until sunrise of opening day to set traps.

Muskrat trappers now have clear dimensions of colony traps for both round and square traps.

Individuals using traps larger than 160 Conibear in conjunction with any bait, lure or scent on public lands and public road rights-of-ways will be required to have the traps recessed a minimum of seven inches in cubbies, baited box traps or bucket traps.

The Game, Fish and Parks Commission also set the rules for the 2012 Muskrat Hunting Season in South Dakota, from April 1 – August 31, statewide.  Landowners and/or operators on their own property or property they operate, School and Public Land surface-lease holders on their current leased land, and state, county, or township officials within public road right-of-ways, will be eligible to shoot muskrats.

Nontoxic shot is required when using shotguns for muskrats.

The South Dakota Game Fish and Parks Commission opened up Brown, Hutchinson, Spink and Turner Counties , in addition to the counties previously opened to resident waterfowl hunters, during the August Goose Management Take.  The August Management Take Season will run Aug. 11-26, 2012.  Hunters will be able to harvest eight Canada geese per day, with no possession limit.

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