Mississippi hunting questions

[Tn_Va_Hunter]

Have the opportunity to hunt Mississippi in Oktibbeha county. Private land. Not been hunted in years. My brother in law delivers feed there and has got to know the owner. Several hundreds of acres. Corn fields. Bean fields. Sees deer all the time. Would be a December hunt in gun season. Anyone hunted there or close by? Any pointers or suggestions ?

Thanks
Jon

 

[TNRifleman]

I believe that is close to Miss. State Univ. Should be gun season that time of year. Out of state license is pricy.

 

[Tn_Va_Hunter]

Yeah. License is high. Bur we plan on doing the 7 day license. So that helps. Plus the land is free. Place for a camper hook up to

 

[ruthunter]

It is close to Mississippi State, probably be some good hunting in that area with it being row crop land. Good county and good time of season to be there. Definitely worth doing an out of state hunt since the land is free.

 

[gtk]

Its probably been "hunted" , but not legally. Still a lot of deer. Not too many places you can go in MS and "not" see deer.

Search the Magnolia records for that county. Some big deer come from that area. https://xnet2.mdwfp.com/applications/mrp/

 

[Spurhunter]

I hunt next door in Lowndes County. The rut on our place is late compared to Tennessee. It usually busts wide open around Christmas day and January is on fire. Assuming the rut is the same on that place I would make it as late in December as possible.

 

[HoytDawg]

Grew up hunting in Oktibbeha and noxubee counties. You've been told right, the rut is closer to christmas/new years. We always took the week between christmas and new years to go to deer camp and seemed they were always rutting during that timeframe. There are alot of deer down there and its really good hunting.

Depending where in oktibbeha you are, there's almost a mini delta along the river where the buck potential seems to be a good bit better than surrounding counties. If you're hunting row crops you're probably in this area. In early December just need to hope for some cold weather.

 

[megalomaniac]

I hunt just east of Starkville every year. Never killed a deer there. Seems the deer are a little behind my deer in middle TN per age class, but in the decade my friend has had the 1000ac lease there, they have killed one 150"er, three 140"ers, and prob 10 in the 130s. They had a 160" on camera 7 or 8 yrs ago, but never saw him.

Rut varies quite a bit east to west in that area in just a few dozen miles. Just east of Starkville, best time to kill a good buck is around Dec 15 thru 21 (prerut...mature bucks are working scrapes and looking for does hard). Rut starts just before Christmas, and hunting gets pretty tough by 1st week of January... but this lease is hunted hard, and one of the members rides all over the place on 4 wheelers and still hunts through the thick stuff, so deer are very spooky.

 

[Bone Collector]

Its probably been "hunted" , but not legally. Still a lot of deer. Not too many places you can go in MS and "not" see deer.

Search the Magnolia records for that county. Some big deer come from that area. https://xnet2.mdwfp.com/applications/mrp/

Southern Mississippi... I haven't see a deer there in 10-12 trips down there, but I am talking on the coast. I know they're there, but you normally have to go about an hour+ north to have a chance at seeing one.

To clarify I am not hunting while there, but I have never been anywhere that has deer and not seen one from the road or along the road (dead or alive). I am up and about in the early hours and in the evening as well. I have never laid eyes on a deer there.

now Middle to Northern MS is covered up from my experience.

 

[HoytDawg]

Southern Mississippi... I haven't see a deer there in 10-12 trips down there, but I am talking on the coast. I know they're there, but you normally have to go about an hour+ north to have a chance at seeing one.

To clarify I am not hunting while there, but I have never been anywhere that has deer and not seen one from the road or along the road (dead or alive). I am up and about in the early hours and in the evening as well. I have never laid eyes on a deer there.

now Middle to Northern MS is covered up from my experience.

Those coast deer are a different animal. They're definitely in small pockets, not near as abundant as they are about an hour inland.

 

[Tn_Va_Hunter]

I just know it's in Oktoc road. Seems like a lot of farm land. He's going there this week to check it out more.

 

[Spurhunter]

hunting gets pretty tough by 1st week of January...

Funny how 2 places not that far apart can be so different. We hunt every chance we get the entire month of January. I have had some of the best hunts of my life on this farm during that month.

 

[Boll Weevil]

Oktibbeha county native here...good/accurate info in this thread. I hunted between Poor House and Oktoc Rd for over 2 decades and generally the rut will indeed be wide open by Christmas. MS State has a bunch of ground out that way and ag/crops are everywhere. 140-150" deer are not uncommon and there's some gnarly genetics in the neighborhood. I'll see if I can find a pic of one my cousin killed...horns going everywhere and probably 26" wide.

If you want to see what can grow in that region go here and ctrl F "oktibbeha."

MRP Search

xnet2.mdwfp.com

 

[Boll Weevil]

Forgot about this til now: map of mean conception date. This is how much variability in peak rut dates...and counties in TN along the MS and AL border often rut alot like their cousins just to the south.

It's not like the rut just abruptly changes right at the state line.

 

[megalomaniac]

Forgot about this til now: map of mean conception date. This is how much variability in peak rut dates...and counties in TN along the MS and AL border often rut alot like their cousins just to the south.

It's not like the rut just abruptly changes right at the state line.

View attachment 188773

I've found you really have to subtract a week from any of those dates to get true first rut. That is because the dates are based on backdating embryos for average conception... which include does bred during 2nd rut, skewing the average conception dates listed later than if it only included does bred during 1st rut.

 

[Boll Weevil]

^Agree. This is based also on hunter observation. The chasing that hunters see is a precursor vs. actual breeding activity (that often hunters don't see). I've been hunting for nearly 50 yrs and have never once seen deer breed.

 

[HoytDawg]

I just know it's in Oktoc road. Seems like a lot of farm land. He's going there this week to check it out more.

Message me if you want too, my extended family has a farm right off oktoc on moor high road, probably less than two miles as the crow flies. Cousin who owns it has killed a couple good ones, one being a 148 mainframe 8 out there.

 

[Tn_Va_Hunter]

Message me if you want too, my extended family has a farm right off oktoc on moor high road, probably less than two miles as the crow flies. Cousin who owns it has killed a couple good ones, one being a 148 mainframe 8 out there.

Pm sent

 

[CBU93]

Are non residents still restricted on doe harvest? What is CWD status in that area?