JACKSON — Hunters would be required to report deer harvest under a newly proposed law in House Bill 816. The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks currently has a phone application, webpage and telephone number for hunters to voluntarily report harvest through the GameCheck program. 

Rep. Bill Kinkade authored the bill and argued Mississippi was the only state in the US without mandatory deer harvest reporting Tuesday. Kinkade mentioned the House had entertained a similar program in the past. In 2022, the Mississippi House passed a bill which would have created mandatory deer harvest reporting but it died in the Senate. 

“We were the first state to implement a Deer Management Assistance Program,” Kinkade said. “We have had the vision to have management but not a foresight for reporting.”

The ability to measure and collect data is part of management. It would also be a tool to help game wardens catch outlaws. Mississippi state law requires the Mississippi legislature to implement mandatory deer harvest reporting while the MDWFP has the ability to establish a tagging program for turkeys. 

MDWFP commissioners voted to implement a physical tagging system for turkeys in 2023 which was initially set to begin this year. Due to a change in the agency’s licensing vendor, the tagging system will be implemented in the 2026 spring turkey season and will offer electronic tagging. 

A voluntary program like GameCheck has not collected all of the data needed by the MDWFP to inform management decisions. As of January 30 at noon, 4,070 deer harvests were reported on GameCheck, a fraction of the 279,000 estimated deer harvest in the 2023-2024 season. Submitted CWD samples this season outnumber the reported harvests on GameCheck as well. 

One legislator asked Kinkade if the reporting program would include depredation permits. Kinkade told the legislator Mississippi does not have a harvest reporting program for depredation permits. Hunters raised questions about the impact of depredation permits on local populations in Sept. 2024 at a MDWFP Commission meeting.

Under the bill, hunters would be required to report deer harvests as they are already required to report turkey harvests. The reporting would be done electronically and would be quick and simple. Any violation of the law would result in a Class II citation with a fine between $100 to $500. 

Mississippi’s House of Representatives voted to pass the bill 79-29 Tuesday. Lincoln County Rep. Vince Mangold voted for the bill while Rep. Beckie Currie voted against the bill. If the bill is passed by the senate and signed by Gov. Tate Reeves it would go into effect July 1, 2025.