Don’t Miss Out on Deer Application Deadline
There are going to be some hurt feelings when people miss the new deer application deadline.
I was rolling through Twitter today when the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks tweeted that the deadline is looming and don't miss it. This will probably cause the most crying by East River hunters who are used to being able to wait until after Labor Day to apply. These same people also like deer hunting but it's just a thing they do in the fall, and only shoot their rifle when they are hunting, not bothering to make sure it is zeroed. (I have hunted with these people.)
The online deadline, June 19, 2019 at 8:00am (yes, 8:00am in the morning), is earlier than the traditional or old opening of deer applications which was usually June 20-something.
What is probably going to happen is the deadline will probably get extended like it did in 2017. That year the deadline was September 2, arbitrarily early before Labor Day, is an extension of the deadline after enough people, or the right people, call, email, and complain on social media.
At some point GFP needs to treat grown ups like grown ups. If they miss it, despite the best efforts of sending emails and posting numerous times on social media that the deadline is different this year, too bad. That's how people learn best, by screwing up.
That's how I learned that GFP does this weird thing where the deadline time is 8:00 am. I guess it's 8 hours longer than a midnight cutoff, but I made the false assumption a few years ago when I thought I had until the end of the day to apply for my West River tag and found out I missed it because GFP likes to be "ante meridiem" I guess?
People I know who are casual deer hunters are aware of the early deadline. I've seen it on the news, plus most deer hunters know about the new drawing system. I hope I'm wrong and the deadline comes and goes and the draw is run in a timely manner, but I can also see much butthurt leading to an extension of the deadline, which will infuriate some who think that will greatly diminish their chances at drawing the tag they want. Those are probably the same people who don't buy preference points and wonder why they can't get a Custer State Park tag.