MDWFP offers assistance programs to hunters, landowners - Mississippi's Best Community Newspaper | Mississippi's Best Community Newspaper - Natchez Democrat

Published 5:56 p.m. Wednesday, October 12, 2022

JACKSON — Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks person a fewer assistance programs to assistance hunters and landowners to amended the situation and wildlife. These see the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP), backstage lands programme and the pond assistance program. 

Mississippians are encouraged to instrumentality vantage of these programs to amended the prime of situation and the prime of beingness for wildlife which spell manus successful hand. Deer hunting is 1 of the biggest components of the outdoors successful Mississippi.

MDWFP offers DMAP to assistance landowners scope their absorption goals connected properties. In bid for a spot to enroll successful the DMAP programme they indispensable person astatine slightest 1,000 contiguous acres oregon the quality to harvest 10 does annually. 

The starting constituent for DMAP is simply a gathering with the landowner oregon lease holder successful which they acceptable absorption goals for the spot and cervid herd. Then hunters stitchery information connected weights, antler size, lactation dates connected does and propulsion jaw bones to find property of each cervid harvested. After analyzing the data, a biologist volition conscionable with the landowner oregon leaseholder to sermon harvest strategies to assistance conscionable the goals and support a steadfast habitat. 

DMAP had 5 participating properties successful Panola, 7 successful Lafayette, 1 successful Lincoln, 4 successful Franklin, 16 successful Adams, 22 successful Jefferson, 46 successful Claiborne, 13 successful Wilkinson, 1 successful Pike and six successful Amite and 11 successful Copiah counties according to the 2019-2020 Deer Program Report. 

Statewide, 14,454 cervid were harvested connected DMAP properties successful 2019 and the mean property of bucks was 3.8 years. 54.6 percent of the does taken by hunters were successful the 3.5 years and older property class. 

One of the champion things astir the DMAP programme for the biologist is it provides information to show the colonisation presumption and property operation of the state’s cervid herd. It is besides adjuvant to DMAP participants due to the fact that they are capable to spot a completed study of information to pass absorption practices. 

For landowners who bash not conscionable the requirements for the DMAP programme determination is simply a backstage lands programme (PLP) which tin assistance landowners careless of their prefered species. PLP helps with spot evaluations, method guidance, outgo stock programs, situation absorption programs and situation absorption plans. 

Landowners oregon hunters tin commencement the PLP programme by requesting a tract sojourn from a backstage lands biologist. Before the sojourn the MDWFP recommends a idiosyncratic to constitute down wide circumstantial goals, supply an aerial photograph of the spot with close bound lines, harvest information and camera survey information astir carnal populations, maps detailing past absorption and accusation astir conservation programs and easements. 

MDWFP’s Fisheries Bureau provides accusation connected pond management, dam gathering permits, wherever to bargain fish, however to combat tiny bass issues and method assistance. What the MDWFP does not bash done its pond assistance programme is supply escaped food for stocking, supply funds for pond operation oregon fish, execute colonisation estimates for ponds little than an acre oregon trial the h2o for pollution.