Page 59 - South Mississippi Living - November, 2022

story and photos by John N. Felsher
People often talk about the “Good Old Days” of hunting, but when it comes to white-tailed deer, days don’t get much better than today.
Mississippi offers some of the best deer hunting in the nation. According to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks, more than 1.75 million white- tailed deer inhabit Magnolia State forests and swamps today. Deer populate every county from the Gulf of Mexico to the Tennessee line. Only Texas holds a higher deer density per acre than the Magnolia State.
Depending upon what equipment they use to hunt and where, Mississippi sportsmen can bag deer from September through January. For deer seasons and regulations, see www.mdwfp.com.
Highly adaptable whitetails thrive wherever they find good habitat. They don’t require vast tracts of wilderness and can live almost anywhere. They share many lands with humans, who might never even know it.
Deer populations increased so much in recent years
that they became pests in certain places. They roam golf courses, destroy lawns, eat expensive ornamental garden plants, and overrun airports. Deer ravage fruit or nut orchards and devastate crops like peanuts, soybeans, and corn.
However, that was not always the case. Not so long ago, just seeing a deer track practically made the news.
An estimated 30 million whitetails lived in eastern North America when the first Europeans arrived in what is now the United States. Seeing unbroken forests and plains filled with abundant game, nobody cared about conservation at that time. European explorers and settlers – and Native Americans before them – depended heavily upon deer
for food, clothing and, other necessities. They killed deer whenever the opportunity presented itself all year long.
As human populations dramatically increased and spread throughout the continent, game populations quickly declined.
In Mississippi and elsewhere across the South, loggers sawed or chopped through huge tracts of virgin wilderness in the post-Civil War construction boom. By the late 19th century, an expanding human population, declining habitat and unregulated overhunting caused game populations
to plummet dramatically. Unfortunately, some species like passenger pigeons and Carolina parakeets, both native to Mississippi, vanished entirely in the early 20th century.
By 1900, barely 400,000 white-tailed deer remained across the entire United States, about a quarter of the current Mississippi population. By the 1930s, deer virtually disappeared from Mississippi. Sportsmen began massive efforts to keep deer at sustainable levels. They pressured lawmakers to preserve remaining habitat, outlaw market hunting and establish tougher game laws.
Mississippi began deer restoration efforts in 1932.
Game managers captured deer in places with sufficient populations and relocated them to good habitat with few
or no deer. This continued through the 1960s. Slowly, whitetail populations rebounded and reclaimed their range. I remember seeing my first deer, three actually. As a teen
in the 1970s, I went squirrel hunting one day, about three days after the state deer season ended. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught some movement. Then, three deer walked right in front of me as if on parade. They stopped about 20 yards away and stared at the awe-stricken kid who couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
Today, I hardly even look when passing numerous
deer standing on the side of highways. The incredible population recovery of these magnificent animals truly stands as a wonderful wildlife management success story.
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