Is for-profit shooting of captive farm-raised “wild” game hunting?

When Jeff Olson saw a photo of a massive buck deer recently – along with a message suggesting it was a record breaker – he was immediately skeptical.

Olson is a Black Hills Sportsmen Club board member and a former state Game, Fish and Parks commissioner.

“Any real hunter knows wild deer don’t look like that,” Olson said, pointing to the thick antlers and massive body, traits developed when a deer is fed a diet unattainable in the wild.

The photo was evidence of an open secret in South Dakota hunting circles: Not all game shot in the state is “wildlife” in the strictest sense of the word. Some are private livestock, raised behind high fences and sometimes even fed a tailored diet. The private deer, elk or bison – and the often guided trips to shoot them – are sold to customers across the globe for thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars.

The photo of the beastly buck was shared in the sportsmen club’s newsletter, where it became fodder in the longstanding debate over the implications of shooting pen-raised animals.

A fenced-off deer operator confirmed that the buck was raised in captivity, but requested to not have his name in this story. That’s because these operations are controversial in some hunting circles, who allege the practice is unethical and a disease risk to wild populations.

Hunting vs shooting

The state Department of Game, Fish, and Parks does not manage deer, elk or other game raised behind fencing. That’s because South Dakota law recognizes those fenced-in animals as private property, rather than wildlife.

The state Animal Industry Board regulates which animals landowners can import and raise, how to raise and keep them, and how (in the case of pheasants) they can be released into the wild.

Only after pen-raised pheasants are released to be shot by customers do they legally become “wildlife” managed by Game, Fish and Parks.

“They’re shooting a farmer’s chickens,” said Zach Hunke with the South Dakota Wildlife Federation. “And I’m fine with that; make your money. However, it’s not the same as hunting, and I don’t think we should pretend it is.”

Les Lindskov owns multiple shooting preserves in western South Dakota, including pheasant preserves and an 8,000-acre, high-fenced deer, elk and bison operation. He also served on the Game, Fish, and Parks Commission under former Governor Bill Janklow.

Large swaths of habitat are far from free, Lindskov said, and shooting preserves and high-fenced deer and elk operations are the best way for many landowners to pay their bills and keep the land wild.

“I have no time for these people,” he said, referring to those critical of high-fence operations and shooting preserves. “[They] have no idea how much land I’ve enhanced to produce wildlife.”

Lindskov said few motivations remain for private landowners to maintain habitat beyond government programs that subsidize the practice, and “there aren’t a lot of people calling for more government spending.”

The GF&P licenses and fees associated with big game hunting are not required when shooting a private deer or elk, and it can occur any time of the year rather than during a specific hunting season.

Customers shooting pen-raised pheasants on a preserve do need a license, but are not required to pay for a Habitat Stamp, a public habitat and hunting fee collected by GF&P. Meanwhile, other pheasant hunters do.

The Boone and Crockett Club keeps the state record for South Dakota’s biggest deer. The club’s Kyle Lehr said the organization would not accept a captive deer as a submission and would work with state partners to investigate if there was any suspicion.

Captive deer are disqualified because the animals are private property, Lehr said, and the group views shooting them for sport as “undermining fair chase.”

“Fair chase” refers to the taking of wildlife in a manner that does not give the hunter an improper advantage over the animal.

Former state GF&P Secretary and Commissioner John Cooper has spent his life in wildlife work on the state and federal levels. He said pen-raised animals, unfamiliar with wild threats, often lack the necessary skills to evade predators and hunters, compromising that principle.

“These people are not hunting,” Cooper said. “Hunting is the pursuit of wild game raised in wild places. Shooting is what you do when a hunt is successful.”

Lindskov does not disagree that what’s happening is not fair chase.

“No, it’s not fair chase,” he said. “It’s a bucket list item for our clients. Where else can you take a Vietnam veteran with no legs to shoot a six-point bull elk?”

Farming wildlife

Captive deer and elk are used for more than hunting; they’re also farmed for meat and other purposes. The practice has burgeoned into a multimillion-dollar industry in rural America with over 10,000 operations across the U.S., according to GF&P.

A management report by the department says the industry, which aims to produce breeding stock, trophy game, and products like venison and hides, is reshaping wildlife management and challenging regulatory frameworks. Permitted facilities have grown from 19 to 45 in South Dakota since they were permitted in 1993, predominantly housing elk.

