WMAs and U.S. Forest Service land great hunting options.
There are many reasons to hunt public land in Mississippi. First and foremost, it should be because the hunting is very good, no matter if you are a trophy hunter or just hoping to put some meat in the freezer. As leased land becomes more expensive and the economy remains sluggish, economics is becoming another contributing factor.
When I first hunted Kings Flat Hunting Club back in the 1970s, annual dues (to cover the lease and utilities) were $200 and a running deer dog. Today, the club requires members to pony up over $1,000 each, and dog hunting is not permitted.
Some hunters can absorb the added cost, but for others the only option is to find a less-expensive place to hunt or stick to public land. With that said, it should be mentioned that not all public land is governed by the same rules. State-run wildlife management areas are different than U.S. Forest Service Land, which is different from Army Corps of Engineers land, which is different from U.S. Fish and Wildlife land — you get the idea.
This month, Mississippi Sportsman provides a primer of rules and regulations to the largest tracts of public land in the state and gives each a grade to represent hunter success. The information and the grade are based on the most current deer hunting data available at press time. That harvest data may be skewed somewhat by the access hunters have at peak hunting times.
For example, Yockanookany WMA in Attala County is a draw-hunt WMA, which allows archery and primitive weapons only. Youth, in some cases, may use modern weapons. A hunter may be drawn, but during his or her allotted time the rains are heavy and the area is flooded. Reading the harvest data for just one year could result in a misrepresentation of the WMA’s true potential. If just buck harvests are considered, then the Youth hunters, who have one “Charlie” buck, being one with any size hardened horn, will again skew the data if several are killed during the special youth season.
With all this said, hunters new to an area or seeking an area to try, have to either study years of harvest data to see trends in harvests, or rely on recommendations from outside sources. For that reason this grading chart and WMA/Public Land Primer is being presented.
There are no bad places to hunt; some are just more productive than others. For that reason, no WMA has a grade lower than a C. Success may just depend on how dedicated a hunter is and how much time is devoted to scouting and hunting. Also, there is the consideration of the hunter’s choice to harvest an individual animal or not. One man’s trophy would be another man’s cull.
Since no two hunters will agree on the definition of just when a buck becomes a trophy, we’ll have to set a benchmark. For our purposes, a trophy will be described as a typical buck measuring 125 inches. That is the minimum criteria for the Magnolia Records Club.
“On average, antler length, overall, was 5 inches greater this year than in previous years,” said Rick Dillard, a scorer and founder of the Magnolia Records Club, following the 2011 Mississippi Wildlife Extravaganza.
All Magnolia Records bucks are listed on the MDWFP website, and most have pictures of the mounts.
Also, pictures of this year’s Extravaganza bucks are available online.
Editor’s note: This article is part of the Making the grade feature in the October issue of Mississippi Sportsman. To read the rest of this story, you can download a digital edition of this issue right to your computer or smartphone.
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