Despite a bill passing through both the House and the Senate in Jackson to allow the use of air guns, air bows and some pre-charged pneumatic weapons, they will remain illegal in Mississippi for at least another year.
When the appointed conferees failed to reach a compromise on the matter, Senate Bill 2035 died in a conference committee.
Only one bill related to outdoor sports passed both chambers and was signed into law by Governor Tate Reeves. That bill, House Bill 382, authorizes the Mississippi Commission on Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks to require chronic wasting disease (CWD) testing on any deer within an enclosure (deer pen, high-fenced areas) that dies for any reason other than by hunter harvest. The bill also forbids the Commission from establishing a CWD Management Zone within a five-mile radius of any enclosure where CWD is found until there is a verified case of CWD identified in a deer within that five-mile area.
The bill also changes current law to now require a minimum of one hunter-harvested deer per every 200 acres of enclosed land to be tested for CWD.
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