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South Mississippi Gets Extra Deer Hunting Days

GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) — The 2011-12 deer season has closed for most of the state, but not in South Mississippi.

The extended deer season begins Wednesday in Zone 2 and runs through Feb. 15. The Zone 2 area comprises private and public lands south of U.S. 84 and east of Mississippi 35, including the coastal counties of Jackson, Harrison and Hancock.

The extended season is open only to primitive weapons, archery and crossbows for legal buck hunting. A legal buck is described as having a minimum inside spread of 10 inches or a minimum main beam length of 13 inches. No doe can be harvested during the extended season.

"This is our seventh-year with the extended season in South Mississippi,'' Chad Dacus of the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, told the Sun Herald (http://bit.ly/x6snVK).

"Our first year was 2005-06 in Zone 2. Every year people down there tell us how much they like to hunt the rut and hunt when they see deer movement.

"The deer breeding dates in South Mississippi are much later than the majority of the state (due to mild temperatures and soil conditions). The extended season gives hunters in that area the same opportunity the rest of the state has been given for a long time,'' Dacus said.

Normal breeding dates along the Mississippi River and Delta area takes place around Thanksgiving. That area also produces deer that often score 130 or better on the Boone and Crockett scoring system.

In South Mississippi, breeding dates begin during the end of January or the first part of February.

"In Greenwood, the rut begins around Thanksgiving,'' Dacus said. "Deer up there have been breeding for 45 or 50 days. Deer in Southeast Mississippi have not bred yet.

"In Southeast Mississippi, which includes the coast, the rut is normally around late January or early February. That's when the peak of the rut takes place, and you see deer movement. Actual breeding will be the first of February to the middle of February. That will not change even with the weather,'' he said.

That's good news to South Mississippi hunters since the Coastal counties, George, Stone and Pearl River have experienced mild winter temperatures.

Despite the warm winter, Dacus said breeding will not be impacted. Seeing deer movement, however, may be a different story.

"The warmer temperatures will not push breeding back,'' Dacus said. "But the actual breeding may not take place until the temperature is cooler, perhaps in the evening or at night. That means hunters may not see any movement, but we know breeding is going to take place.

"Also, food resources are not low because we have not had frost or many freezes this year. The acorn reproduction has been through the roof so hunters may not see any deer on their food plots.

"Unless we get some severe cold weather, it's going to be interesting for deer movement,'' he said.

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