Wildlife commission votes for multiple hunting regulation changes

Harvest reporting, supplemental feeding changes on table

Brian Broom
Mississippi Clarion Ledger

The Commission on Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks voted in favor of several hunting regulation changes this week, and if the changes are confirmed in the commission's October meeting, hunters will see new rules for harvest reporting, supplemental feeding and more.

Deer and turkey hunters can expect to see big changes in regulations in coming weeks.

The bulk of the proposed changes involve deer hunting and one of the most notable is the evolution of supplemental feeding outside of wildlife enclosures. When supplemental feeding was first allowed in Mississippi hunters were required to be at least 100 yards away from the feed and the feed was required to be out of the hunters' lines of sight. There were also regulations as to what could be fed and when.

Over time, the requirements of what feed could be used and when it could be provided along with the requirement that it be out of a hunter's line of sight were dropped. This week, the commission voted in favor of removing the 100-yard minimum distance between hunters and feed.

"There had been requests before, some from bow hunters," said Russ Walsh, Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks Wildlife Bureau executive director. "The commission looked at it and it was their decision to do it."

The change will not be confirmed until voted on in the October commission meeting, but Walsh said a temporary order will be filed soon that will allow hunters to hunt within any distance of feed or a feeder as of October 1.

Other changes involve management of chronic wasting disease. Mississippi's first documented case of the disease was discovered in January when a hunter watched an emaciated buck die in Issaquena County. Tissue samples were removed from the animal and tested positive for CWD twice.

The disease affects the nervous system of cervids such as deer, elk and moose. Infected animals display behavior such as walking in a set pattern, salivating and listlessness. It is also considered to be 100 percent fatal.

Banned

In an effort to prevent the spread of CWD from outside the state, MDWFP has proposed strengthening its cervid carcass import ban.

Currently, the importation ban only applies to animals harvested in states or provinces that are known to be CWD-positive. Under the proposal, carcass importation from any state will be banned. Like the supplemental feeding rule change, this is expected to be effective as of next week when a temporary order is scheduled to be filed.

"All other states around us have banned carcass importation, so we're just following suit," Walsh said. "Every state is heading in this direction to ban carcass importation from other states regardless of their CWD status."

Exceptions to the carcass importation ban are as follows:

Meat: Meat from cervids that has been completely deboned.

Antlers: Antlers attached to cleaned skull plates or cleaned skulls with no tissue attached.

Teeth: Cleaned teeth.

Taxidermy: Finished taxidermy and antler products.

Hides: Hides and tanned products.

Deer originating from the land between the Mississippi River levees in Arkansas and Louisiana are exempt from the ban.

Another possible ban involves the use of deer urine as an attractant. Natural scents or lures that contain cervid biofluids or other cervid biological material could be banned as they potentially could contain the protein that is thought to cause CWD. If passed, the ban will become effective July 1, 2019.

Owners of high-fence enclosures may also be impacted by MDWFP's CWD management plan. 

"It's certainly showing up in enclosures," Walsh said. "In many other states I think they are now documenting CWD in 94 captive herds in 16 states.

"That's 19 new herds in the last two years. We made it a rule that tissue samples from enclosures be submitted annually so we can do our due diligence to monitor CWD."

For the birds

Turkey hunters may see the biggest changes as new supplemental feeding rules and mandatory harvest reporting have been proposed.

With a years-long decline in turkey harvests, hunters and biologists have been asking for a mandatory harvest reporting system to provide better data on the population on a county level. If the commission's vote next month is in favor of it, hunters and biologists will get what they've asked for.

"The primary thing we hope most people use is a smartphone app," said Adam Butler, MDWFP Wild Turkey Program coordinator. "It will be housed in the existing MDWFP app. That part will be pretty straightforward."

Using the app, hunters will provide personal information along with information about their harvests such as date, location, beard and spur length. If the hunter is in an area with no cellular signal, the phone will store the data until a signal is available and then automatically upload it. Hunters may also choose to report online or by phone.

Butler said hunters will be required to at least initiate the reporting process before moving their harvest. For example, if a hunter has a smartphone but no signal, he or she should report the harvest through the app so it will upload later. Hunters with a signal can upload information to the app onsite or call a phone number that will be provided. If a hunter does not have a smartphone, he or she can write the information on a report card issued by the department.

Butler also said all turkey harvest reports will be required to be completed by 10 p.m. on the day of the harvest. He noted the shorter time-frame encourages greater participation and more participation equals better data.

"Missouri and a couple of other states have that timeline," Butler said. "It's important that if we go down this road and ask hunters to report their harvests that we get good data. There's no point in doing this if we don't get quality data."

Changes have also been proposed for supplemental feeding during turkey season. No supplemental feeding will be allowed from March 1 through the final day of turkey season.

"We've been getting complaints for years about feeding during turkey season," Butler said. "We were getting complaints from our officers and turkey hunters that outright baiting has been on the rise for the last several years. From a biological standpoint there's no reason to supplemental feed turkeys at that time of year."

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