Mississippi would join all other states in having a requirement for hunters to report the white-tailed deer they kill each season under a bill the House passed 79-28 on Tuesday.

HB 816 now heads to the Senate, which killed a similar measure passed by the House in 2022.

Wildlife biologists and game management programs need such data the reporting would provide, said House Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Chairman Bill Kinkade, R-Byhalia. Such data would help to better manage deer habitat and population and monitor and check the spread of chronic wasting disease.

The self-reporting to the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks would be handled electronically, Kinkade said, and hunters could use a cell phone app similar to the reporting system now used for wild turkey, or they could use a telephone reporting system. He said reporting would take “about 20 seconds” and the system would not require “physical tags” for the deer killed.

“We are the only state in the country that doesn’t currently have a harvest reporting system,” Kinkade said. “… On the contrary, we were the first in the country to implement a deer management system.”

This prompted Rep. Chris Bell, D-Jackson, to ask, “How does our management system work if we don’t report this?”

The measure would provide a citation penalty for failure to report, with fines ranging from $100 to $500, Kinkade said.