Katrina, however, was much more destructive than was Hugo, the 2005 storm hitting a large area in south Mississippi in which lie some of the state’s largest WMAs. Public hunting opportunities should abound for rabbit men for decades to come at places like Old River, Leaf River and Chickasawhay WMAs.

As for the rest of Mississippi, Godwin offered, rabbits continue to thrive, buoyed up by the benefits of the CRP and WRP programs. “The planting of pine plantations on private lands over the past 15 to 20 years had a great impact on rabbits in most of Mississippi,” he said, “and even now that we’re seeing those tracts mature, we’re still seeing a lot of habitat retention. The cover that young plantations provide is hard to beat. In those first five years, rabbits explode.

“But even after the pines begin maturing, and you see the loss of the thick growth, there is still the opportunity to manage the habitat. Those programs, CRP and WRP, allow a lot of flexibility in land management for wildlife. I think this is a good time for us to plug our private lands management assistance program. We can help landowners design programs to reach their goals, whether it be for rabbits, deer or even quail. We’ve been very successful with many landowners.”

Tommy Gordon of Canton is one of many rabbit hunters to have rediscovered the sport in recent years. “God bless CRP and what it’s done for rabbits,” he said. “I have been fortunate to have access to a lot of private lands where pine plantings have been substantial over the past 10 to 15 years. I grew up rabbit hunting in the 1950s and ‘60s, but gave it up in the ‘80s when all the rabbits were gone. I got rid of all my dogs.

“Then, about 15 years ago, I started noticing how quickly rabbits were coming back, and I rebuilt my kennel. Rabbit hunting has been better since 1990 than it was back in the ‘50s and ‘60s. We need to make sure that it is sustained. We don’t need to see another slump in rabbits like we did in the ‘70s and ‘80s.”

Mississippi’s premier public rabbit hunting area is Lake George WMA in the south Delta. Its rabbit season, which coincides with the state season, ends Feb. 28. For more information, visit www.mdwfp.com.

QUAIL
Katrina’s effect on south Mississippi’s quail hunting could go either way, depending on land management decisions. “It has created the opportunity to seen a substantial increase in quail habitat,” Godwin offered. “Unlike rabbits that seek thick briars and bramble, quail need grasslands, and just enough cover for nesting. The open forest floors could be turned into good quail habitat by incorporating burns on an annual or biannual program. Controlled burns keep the new growth under control. The potential is there -- but you have to get fire in there.”

Quail are sorely missed in most areas of Mississippi, including the southeast. About the only true wild-bird hunting remaining in the state is found in the northeast.