JACKSON, Miss.–Alligator season is coming. This year there is a new process to get your alligator permit. To cut down on people wasting permits, it will now be on a first come, first served basis, and that starts today, 9 a.m.
“Each permit allows a person to take two alligators. They both have to be four feet long, but only one can exceed seven feet,” said Ricky Flynt, with the Miss. Dept. of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.
He said the new permit process is one of just a few changes for the 3015 season.
There are 920 permits that will be sold. The cost is $150, with an additional $25 alligator hunting license required.
The season starts Aug. 28 and ends Sept. 7.
INTERVIEW: RICKY FLYNT AND KIPP GREGORY
Flynt said that if you have been on a hunt before, you will not be required to take the alligator hunting course that they offer.
“The majority of the people coming through the course have already been participating in hunts because they’ve been with other people who have been drawn. We still will offer the class to them and I think it’s very beneficial to them.”
Flynt said that watching “Swamp People” or other TV shows on gator hunting does not give you a real feel for how the gator hunt is conducted in Mississippi.
“What you’re seeing there is a bit dramatized. The things that are allowed in Louisiana are not allowed in Mississippi.”
He said you cannot use bait or baited hooks and you have to snare the gator before you shoot him. He also said rifles and handguns are not allowed and that you must use a shotgun with birdshot.
“That makes for a much safer public water and a safer hunt as well.”
He said that about 670 gators have been harvested the past couple of years of the hunt, which began in 2005.
