This state's classification carries no date range for the species.
Handbook states 'GREATER SAGE GROUSE / SEASON CLOSED' outright.SD GFP's species page explains a resident-only season would only be considered when a minimum of 300 males are counted on all leks in Butte and Harding counties for two consecutive years; the most recent season was 2016 (40 resident permits, one-bird limit via lottery). Most recent survey found (2024 count, per source): only 94 males across 17 leks, well below the 300-male trigger. No 2025/2026 updated count has been found.
SD GFP's own species page states the current range plainly: sage-grouse historically occupied 'the western third of the state outside of the Black Hills' but now survive only in 'portions of Butte and Harding counties' in the extreme northwest corner of South Dakota, contiguous with sage-grouse range in adjoining Wyoming and Montana. The season has been closed since 2016; SD GFP will consider reopening a resident-only season only after 300+ males are counted on all Butte/Harding County leks for two consecutive years.
SD's sage-grouse season has been closed since 2016, reopening gated on 300+ males counted on Butte/Harding County leks for two consecutive years; the most recent count found is 2024 (94 males across 17 leks, well below the trigger). Spring lek counts fold into the same not-yet-published late-August Upland Outlook PDF as prairie-chicken and sharp-tailed grouse (as of 2026-08-19); no discrete 2025 or 2026 sage-grouse count found independently.
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