As far as alligator season in Mississippi, which opens at noon on Friday in most areas of the state, Hurricane Isaac brought both good and bad news for hunters. And, Mother Nature was fair — she did just the same for the gators. Alligator program coordinator Ricky Flynt of the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks said as much Tuesday as he prepared for his busiest week of the year.
“There are a few advantages and disadvantages to the recent effects from Hurricane Isaac in regards to alligator hunting,” Flynt said. “No. 1, most river levels are much higher than previous to the storm, which will provide much easier navigation for boaters. Prior to the storm most major river systems were at record low conditions. Low river conditions would have severely impacted the amount of available navigable waterways, which would concentrate hunters in fewer areas. This would also likely result in less distribution of harvest of alligators across the available zones.
“No. 2, the higher river levels also work to the advantage of the alligators in that they have additional resources for escape and cover.”
In short, hunters have more room to hunt and gators have more places to hide. It should make for an interesting season, but even before Isaac that was pretty much guaranteed.
The 2012 season is a big change over previous years, when the only public areas opened for the application and drawing process was part of the Pearl River where it flows through Ross Barnett Reservoir and the Pascagoula River. Those drawn faced very strict time limitations — one 18-hour session apiece.
This year, the area expanded to include all but the northeast section of the state (north of I-20 and east of I-55), and over 1,100 hunters were drawn and successfully completed training requirements. They will all have from noon Friday until 6 a.m. Sept. 17 to fill their two-gator limits. Both alligators must exceed 4 feet in length and only one can exceed 7 feet.
Even though the area expanded, Flynt explained that prior to Isaac options were very limited.
“All in all, hunters can be glad for the higher river levels, because without navigable water the amount of accessible hunting areas could be extremely limited,” he said. “Fortunately, most river should have retreated to near normal stages by the time the alligator season opens.”
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