For your child/mentor to be eligible for a mentored big game tag:

• The youth hunter is NOT hunter safety certified.
• They must be at least 10 years old, but not older than 15 at the time of hunting.
• They must have a parent or guardian who is a resident of South Dakota AND have taken the hunter safety course. The mentor is required to have their HuntSAFE card on them while hunting. The mentored license must be applied for by the parent or guardian and the license will be in the parent or guardian’s name. This does not affect their eligibility for their own big game tags.

For your child to be eligible for a youth big game tag:

• Resident and nonresident youth who are 12 or older must have hunter safety certification OR youth must be 16-18 years old as of June 30.

For your child/mentor to be eligible for mentored small game hunting:

• The youth hunter is NOT hunter safety certified.
• They must be at least 10 years old, but not older than 15 at the time of hunting.
• They must have a parent or guardian who is a resident of South Dakota, have a valid hunting license AND have taken the hunter safety course. The mentor is required to have their HuntSAFE card on them while hunting. 

For your child to be eligible for youth small game hunting:

• Resident youth who are 12 and over must have hunter safety certification OR be 16-18 years old as of June 30.
• Nonresident youth who are 12 and over must have hunter safety certification OR youth must be younger than 16 at the time of the purchase of the license.

If you have a mentored hunter, they are essentially hunting under the mentor’s license; meaning you can only have one daily limit between the two of you. If the hunter has a youth small game or junior combination license, they are allowed to have their own daily and possession limits.