Mississippi divided into six zones for the 2012 season
More Mississippians than ever have an opportunity to hunt alligators in 2012, but it requires more than just a brave soul to be in that number. Right now, haste and good luck are more important traits. This is the final week of the application period. Friday (June 15) is the last day to apply for the 810 tags available for the expanded September season.
Be late, and you’re out.
And it will take a bit of good fortune to get drawn. Biologist Ricky Flynt, who oversees the alligator program for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, said that five days into the application process, “we already have enough applications in each zone to insure filling the available tags.”
Mississippi has been divided into six zones for the 2012 season, with the Pearl River at Ross Barnett Reservoir, where the first season was held in 2005, being one of the zones. Only 60 permits are available there, but 150 are available in each of the five other zones.
Three of the zones are along the Mississippi River, the Northwest, West Central and Southwest zones. The other two are the South Central and Southeast zones that reach from I-20 to the north to the Gulf Coast and include the alligator-rich coastal river systems.
No public waters are open north of I-20 and east of I-55, with the exception of Barnett Reservoir.
“Through the first week, the most popular areas have been Barnett Reservoir and the West Central zones,” Flynt said. “We have over 1,100 different applicants already and they are averaging between entering two or three zones each.”
The season is the same in all areas, Sept. 7-17, with each hunter having 10 days to fill the two alligator tags that come with each permit. Both gators must exceed four feet in length and only one can exceed seven feet.
Only Mississippi residents, aged 16 and over, are allowed to apply, and they can apply in as many of the zones as they desire but are limited to one application per zone. Each of the applications carry a non-refundable $10 fee, and the only way to apply is online at the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks website, www.mdwfp.com. An e-mail address must be included with each application.
“I have received nothing but praise so far about the new online application process, and everybody is extremely pleased that they receive an immediate response verifying their application was successfully transmitted,” Flynt said. “The only glitches have come when somebody didn’t completely follow the instructions, but they were easily rectified.”
Within a week of the close of the application process, the computer-generated selection process will begin. Successful applicants will be notified by e-mail with instructions on how to complete the process. That includes fulfilling the requirement of successfully completing an alligator hunting training course. Anyone who has already taken the class in a previous season will be exempt.
Each successful applicant is allowed to have as many assistant hunters as desired. Each participant, which can include non-residents as assistants, must possess either a valid Mississippi hunting or fishing license, or be exempt, plus purchase a $25 alligator hunting license.
For more information on the alligator program, visit www.mdwfp.com/wildlife-hunting/alligator-program.aspx.
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