Land For Sale-Mississippi Hunting Land -Will The Delta Produce For 2011

If you are a hunter that comes from out of state or a Mississippi resident that uses public land to hunt, be somewhat concerned about the 2011 massive floods and what it may have done to the great Delta deer and turkey hunting.

  Year in and year out the Mississippi Delta region has produced some of Mississippi’s best hunting and this year should be no different, but wait remember the massive floods from this spring? This year’s spring floods were some of the worst on record since the 1920’s and it wasn’t just the depth of the water but how long the water stayed up. This has hunters from Mississippi to Louisiana worried about this year’s take.

 Every year hunters flock to the Delta to take advantage of some of the best public hunting land in the state offered by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries & Parks (WMAs) wildlife management areas and the U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge Complex. 

 The 2011 deer and turkey hunting seasons are almost here and a few questions must be answered before you spend thousands of dollars to bring home a couple deer and one or two turkeys. This was truly a historic flood and is certain to have an impact on infrastructure and habitat and taking a yet unknown toll on the region’s turkey population in particular. 

 If you take the in consideration the magnitude and duration of the flood, the states WMAs as well as the federal Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge in the Delta suffered relatively minor damage considering what could have happened. While there are serious questions about the impact on the turkey population in particular due to turkeys being a ground nesting bird, the full impact is yet to be determined since the flood hit during the brooding season, the Department is conducting a brood survey to assess the losses. Expect some restrictions on the turkey season this year.

 There are 12 WMAs in the Mississippi Delta and of the twelve only one suffered major damage from the floods. Located between the Mississippi River and the mainline levee system, the Shipland WMA near Mayersville will show the level of damage done by the historic floods. Shiplad’s facility took six to eight feet of water and is a total loss. After being under water for a month the road system was devastated 

  Despite the concerns for both the turkey and deer seasons for 2011, Chad Dacus, assistant director of the Wildlife Bureau at the Mississippi Department of Wildlife , Fisheries and Parks, said all the WMAs in the Departments Delta region “should be wide open” for the October 1st opening of the 2011 deer season.

 The 2011 floods were not all bad news for deer and turkey hunting season. After the water receded the rich silt land exploded with spring like growth. The Mississippi deer population was lucky, the water moved very slowly and the deer had time to move out of the area and back in when it was safe to return. All in all the floods of 2011 in the Mississippi Delta region certainly did some harm but the resiliency of the wildlife population will always shine through and produce a fine 2011 deer season.