Hunters hitting Mississippi’s system of wildlife management areas will, for the first time, be able to use crossbows this year, the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks has announced.
“Biologically, we didn’t have any reason not to allow it, and it gives the hunters another option,” said regional WMA supervisor Brad Holder, who manages WMAs in the north and northwest portions of the state. “We love to increase the opportunities for our hunters wherever and whenever we can.”
And the bottom line is that whatever a hunter’s weapon of choice, the WMAs came out of the last hunting season in great shape, with enough rainfall continuing across the state to maintain the habitat through the summer.
“We got a fair amount of rain earlier in the year,” said MDWFP biologist Justin Hughes, who works in the northwestern portion of the state. “We’re getting showers spread out just about right.”
In fact, there are some areas in which the wet ground is a potential problem.
“We need it to hold off so we can do some work,” Hughes said.
However, he said there is plenty of time for food plots to be planted.
About the only area that started to dry up during the early summer is a portion of the Delta, but biologist Jackie Fleeman said the habitat was still in good condition moving into the fall.
“There’s nothing dying or anything,” he said.
And Holder said even that was being rectified by regular evening showers.
“We had a little dry spell (during the early summer), but up in this part of the world we have received some timely rain,” he said.
For deer hunters, these public pieces of property provide great opportunities to put food on the table — especially since MDWFP officials want you to kill does.
“We’ve got a surplus of deer,” Holder said. “The hardest thing in the world is to get people to kill an adequate number of deer, and that starts with killing an adequate number of does.”
So the big picture for the upcoming hunting seasons is looking bright, and the opportunities for success are out there, but Mississippi Sportsman spent time last month with MDWFP biologists to provide a look at how that translates to each specific WMA.
To read the full report, be sure and pick up your copy of the September Mississippi Sportsman today.
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