41 : 08 : 01 : 08.05 . River otter trapping and hunting season established -- Harvest limit -- Tagging requirements. The river otter hunting and trapping season is open to residents in Aur or a, Beadle, Bon Homme, Brookings, Brown, Charles Mix, Clark, Clay, Codington, Davison, Day, Deuel, Douglas, Grant, Hamlin, Hanson, Hutchinson, Jerauld, Kingsbury, Lake, Lincoln, Marshall, McCook, Miner, Minnehaha, Moody, Roberts, Sanborn, Spink, Turner, Union, and Yankton Counties . The season begins at sunrise on November first, and lasts until sunset on December thirty-first or until thirty river otters have been harvested, whichever occurs first. A person is limited to one river otter per season.

Any person harvesting a river otter during the season shall notify the department within twenty-four hours of harvest. The entire carcass, along with the detached pelt, must be submitted to the department representative within five days of harvest. Once the season has closed, a person has twenty-four hours to notify a department representative of any untagged river otter harvested during the season. The tagged pelt must be returned. The carcass must be surrendered to the department and may be returned upon request. A person may only possess, purchase, or sell raw river otter pelts that are tagged through the eyeholes by the department, or, if harvested from another jurisdiction, properly and securely tagged with a tag supplied by the governmental entity issuing the license. If the governmental entity issuing the license does not issue a tag, other proof that the river otter has been lawfully harvested is required. Any river otter harvested twenty-four hours after the close of the season is considered an incidental harvest and must be surrendered to the department.

Source: 47 SDR 27 , effective September 15, 2020; 48 SDR 14, effective August 22, 2021; 52 SDR 9, effective August 4, 2025 .

General Authority: SDCL 41-2-18 (2)(17).

Law Implemented: SDCL 41-2-18 (2)(17).

Prior versions effective: 2021-08-22, 2020-09-15.