Mississippi may soon require hunters to report every deer they harvest, a move lawmakers and wildlife officials say would provide essential data to better manage the state’s deer population and monitor chronic wasting disease.
Most states in the country mandate deer harvest reporting. A bill expected to be reintroduced in the 2026 legislative session would change that, requiring hunters to log harvests through a mobile app or website — similar to the state’s existing Game Check system for wild turkeys.
Rep. Bill Kinkade, R-Byhalia, chair of the House Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Committee, sponsored a similar measure last session that passed the House but died in the Senate. He said the state is currently not gathering data needed to properly manage deer populations.
“I want to count the deer that we kill, just as we count everything else in our society,” Kinkade said. “Our white tail herd … generates so much economic balance that we need to protect that resource, and we need to understand what we’re doing. Having more data will help us determine policy.”
Under the proposed legislation, hunters would report each deer harvest to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, with fines returning for those who fail to comply. Kinkade said the app submission takes less than 30 seconds. Officials also plan to include a grace period to help hunters adjust.
New data to inform management, disease tracking
Wildlife officials estimate about 275,000 deer are harvested annually in Mississippi, but current figures rely on surveys and voluntary reports — several thousand a year.
Mandatory reporting would offer county-level tends, which Wildlife Chief of Staff Russ Walsh said are key for making data-driven decisions, such as adjusting bag limits or season lengths based on local population levels.
“The harvest data — once you get years of that, it gives you that trend of what’s going on, whether it’s in a region or whether it’s in a county,” Walsh said. “In the lower coastal plain, deer populations are not as high, so they may be a little more sensitive to something like disease or potential overharvest.”
He pointed to the Game Check system for turkeys — in use since 2019 — as proof of concept. The department has used it to assess population shifts and habitat needs, including when to promote controlled burns or timber harvests to support wildlife.
Walsh said a deer program would build on the same infrastructure and add little cost to the agency.
Walsh and Kinkade said another major benefit is tracking chronic wasting disease, a fatal neurological condition affecting deer. The disease has already spread to parts of Mississippi and can persist for years in the environment via contaminated soil and carcasses.
“In Mississippi, we want to stay as much ahead of it as we possibly can,” Walsh said. “In those areas where (chronic wasting disease) has become entrenched, having that data through time can certainly help us track what impact (chronic wasting disease) may be having.”
Hunters weigh in on reporting rules, challenges
Some Mississippi hunters are familiar with the reporting process. Tim Cook, a lifelong hunter from Brandon, said he sees value in the idea.
“The state could actually make more — or better — decisions based off of data, just like you do with the with the turkey registration,” he said. “Your true, avid hunters don’t have a problem taking that extra 30 seconds to a minute to log that information.”
Still, Cook noted that compliance may be an issue — especially among older hunters who may be less comfortable with technology.
“Most of it is just going to be resistance to change,” he said. “If you start overcomplicating things, a lot of people just kind of shy away from it.”
Other raised concerns about fines, enforcement and whether hunters would participate even if required. With an estimated 1.75 million deer in the state, some questioned whether new regulation is necessary.
Walsh said that due to the high harvest volume, the state may struggle to offer a phone-in option as it does for turkeys.
Despite the skepticism, Cook said reporting tools are key to long-term population stability.
“There’s a lot of folks in the state that don’t even realize that back in the (Great) Depression, they literally had to import deer from outside of Mississippi to build the deer population back up,” he said. “You’ve got to be able to measure and see where you’re at — to figure out where you want to take it and where you want to go.”
This report was produced by the Roy Howard Community Journalism Center at the University of Southern Mississippi.