WW Fall23web

In addition, the USFWS, granted all management authority to
the states. Consequently, in 1988, the Mississippi Legislature granted
management authority to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife,
Fisheries, and Parks and the Mississippi Alligator Management and
Control Program was initiated in 1989.
During this era, biologists in Louisiana worked cooperatively with
private individuals to develop successful commercial alligator propagation
facilities (alligator farms) to produce commercial alligator hides
which would take the pressure off illegal wild alligator harvest. By the
mid-2000s, the Louisiana alligator farming industry produced between
275,000-300,000 alligators per year.
As populations across the Southeast rebounded, states implemented
limited alligator hunting opportunities. Louisiana was the first in 1972,
followed by Florida (1981), Texas (1984), Georgia (2003), Mississippi
(2005), Alabama (2006), Arkansas (2007), and South Carolina (2008).
Alligator hunting is still a relatively new opportunity, but it has
quickly become extremely popular in the Magnolia State. The MDWFP
opened Mississippi’s first alligator hunting season on September 16, 2005,
along a small portion of the Pearl River just north of the Ross Barnett
Reservoir. Opportunities gradually expanded over the following years.
By 2013, alligator season opened, statewide, and included all public
waterways which were divided among seven geographical hunting
zones. Nine-hundred sixty statewide permits are now issued annually.
Alligator hunting is the newest hunting opportunity in the state and
there’s nothing else quite like it. Hunters who were drawn in the early
years faced a huge learning curve. Therefore, the MDWFP created a
mandatory alligator hunting training course. From 2005 to 2012, over
5,000 hunters participated in the course. Many course participants have
described it as a vital influence to promote safe and successful hunting.
The training course is now provided online.
8 FALL 2023