AmmoSight

South Dakota Deer — WRD-49A

MEADE COUNTY, east of I-90, south of US 212

South Dakota WRD-49A covers 807,679 acres and lies 19 miles east of Sturgis. 4% of it is public land, mostly state trust land (2%) and other public land (2%). In 2025, hunters took 443 white-tailed deer here. The 2026 draw put up 40 nonresident tags here for 91 first-choice applicants.

Nonresident tags (2026):82 Applicants:105 Public land:4% Size:807,679 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in WRD-49A, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

3 licenses on offer · 82 tags · 105 applicants in the 2026 draw

Chances are from the 2026 draw (the most recent) for a first-choice nonresident. "Points needed" = the cut in the last draw.

Simple view Odds at every point level
  • WRD-49A-01 West River Deer: 49A01 - ANY DEER 40 tags · 91 applicants
    0% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
  • WRD-49A-11 West River Deer: 49A11 - ANY WHITETAIL DEER 20 tags · 12 applicants
    100% Undersubscribed 30% as 2nd choice
  • WRD-49A-13 West River Deer: 49A13 - ANTLERLESS WHITETAIL DEER 22 tags · 2 applicants
    100% Undersubscribed
What these columns mean
Your odds
—
the share of applicants at your point level who drew this tag in the 2026 draw. Not a forecast: quotas and demand move every year.
The badge
—
plain language for that number. Likely draw 75% or better · Real chance 40%+ · Long shot 15%+ · Point builder below that, so you are applying mainly to bank a point · Undersubscribed means fewer first-choice applicants than tags, so everyone who applied drew.
As 2nd choice
—
South Dakota lets you name more than one hunt on the application. Miss on your first choice and you go into the pot for whatever tags are left, alongside everyone else's second choices. Points never help a lower choice, so this number is the same whatever you have banked — it is usually worth naming a hunt that goes undersubscribed.
Points needed
—
the lowest point total that still got a tag in the 2026 draw, and how that cut has moved since the earliest draw we hold.
Tags / applicants
—
tags on offer and first-choice applicants for them, as the agency published them. Under five tags we print counts instead of a percentage, because one applicant either way swings it.
3 hunts not offered in 2026 are hidden — show discontinued hunts.

What it costs to apply (2026 nonresident fees)

License Up front Gone if you miss If you draw
Per application $25 $25 $25

Application window: opens May 27, closes Jun 23, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.

Other licenses valid in WRD-49A

Not in the table above because they had no result in the 2026 draw.

Type 18 — West River Deer: 49A18 - ANY WHITETAIL DEER, ANTLERLESS WHITETAIL DEER Standard Type 19 — West River Deer: 49A19 - 2 ANTLERLESS WHITETAIL DEER Standard Type 19P — West River Deer: 49A19P - 2 ANTLERLESS WHITETAIL DEER Standard

The country

Sturgis Box Elder Custer Hot Springs Eagle Butte
WRD-49A within South Dakota
BHD-BD1 BHD-BH1 CUD-CU1 WRD-02A WRD-02C WRD-15A WRD-15A17P WRD-15B WRD-15B17P WRD-21A WRD-21B WRD-31A WRD-35L WRD-39A WRD-49B WRD-53C WRD-64A Sturgis Summerset Belle Fourche Custer
WRD-49A and its neighbours
Zoomable USGS topo, aerial imagery and shaded relief, with the neighboring areas drawn on.

Boundaries are drawn for orientation only — the written boundary description in the regulations governs.

Who owns the ground

  • Private 774,949 ac · 96%
  • State trust land 16,942 ac · 2%
  • Other public 13,698 ac · 2%
  • State land 2,088 ac · 0%

Source: Hunt Unit Deer - Public (HuntUnit_Deer MapServer) — East River, West River, Black Hills, CSP and Refuge Deer layers

Nearby areas

How the hunting has gone

What South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks publishes for this area after each season — harvest statistics for everyone who hunted it, not draw odds and not a forecast. South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks publishes these per hunt rather than per unit; the rows below add its own figures together, since a hunter holds one tag for the species in a season. South Dakota's figures are Game, Fish and Parks post-season survey estimates, expanded from mandatory hunter reporting by the response rate — not a count of animals checked in.

White-tailed Deer

Season Harvest
2025 443
2024 483
2023 430

Mule Deer

Season Harvest
2025 143
2024 160
2023 141

What people carried (2025 harvest)

  • Firearm 586 · 100%

Boundary: Hunt Unit Deer - Public (HuntUnit_Deer MapServer) — East River, West River, Black Hills, CSP and Refuge Deer layers

Harvest: Deer Harvest (Hunting/Harvest_Maps MapServer, layer 5) — per-unit post-season harvest, 2023-2025

How we compute draw odds · All South Dakota deer hunts