Mississippi House Bill 1282

[MSHunter]

The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks is supporting a new bill that is before Mississippi law makers. Under the new bill, whitetail deer season will be as follows:

[font="calibri"]If HB 1282 becomes law, the deer season structure for 2010-11 would be:[/font]
[font="calibri"]            [/font]
[font="calibri"]Archery                                                                   October 1 – 31[/font]
[font="calibri"]            Archery / Crossbow / Primitive Weapon                November 1 – 19[/font]
[font="calibri"]            Gun with Dogs                                                        November 20 – December 1[/font]
[font="calibri"]            Gun without Dogs                                                   December 2 – 23[/font]
[font="calibri"]            Gun with Dogs                                                        December 24 – January 19[/font]
[font="calibri"]            Gun without Dogs                                                   January 20 – January 31[/font]
[font="calibri"]            Archery / Primitive Weapon                                   February 1 – February 15 (Zone 2)[/font]


[font="calibri"]The 2009/2010 Deer season was as follows:[/font]
[color="#ffffff"]Method[/color][/align] [color="#ffffff"]Season Dates[/color][/align] [color="#ffffff"]Legal Deer[/color][/align] Archery[/align] Oct. 1 – Nov. 20[/align] Either-sex on private land and open public land.[/align] Youth Gun[/align] (Youth 15 and under)[/align] Nov. 14 – Nov. 20[/align] Either-sex on private lands and authorized state and federal lands.[/align] Gun (With Dogs)[/align] Nov. 21 – Dec. 1[/align] Either-sex on private land; legal bucks only on open public land.[/align] Primitive Weapon / Youth Gun[/align] Dec. 2 – Dec. 15[/align] Either-sex on private land and open public land.[/align] Gun (Without Dogs)[/align] Dec. 16 – Dec. 18[/align] Either-sex on private land; legal bucks only on open public land.[/align] Dec. 19 – Dec. 20[/align] Either-sex on private and open public land.[/align] Dec. 21 – Dec. 23[/align] Either-sex on private land; legal bucks only on open public land.[/align] Gun (With Dogs)[/align] Dec. 24 – Jan. 20[/align] Either-sex on private land; legal bucks only on open public land.[/align] Primitive Weapon / Youth Gun[/align] Jan. 21 – Jan. 31[/align] Either-sex on private land and open public land.[/align]

The new bill eliminated the Dec 2 - 15 Primitive Weapons season and the Jan 21-31 Primitive Weapons season and replaced them with Gun Seasons. The key question IMO, is what will be defined as "Legal Deer" under HB 1282 for public land hunters.