South Dakota Elk BHE-H9B-23 — Unit BHE-H9B, Type 23
Black Hills Elk: H9B23 - ONE ANTLERLESS ELK · CUSTER and PENNINGTON counties (antlerless, same area as BHE-H9A)
- What you may take
- Black Hills Elk: H9B23 - ONE ANTLERLESS ELK
- Weapon
- Rifle
- Where
- BHE-H9B — CUSTER and PENNINGTON counties (antlerless, same area as BHE-H9A)
- 10% public of 78,985 acres
- Seasons (2026)
- Oct 15–31, 2026 · Dec 1–16, 2026
- Resident tags (2026)
- 73
- for 7 first-choice applicants
Showing resident results (Standard class). Switch to nonresident · Standard Landowner
Odds by point level — 2026 draw
Undersubscribed: 7 of 40 tags claimed by first-choice resident applicants in 2026. Everyone who applied drew and the rest went to the leftover draw — the 100% reflects low demand, not a great tag. A code like this can flip the year demand catches up.
Prior-draw probability for a first-choice resident applicant. 40 tags, 7 first-choice applicants. Source: GoOutdoors South Dakota Draw... · EventID=234752.
| Points | Your chance | Applicants | Drawn |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 100% | 5 | 5 |
| 1 | 100% | 2 | 2 |
| 2–10 | 100% same chance at every one of these levels | — | — |
Preference points, computed from published point-level pools. A dash means South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks did not publish a count for that level. How we compute these.
What it costs (2026 resident fees)
At the 2026 odds, expected cost per hunt-year ranges from $215 (enough points to draw) .
Not applying this year? A point-only purchase costs $5 and adds a point for next year's draw.
Next application window: opens Apr 15, closes May 19, 2027 (expected) · results ~May 27. Last cycle's schedule rolled forward — confirm when the agency publishes.
Point creep & years to draw
Insufficient history (0 of 3 draws) — a creep trend needs at least three draw years with a published drew-out level.
Seasons (2026)
How this tag has hunted
Across every license type in BHE-H9B, South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks counted 10 elk taken in 2025. Full BHE-H9B profile: maps, public land, five years of harvest →
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. Source: Elk Harvest (Hunting/Harvest_Maps MapServer, layer 3) — per-unit post-season harvest, 2018 & 2023-2025
Year by year
The standard draw for residents, one row per year. South Dakota runs a second, random pass after the points pass; it is shown beside the year it belongs to.
| Year | Tags | Applicants | Applicants per tag | Points needed | Random pass | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 73 | 7 | 0.1 | — | 33 tagsfrom 139 applications | GoOutdoors South Dakota Draw... · EventID=234752 |
| 2025 | 77 | 3 | 0.0 | — | 37 tagsfrom 104 applications | GoOutdoors South Dakota Draw... · EventID=230307 |
| 2024 | 79 | 1 | 0.0 | — | 39 tagsfrom 161 applications | GoOutdoors South Dakota Draw... · EventID=229230 |
| 2023 | 74 | 6 | 0.1 | — | 34 tagsfrom 151 applications | GoOutdoors South Dakota Draw... · EventID=227554 |
| 2022 | — | — | — | — | 27 tagsfrom 115 applications | GoOutdoors South Dakota Draw... · EventID=226853 |
Legal cartridges for elk in South Dakota
From the South Dakota hunting laws rules on file for a rifle. "Depends" means the rule turns on your specific load — check the state page.
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How to read these numbers
Every percentage on this page is a prior-draw probability: the chance an applicant with that many points would have drawn in the draw year shown, computed from the agency's published results. It is not a forecast — quotas, applicant numbers, and point creep change every year. Every figure links to the agency document it came from. Where a state does not publish a number, we show a dash, never a zero. Hunts with fewer than five tags show counts instead of percentages. Fees show the fee year used. Read the methodology for the engine details.
Not an application service
This page is informational only. Draw rules, quotas, fees, and deadlines are set by the state agency and change by commission action — confirm everything on the agency's own site before you apply, and apply through the agency, not here. We disclaim all liability for reliance on this page.