Our experience in this state is limited. We’ve scouted properties a few times and hunted on public land for a little over a week. However, we have many contacts in Mississippi who do very well on public land each season. They have liberal bag limits where hunters can harvest multiple bucks with the correct permits and a high percentage of public land opportunities.
Licenses are easy to obtain with most sold OTC. However, season dates are tricky to plan for because they change depending on the area of the state or the WMA you are hunting.
The rut also takes place at different times than the Midwest. We’d recommend planning hunts within two weeks before/after the peak rut time frames. Here is the MS rut map - Click Here
Here is a link to season dates in the different zones - Click Here
Delta Zone
As you’ll see in the link above, the Delta zone implements the strictest antler restrictions. In addition, habitat and nutrition for the deer herd are better in this area. For these reasons, the Mississippi Delta is the #1 area in the state to harvest mature bucks with large antlers. Most residents in MS know this so expect hunting pressure to be higher in this zone.
There are some large NWRs open to public hunting and state managed WMAs as well. The habitat is mostly flat and very thick with water weaving throughout. Boats, canoes, waders, and hip boots are handy. Most of these areas produce giant bucks each season but hunters have to work for them. With the abundance of prime habitat, it can be difficult to narrow down specific buck bedding locations but not impossible. Successful hunters in this area spend long hours on stand during the rut. Bucks travel great distances in these river bottoms and can show up out of nowhere. Sitting remote travel corridors or pinch points created by water are proven methods for harvesting mature bucks in these spots. Of course, there are other situational tactics that work as well.
We hunted on a large management area in the heart of the MS Delta in January of 2020. You can watch those videos here:
Other areas also provide good hunting. Huge lakes surrounded by Corps of Engineer land and the enormous National Forests are located throughout the state.
