STARKVILLE — Mississippi State University Deer Lab will take center stage at the February Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Commission meeting. A Chronic Wasting Disease update is listed on the agenda for the meeting. 

MDWFP’s February Commission meeting will be at Black Prairie Wildlife Management Area on February 22 at 1350 Fire Tower Road in Crawford. Bronson Strickland, one of the co-directors of the MSU Deer Lab, will lead an educational session about the deer research facility starting at 10 a.m. 

Jason Thompson, Director of Administrative Services, will likely lead the business session with a word of prayer and then give a license sales report. A vote for the special Pelahatchie Bay Alligator season rule change will be made final. 

Commissioners are set to hear a Chronic Wasting Disease Update. Mississippi has 315 positive detections of CWD with 108 coming in Fiscal Year 2024, July 1 to date. Last week, Claiborne County joined five other counties in Mississippi to detect the first positive in the county this year. 

MDWFP will present Wildlife Bureau Awards for 2023 Wildlife Conservationist of the Year and WMA Conservationist of the Year. 

Col. Jerry Carter, Chief of Law Enforcement, will provide an update on citations and enforcement for January 2024.