SOUTH DAKOTA 



..OUTH DAKOTA contains an area of about 

 76,620 square miles. Its surface consists 

 largely of open prairie, except in the 

 southwest, where it is mountainous, the 

 Black Hills being located there. The great 

 Missouri river flows through the center of 

 the state. 



The big game of South Dakota is becoming scarce. 

 It consists of cougar, lynx, elk, deer, gray or timber- 

 wolf, prairie-wolf or coyote, badger, jack-rabbit and 

 cottontail rabbit, mink, otter, and muskrat. 



Of the feathered game there are grouse, pinnated and 

 ruffed, the latter not being very abundant, snipe, plover, 

 quail, several varieties of geese, and nearly all the mi- 

 gratory ducks. The abundance of feathered game 

 depends much upon the season. When rain is abun- 

 dant, there are lakes and sloughs which attract myriads 

 of water- fowl. If rain is scarce, these lakes become dry 

 and the wild fowl do not come. Drought also affects 

 the abundance of pinnated grouse or prairie-chicken. 

 There has, however, generally been an abundance of 

 game of all kinds, with the exception of wild geese, 

 which have decreased. This is attributed to the dry 

 seasons. Trapping has played havoc with prairie-hen. 

 Quail shooting, which formerly was very abundant, is 

 now hard to find. The broad Missouri bottoms, covered 

 with brush, were formerly alive with quail, and one hun- 

 dred birds was no uncommon bag for two men in a 



