Mississippi considers voluntary reporting of deer, turkey kills

Hunters in Mississippi could begin to voluntarily tell the state how many deer or turkeys they kill.

The proposal is in a bill that passed the state Senate on a split vote Wednesday.

The original version of House Bill 1390 proposed a mandatory program for hunters to report their deer and turkey harvest numbers to the state Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.

The Senate changed mandatory to voluntary.

Senate Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Committee Chairman Philip Moran, a Republican from Kiln, says the voluntary proposal is intended to boost wildlife conservation.

One opponent, Democratic Sen. Juan Barnett of Heidelberg, say voluntary reporting is "the first step of having the government come in and count every and anything that we do."

The bill returns to the House for more work.