Fish and Game Stamps of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe
Stamps Issued
The earliest known stamps used at Crow Creek were reported by E. L. Vanderford to have been first issued in 1961, and were required by non-Indian hunters only. Very little is known about these stamps, as tribal records for this period were lost in a flood (McGee). There were at least two types, one for small game and migratory waterfowl and another for big game. The stamps are imperforate and feature printed text in black on white paper with red serial numbers. They measure approximately 44 x 35 mm. The earliest known stamp in collectors’ hands has the date typeset “1962”. The same stamps are known to have been used in 1963 and 1964 with the only difference being that the date was changed manually with a ballpoint pen (see Figures 12, 13 and 14).
Figure 12. Crow Creek Small Game issued in 1962.
Figure 13. Stamps were used in subsequent years by changing the date manually with a ball point pen.
Figure 14. Although issued in 1964, this stamp provides evidence Crow Creek issued stamps as early as 1961.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe experimented with a variety of different types of licenses, but no stamps are known to have been issued during this period (see Figures 15, 16 and 17). Collectors of waterfowl stamps and licenses will take note of the interesting boating permit reproduced in Figure 16, which also allowed the holder to hunt migratory waterfowl (from a boat only?).
Figure 15. Crow Creek General Hunting License used in the 1970s.
Figure 16. Crow Creek Out of State Boating Permit. Note the permit conveyed the rights to hunt waterfowl on the reservation.
Figure 17. Crow Creek Non Member Commercial Fish Trapping License.