Today’s column may be the most important I’ve ever written with regard to both issues. We hunters are facing a major crisis. Across the board, hunter numbers are dwindling. Our wildlife are at risk as hunters finance conservation. Our hunting is at risk as we become a small minority. Plain and simple, too many of today’s youth don’t have a mom or dad who can or will take them hunting.

Fortunately for South Dakota, our SD Game, Fish, & Parks Department has done everything in their power to put more youthful deer hunters in the field. It’s called the APPRENTICE DEER program. Here’s how it works. Resident and nonresident youth that are or will be at least 12 years old on December 31, 2020, and are younger than 18 years old on June 20, 2020, may purchase a license every year and hunt the entire season.

The season runs from September 12, 2020 to January 1, 2021, and the entire state, excluding a few areas such as Custer State Park, is open to Apprentice hunting - this means all counties! The cost of a license for an Any Antlerless Deer tag is $5.00 or $10.00 for a nonresident.

There’s only one hitch. Apprentice hunters must be accompanied by an unarmed adult unless the adult has a firearms big game license for the same geographic area and time of year. This means the adult doesn’t have to be a hunter! By now, rifle deer hunters know whether or not they drew their license. Why not have a youth accompany you on your hunt? Better yet, take the time now to teach them gun safety and pass on some of your expertise as a deer hunter.

Keep in mind that your youthful hunter may be intimidated by field-dressing chores. Offer to do it for them while teaching them along the way. Plan ahead by seeing if your host farmer/rancher will permit a youth to accompany you.

I’d prefer that you take the initiative to line up an Apprentice hunter on your own. Your local hunter safety instructor can help. However, if you are willing to mentor a young hunter, or if you are a youth who wants to hunt but doesn’t have someone to take you, let me know and I’ll either take you out myself or line you up with a volunteer mentor. I’ll even pay for your license. If you are a landowner willing to support this program, let me know. This also means that your out-of-state grandchildren could visit for a Thanksgiving or Christmas vacation hunt.

Our wacky world being what it is today, a background check would be a good idea in a situation where participants don’t know each other. If I’m personally lining this up, I’ll make the introductions and take care of details. Call me at 605-384-3794, or email me at rwiltz@charles-mix.com.

Years ago I introduced a Scotland, SD youth to hunting and fishing. I was at his side when he bagged his first deer, and I see that hunt as a treasured moment in my hunting life.

South Dakota has another deer hunt related problem. It’s called CWD or Chronic Waste Disease, and it’s spreading like a prairie fire. The presence of this insidious fatal disease of deer has already been confirmed in Bennett, Butte, Corson, Custer, Fall River, Haakon, Harding, Jackson, Meade, Lawrence, Pennington, and Tripp counties in Western South Dakota.

There is too much we don’t know about CWD, but we do know that it is carried by prions that are spread through deer saliva, urine, and feces. These prions can bind with the soil and remain infectious for 18 years or more. We need to get to the bottom of this disease, and I know some girls who might be smart enough to do it. They were co-valedictorians in a high school class of 220 classmates, and I’m going to personally challenge them.

My identical twin granddaughters are majoring in Wildlife Ecology at the University of Wisconsin. UW is a good school. More Fortune 500 CEO’s have come from UW than any other school including Harvard, Northwestern, and Stanford. Wisconsin, and their home area in particular, are CWD hotbeds. The research facilities are at their fingertips as they’re already working in the lab. CWD could be PhD dissertation projects. Girls - do it for Grandpa Roger.

Regardless of who does the research, federal funding is necessary as state agencies such as SDGF&P don’t have the money. Our own SDSU could tackle the problem with financial support.

See you next week.