South Dakota Deer — WRD-65A
Oglala Lakota County
South Dakota WRD-65A covers 1,343,512 acres and lies 46 miles east of Hot Springs and 60 miles south-east of Box Elder. 10% of it is public land, mostly other public land (10%). In 2025, hunters took 23 white-tailed deer here. The 2026 draw put up 6 nonresident tags here for 10 first-choice applicants.
Your chance of drawing here
Every deer license type on offer in WRD-65A, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.
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-
20% Long shot
| Hunt | Your odds (0 pts) | Points needed | Tags / applicants | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WRD-65A-02 ↗ West River Deer: 65A02 - ANY BUCK DEER | 20% Long shot | — | 6 / 10 | Nov 14–29, 2026 |
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.
- 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.
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-65A
Not in the table above because they had no result in the 2026 draw.
The country
Boundaries are drawn for orientation only — the written boundary description in the regulations governs.
Who owns the ground
- Private 1,210,486 ac · 90%
- Other public 133,026 ac · 10%
- State land 0 ac · 0%
- State trust land 0 ac · 0%
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 | 23 |
| 2024 | 27 |
| 2023 | 33 |
Mule Deer
| Season | Harvest |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 14 |
| 2024 | 27 |
| 2023 | 7 |
What people carried (2025 harvest)
- Firearm 37 · 100%
Harvest: Deer Harvest (Hunting/Harvest_Maps MapServer, layer 5) — per-unit post-season harvest, 2023-2025