can someone answer this for me?

[boxcar46]

OK, do we here in South Dakota half to license our permanate fish houses. The reason I ask is last year I did, but when I saw other shacks they weren't. When I had mine scaled to get it titled the treasurer said I needed to license it. So why doesn't everybody need to. I do not haul nothing in it as it doesn't have double doors. Any help on this matter. All I know I'm pulling my plate off. What's good for the goose is good for the gander...

boxcar

[cornstalk]

No, we dont need to register ice shacks here in SD.

Your encounter at the courthouse was most likely just concerning the road licensing. (Needs to be licensed as a trailer)

I have yet to build a permanent, but hope to someday.

[boxcar46]

that's what I'm asking. does my fish house (which is 6.5 x 14 drop down) need to be licenced. all the other shacks I seen are not. It's not a trailer unless you can haul stuff in it right?

boxcar46

[Jarrod32]

If you pull it down the road behind your vehicle, it is considered a trailer for licensing purposes. Not 100% sure on that, but I am pretty confident that it will be considered a trailer.

[Tyler Holm]

Those shacks that are not licensed are probably kept right near the lake year round and will never need to be taken on public roads. Many shacks on Waubay spend the summer right on the shorelines on private grounds, then are simply tugged atop the ice.

You need a license on any trailer/shack that is towed behind your vehicle on public streets/roads/highways. Some will "chance" this, but it's not recommeneded.

[boxcar46]

thanks

[sloughshark]

I purchased a permy shack last winter, and before i pulled it anywhere, i asked the GFP if i needed to license my new unit. the answer was NO it does not have to be licensed. I would also ask the GFP officers whom i would speak with from time to time on the lake and they all said NO. So i Dont have one on mine, I would think that the GFP boys know what they are talking about.

[Soup]

The answer is no. When you buy a shack or trailer you need to go to the courthouse of your county and pay the 3% sales tax on the purchase. After that you need to "marry/marriage" your shack to the trailer. The courthouse will give you a paper that you need to carry with you when you pull the shack down the road that will show that you have went through this process. I just went through all this last december.

[Tyler Holm]

Thanks for clearing that up Soup. That sounds like the way to go.

I got off with a warning about 10 years ago. They gave me a warning for no (trailer) license, no tail-lights or blinkers, no safety chains, and shack was 10.5' wide (too wide for public roads). I think there was another violation in there, but I don't remember it.

I was only pulling the shack about 7 miles. I was 16 years old at the time, so I really didn't know any better. It wasn't even my shack, but I was driving.

We pinned up the warning tickets in the shack and to my knowledge they are still there as a reminder.

[cold one sd]

All of this brings up a question that I would like to have answered. If I have a homemade dropdown ice house with an ATV door in the back and I haul my ATV it has to be licensed as a trailer. If it is licensed as a trailer why would I have to have my name and the other required information on my trailer if I am fishing out of it. It seems to me that it should be either an ice house or a trailer. To confuse the issue even more, is it subject to zoning laws since it is used as a storage unit during the summer?