Keith Lusher 11.28.25
Mississippi could soon join the rest of the country in requiring hunters to report every deer they harvest. Lawmakers and wildlife officials say the change is needed to better track the state’s deer population, monitor chronic wasting disease, and strengthen long-term management decisions.
The proposal, known as House Bill 816, would create a mandatory deer harvest reporting system similar to the state’s existing Game Check program for turkeys. The bill is expected to be reintroduced in the 2026 legislative session.
Rep. Bill Kinkade, R-Byhalia, sponsored the measure and said Mississippi is falling behind by relying on voluntary reporting and limited surveys.
“I want to count the deer that we kill, just as we count everything else in our society,” Kinkade said. “Our whitetail herd generates so much economic balance that we need to protect that resource. We need to understand what we are doing. Having more data will help us determine policy.”
A similar bill sponsored by Kinkade passed the House last session but died in the Senate. He said Mississippi is falling behind by relying on voluntary reporting and limited surveys.
“I want to count the deer that we kill, just as we count everything else in our society,” Kinkade said. “Our whitetail herd generates so much economic balance that we need to protect that resource. We need to understand what we are doing. Having more data will help us determine policy.”
Wildlife officials estimate Mississippi hunters harvest roughly 275,000 deer each year, but the Game Check system recorded only a few thousand voluntary reports last season. Wildlife Chief of Staff Russ Walsh said mandatory reporting would give the state the county-level trends needed to make informed decisions about bag limits, season lengths, and habitat management.
“The harvest data, once you get years of that, gives you that trend of what is going on, whether it is in a region or whether it is in a county,” Walsh said.
Walsh pointed to the turkey reporting system as proof that the approach works. Officials have used years of turkey data to analyze population shifts and determine when to promote habitat changes such as controlled burns or timber thinning.
Another major benefit would be tracking chronic wasting disease, a fatal neurological illness already detected in parts of Mississippi. The disease spreads through prions shed in saliva, urine, feces, and carcasses, and can remain in the environment for years.
“In Mississippi, we want to stay as much ahead of it as we possibly can,” Walsh said. “Having that data through time can certainly help us track what impact chronic wasting disease may be having.”
The new bill would require hunters to report harvests electronically, just as they already do with turkeys. Hunters would face Class II citations for noncompliance, with fines between 100 and 500 dollars. Kinkade said submitting a report takes less than 30 seconds and that a short grace period would give hunters time to adjust.
The House passed the latest version of the bill 79 to 29. Rep. Vince Mangold of Lincoln County voted for the measure, while Rep. Beckie Currie voted against it. If approved by the Senate and signed by Gov. Tate Reeves, the requirement would take effect July 1, 2025.
As of January 30, Game Check had only 4,070 deer harvests reported for the 2023 to 2024 season. The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks estimates the true statewide harvest for that season was about 279,000 deer.
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