I see Mississippi— on top of their public land non resident draw - is about to limit non residents to one turkey in March and two per year. If it’s really about protecting the resource then this same regulation should apply to all hunters. The non resident specific bans aren’t rooted in science or they’d provide statistics to back them up. The truth is very few non residents harvest one turkey, less harvest a second turkey and a fraction of that harvests 3. Tit for tat non resident bans / restrictions suck for all sportsman.
The intent in Mississippi is to increase resident hunt quality. If you actually watch the commission meeting, you'll hear MDWFP state that this isn't to help populations. I see a lot of bashing on social media about this very point. Folks quick to criticize before they do their research. View the proposal below:
https://www.youtube.com/live/vT8-oyv-kUI?t=3635&si=HOFXQzxKIA2TObuzStart at 1 hour in.(if link doesn't start there, it should).
Those arguing it won't have an affect are too focused on the number of turkeys "saved" and not on the reduction in pressure. If this is finalized, a non resident who kills opening week in March is DONE til April. No taking up a parking spot for a resident, no boogering more turkey making them harder to kill. No more camping out near a gate for a week "claiming" an area.
And in some areas of the state, leases have a high percentage of non residents. This will further benefit the residents of those areas.
We all know how pressure affects turkey. Mississippi is simply looking out for its residents.
As far as stats, I've saw the numbers. The 1 bird in March will get a lot of non residents out of the woods! And they can still come back in April and shoot another. A lot better than a straight 1 bird limit like Arkansas and Missouri have done.
