Hunting in Mississippi: 3 Animals To Hunt Year-Round

Several animals do not require open hunting seasons in Mississippi because they are permissible to hunt year-round.

Many of these animals pose a threat to the financial security of the landowner and therefore have caused the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks to put very few if any restrictions on hunting these species, which are labeled nuisance wildlife by the department.

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Here are four animals that can be hunted year-round in Mississippi:

1. Beaver
Trapping beavers is “the most common, effective, and affordable of all beaver control techniques…[and] typically, trapping that kills beaver is the only method that is effective and affordable,” said Dr. Ben West of the Mississippi State University Extension Service.

Incentives also exist for beaver hunters in some areas of Mississippi, such as Monroe County, where the beaver tail bounty program still exists. According to the Monroe Journal, “The [county] has paid $86,000 worth of bounty for beaver tails” from 2000-2013 because the county does not want beavers plugging up culverts and causing floods.

2. Coyote
Another animal that falls under the category of nuisance wildlife in Mississippi is the coyote. Special permissions pertain to coyotes and foxes, which allow for trappers to sell live coyotes and keep them contained in permitted enclosures, unlike the other animals on this list. Hunters should keep in mind that trapping is different in the north as compared to the south, so do your research.

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3. Nutria
These nuisance animals are sometimes called river rats, or coypu, and are categorized as semiaquatic rodents. They are native to South America, but unfortunately, they exist across the south in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas, along with Mississippi.

They are considered destructive due to their burrowing and feeding practices, sometimes even burrowing into boats or under buildings, causing these structures to collapse.

4. Skunk
Another fur animal that falls under the nuisance label in the state of Mississippi is the skunk. Like other nuisance animals, the MDWFP states that these animals can be “hunted, trapped, taken, killed, or pursued on private lands…year-round at any time of the day or night with no weapon/caliber restrictions on property titled in their name or otherwise owned, or leased by them.”

This article is for information only. Please check current regulations before hunting.

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