Officials say South Dakota has sold nearly 26,000 fewer hunting licenses this year, which has cost the state more than $1 million in lost revenue.
Heather Villa of the state’s Game, Fish and Parks Department says the long winter, flooding and a decline in the pheasant population could be to blame.
She says the drop in license sales could also be a continuation of a decades-long decline in hunting, trapping and fishing.
The department generally gets about half its budget from license revenue,
Governor Kristi Noem has created a live-trap giveaway and set a bounty on certain predators to encourage hunting.
