Published: August 27, 2009 11:11 pm      

Big changes in store for deer hunting

During my formative years it was rare to see a buck in the woods during hunting season. If you harvested a buck you had done something that was big news in the community. The emphasis in those days was for quantity, not quality. Folks just wanted to see more deer, bucks in particular. As a result, does, or baby factories as some called them, were protected from harvest except on rare occasions.

By the time I graduated college our state had arrived at a buck a day limit and hunters had the opportunity to harvest a buck every time they went to the woods. My how times changed. Next we had the four point law and increased doe, or antlerless deer harvest. While many people were against harvesting does, most folks got on board with protecting the young bucks.

Now we have come to yet another fork in the road to deer management statewide. For the first time we now have three “management” zones in the state. Each zone will be managed separately to take advantage of the unique or different habitats that exist. In this way the deer herd may reach their maximum potential in each area, depending on the potential in that specific area.

 

Questions

 

Some have questioned who decides whether we have quantity, or quality? Others ask why we can’t have both. Of course almost everyone recognizes most of our lands can’t support both quantity and quality. I don’t know of one single person who would rather harvest a spike over a nice trophy eight or ten point buck, however.

And that’s where opinions vary, how to reach the maximum potential in our state. The answer, at least for now, seems to be that we’ll have management zones to give our wildlife managers more control over the deer herd in each area. This is something that has been ongoing for a few years now in specific deer clubs and State Wildlife Management Areas.

By now it should be evident that managing a deer herd is an ongoing science and changes must be made as new data and trends indicate favorable or unfavorable changes that develop in our herds.

 

White-tailed Deer

Management Zones

 

Research indicates the four-point law allowed the harvest of better quality yearling bucks, while protecting older-aged spikes and three-point bucks. The result has been a decrease in antler size within age classes of older bucks. The combination of the four-point law, high hunting pressure, and lower reproduction results in over harvest of bucks and a decrease in antler size. To prevent these problems, yearling bucks must be allowed to reach older age classes.

These antler criteria will protect almost 100% of the one and two year old bucks. This protection will prevent over-harvest of bucks and will improve antler size as bucks get older. These protected bucks will improve skewed buck doe ratios, resulting in higher reproduction. Management Zone lines are based upon soil regions using highways and interstates as dividing boundaries.

 

Deer Management Zone 1

 

Private and open public lands east of I-55 and north of I-20 plus areas south of I-20 and east of U. S. Highway 61, excluding areas south of U. S. Highway 84 and east of MS Highway 35. LEGAL BUCKS: A legal buck is defined as having EITHER a minimum inside spread of 10 inches OR one main beam at least 13 inches long.

 

Deer Management Zone 2

 

Private and open public lands south of U. S. Highway 84 and east of MS Highway 35. LEGAL BUCKS:  A legal buck is defined as having EITHER a minimum inside spread of 10 inches OR one main beam at least 13 inches long.

 

Deer Management Zone 3

 

Private and open public lands west of I-55 and north of I-20 plus areas south of I-20 and west of U. S. Highway 61. LEGAL BUCKS: A legal buck is defined as having EITHER a minimum inside spread of 12 inches OR one main beam at least 15 inches long.

 

Bag limits

 

Antlered Buck Deer: The bag limit on antlered buck deer is one (1) buck per day, not to exceed three (3) per license year. Legal bucks must meet the antler criteria within the appropriate deer management zone. For youth hunters 15 years of age and younger, hunting on private land and authorized state and federal lands, one (1) of the three (3) buck limit may be any antlered deer.

Antlerless Deer: The bag limit on antlerless deer is (1) one per day, not to exceed five (5) per license year.

For more information on Deer Hunting Seasons and other upcoming rules and regulation changes contact your local wildlife district office or go online to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Park’s website at mdwfp.com.

If you have any comments, concerning these new regulations respond to Mike Giles at giles58@bellsouth.net.  

Facts about the changes in the upcoming seasons and bag limits have been gathered from the Mississippi Outdoor Digest 2009-2010 and online from the Mississippi Department of Wildlife’s website.