2020 – Proposed Wildlife Legislation

In the past few years, Mississippi tinkered with the primitive weapon season, baiting, tagging / reporting, and deer enclosure requirements.  What will be the hot button issues in wildlife for the legislature this year?   So far, nothing of consequence.

There are no wildlife bills introduced in the House Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks Committee as of yet.

In the Senate WFP Committee, only two bills have been filed:

1. SB2002, the “Wildlife Trafficking Prevention Act,”  would prohibit transactions for certain wildlife.  Upon review, it appears to be duplicative of federal laws.  While a laudable goal, Mississippi might as well leave the trade regulations of rhinos, elephants, tigers and such to the feds.
2. SB2003 would require the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks (MDWFP) in conjunction with the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Department of Transportation (DOT) to identify existing and needed “wildlife corridors.”  Mississippi doesn’t have wild populations of elk or other migrating animals with large interstates separating summer and winter grounds.  This legislation has been submitted for years, but never gains any traction in committee.  Expect this year to be no different.

So what proposed legislation can be expected?  Look for mandatory harvest reporting for deer to surface again.  Now that chronic wasting disease has been found here, there may be something on that subject.  Sportsmen hunting along the Mississippi River have experienced reoccurring early season closings due to flooding.  It wouldn’t surprise me to see something proposed to raise the height at which those closures occur.  The perennial loser, requiring the registration and tagging of ATVs, will likely be proposed and die yet again.  In reality, there simply isn’t much work for the legislature to do on wildlife since 2014 when they granted the MDWFP Commission plenary authority to regulate the bag limits and promulgate necessary rules.