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Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives, the Eli Young Band, the Casey Donahew Band and 3 Doors Down.
• Tickets will go on sale at 9 a.m. They can be purchased at the grandstand ticket office, online at www.sdstatefair.com or by calling 866-605-FAIR.
• The South Dakota State Fair will run from Aug. 29 to Sept. 2.
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SD panel proposes quota for bobcat harvest
CHET BROKAW,Associated Press
• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- Prompted by uncertainty on how many bobcats actually live in South Dakota, a state panel Friday proposed a bobcat hunting and trapping season that for the first time would limit the number of cats that could be killed in the western part of the state.
• The Game, Fish and Parks Commission had been scheduled to set the season this week, but delayed a decision for month after proposing a season that would be much different than wildlife officials had originally suggested.
• The commission is now proposing that no more than 600 bobcats could be shot or trapped in a western South Dakota season that would run from Dec. 26 to March 1. The season would end early if that quota is reached in western South Dakota, the cats' main range in the state.
• State wildlife biologists will conduct more research and may recommend a different quota when the commission meets in early July to set the bobcat season.
• In eastern South Dakota, each hunter or trapper would be limited to one bobcat in a season running from Dec. 26 to Jan. 19. The one-cat-per-person limit is the same as last year, the first year in which bobcats could be shot or trapped in eastern South Dakota. The season east of the Missouri River would be held only in Buffalo, Brule, Charles Mix, Bon Homme and Yankton counties.
• State wildlife biologist Keith Fisk said a quota of 600 bobcats in western South Dakota would be slightly lower than the average of 626 cats taken per year in the past dozen years. Wildlife managers are in the first year of a three-year study aimed at determining the bobcat population in the state, he said.
• Commissioner member John Cooper of Pierre said bobcat pelts have risen in price in recent years, reaching $1,000 for a prime pelt last winter. High prices draw more hunters and trappers, he said.
• "The bobcat is a neat critter, but when you start introducing the high price into it and you're not careful, you can get high harvest figures pretty quickly," Cooper said.
• Fisk said hunters and trappers in western South Dakota took slightly more females than males in recent years, an indication that a lot of pressure is being put on (Continued on page 17)
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