Regulation of captive cervids (the deer and elk family) requires an annual permit from the Animal Industry Board, ranging from $10 to $100. The board oversees facility inspections and management, including disease surveillance, in cooperation with the GF&P.

South Dakota State Veterinarian Beth Thompson, said the high-fence cervid operations in South Dakota range from caribou used during Christmas parades to elk raised for jerky and velvet.

“They all have different business plans when farming these animals,” said Thompson, who leads the Animal Industry Board.

Disease transmission between captive and wild cervids is a concern, according to Thompson and GF&P — chronic wasting disease in particular.

“If CWD is on either side of the fence, the first people we call is GF&P,” Thompson said.

Origins of a deadly disease

Chronic wasting disease affects the brains of deer, elk, caribou, and moose. It was first identified in captive mule deer in Colorado in the 1960s.

“It’s just been devastating,” said former GF&P biologist George Vandel. “And every early case we’d seen traced it back to a high-fence operation.”

In South Dakota, GF&P first detected the disease in seven captive elk facilities in Custer, McPherson, and Pennington counties in 1997. The disease could have spread between captive operations through practices like sharing breeding stock, Vandel said. Raising any animals in a close, captive environment increases the likelihood of disease, he said.

Subsequent research in partnership with South Dakota State University found no incidents of the disease in sampled free-ranging deer and elk from 1997 to 1999.

The first case in the wild was confirmed in a white-tailed deer in Fall River County during the 2001 hunting season, and the first wild elk case was detected in 2002.

The state has since conducted over 18,000 tests, primarily on animals submitted by hunters, and has confirmed cases in 297 white-tailed deer, 142 mule deer, and 282 elk in the wild population.

GF&P conducts testing in coordination with SDSU’s Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory, with confirmatory analysis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Results are usually available within seven to 10 days, and updates can be found on GF&P’s interactive online map.

GF&P’s management report says that testing used to be mandatory on all captive deer and elk that died in South Dakota. In 2012, “following 15 years of mandatory CWD testing,” the Animal Industry Board now administers a voluntary program.

Since 1997, there have been 6,676 captive cervids (deer, elk, moose) tested in South Dakota and 130 tested positive (125 elk, five white-tailed deer).

“I don’t know that there is a whole lot you can do,” said Lindskov, the preserve owner.

Operations are incentivized to take disease mitigation seriously, Lindskov said. Businesses depend on healthy stock.

“Nobody is more concerned about diseases than me,” Lindskov said. “We make sure to get them tested, and if there ever was a detection, we’d put them all down right away.”

Private and public interests

Cooper, the Former GF&P Secretary, said hunting in South Dakota helps manage the public’s wildlife with science-based harvest limits. The practice also funds conservation efforts through license fees and taxes on gear and ammunition.

Operations that exist to generate profit can result in science taking a backseat to revenue, he said, pointing to pheasants as an example.

The pheasant population used to be decided “by mother nature.” Weather and the quality of habitat all but determined the year’s population, he said, not “how many pheasants I want to raise and release out on this ground out here.”

Cooper said after the state began treating “the shooting of private, pen-raised pheasants as hunting,” that industry began to influence wildlife management decisions in the state.

The state ended its count of wild pheasants “to ensure that South Dakota is not unintentionally deterring hunters from coming to our state based on the media headlines reporting of low bird numbers.” GF&P staff used to drive the same rural routes every year, counting the broods or hens they saw and then extrapolating a population estimate from that.

“Decades of science out the window,” Cooper said.

Lindskov said the count “was never accurate in the first place.” The license fees required to shoot pheasants on a private preserve go back to GF&P, as well, “helping to improve wildlife habitat for everybody.”

“Get a life,” he said, referring to “hunting purists” who see the private operations as problematic. “They’re doing justice for everything from tourism revenue to habitat improvements on private lands. There was never one wild pheasant out on this land before I started introducing them.”

There were no wild pheasants anywhere in South Dakota before they were introduced in 1908. The species originates in China.

Thompson, the state veterinarian, said there are no known diseases transmitted by pen-raised pheasants into the wild population.

“Unless we’re talking about bird flu, and we know the source of that is wild birds,” Thompson said. “So no, there’s nothing I’m aware of that’s concerning in the way CWD is to cervids.”

This year, bird flu was detected on a pen-raised pheasant preserve in Iowa. The disease has not been detected on a preserve in South Dakota, Thompson said.

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