Commissioners of the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks voted last week to increase non-resident deer permit fees from $50 to $100 and non-resident fishing licenses from $60 to $68, to match Louisiana. The fee increase might have an impact on the department’s revenue in a positive way.

Commission Chairman Bill Cossar says nearly each monthly meeting the License Sales report from Jason Thompson is important because 90 percent of the MDWFP budget is funded by license sales. MDWFP’s total revenue for FY2023 is $18,980,906, Thompson reported. The fiscal year ends June 30.

Non-resident licenses were up nine percent from the previous fiscal year. Louisiana residents spent $7.1 million in license privileges, Thompson told the commission last Thursday during a regularly scheduled monthly commission meeting.

Arkansas and Alabama residents were next at $1 million in revenue. Mississippi’s early Velvet Season, set to be September 15 to 17 this year, brought in $80,000 in non-resident deer permit sales and $37,000 in resident velvet season permits in the first season. At least 282 deer were harvested and submitted for Chronic Wasting Disease testing in the archery only, legal buck only season.

Col. Jerry Carter, chief of law enforcement, reported 582 citations were issued in April. No license was the most common offense with 172 citations, 62 trespassing citations, 24 unlawful possession citations, 16 no registration violation and 16 no personal flotation device violations.