Contact: Clay Chester, Southeastern States Coordinator
On July 16, the Commission on Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (Commission) voted 4-0 to table the proposed rule on Chronic Wasting Disease Management Zone Delineation. Hunting conservation advocates celebrated the decision as a win in the fight against Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).
After CWD was detected in Mississippi’s deer herd in 2018, the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP) established CWD Management Zones with a 25-mile radius around the location of CWD-positive deer in which transporting deer carcasses and supplemental feeding were banned.
The proposed rule would have shrunk the CWD Management Zone 25-mile radius to a 10-mile radius and established CWD Surveillance Zones in the area from the 10-mile radius boundary to the 25-mile radius boundary. Under the proposed rule, supplemental feeding would have been permitted in the CWD Surveillance Zones.
On July 3, a coalition of in-state, regional and national conservation organizations, including the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, sent a letter to the Commission opposing the proposed rule. The letter recommended the Commission follow national best management practices to manage the spread of CWD and supported maintaining the current structure of the CWD Management Zones as well as continuing the ban on supplemental feeding within the CWD Management Zones.
Studies conducted at both the state and federal level have found that the number of hunters and trappers have been on a generally declining trend over the past several decades. To increase recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) of hunters and trappers, which initiative do you think would have the greatest impact?
