I gave up hunting deer in SD years ago. As it was then East River was archery only for NR and a West River rifle tag was a drawing with slim odds for a NR. That's not to say there isn't hauntingly beautiful country and some good deer though they are not known generally for growing big racks. See below about the reservations.
I don't know about ND.
We eventually turned our attention to NE where each region is allocated a certain number of NR rifle tags and you could BUY THEM ONLINE. We had years of good deer hunting ...then blue tongue hit and decimated the herd at least in the north central part of the state where we hunted in the Sandhills. It hit south central SD too. This was about 2011 and numbers have not yet rebounded and we haven't been back since 2012.
In SD, the Indian reservations run their own show for hunting and at least in the not far past you could buy OTC licenses in Eagle Butte for the Cheyenne River Indian res and in south central, the same was true for the Rosebud Indian res, though I don't know in what town there. But the Rosebud was hit hard by blue tongue also and has a reputation of "if white don't be out there at night" This was passed on to me by a local. My info is anecdotal and second hand but it seems to be a rougher environment than the Cheyenne.
I generally find SD handling of NR tags/licenses very much of an irritant in regard to pheasants, waterfowl, and deer hunting and that is part of my loss of interest in them. That said, they have some world class hunting for the same in various parts of the state and scenery equal to the hunting. But it's their state and demand is high enough that they have no motivation to change anything is my guess. Of course the pheasant hunting is a literal industry and mostly outstanding.
