Starkville Daily News

Citation issued for violating deer carcass transporta­tion regulation­s

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From Special, Wire Reports

DESOTO COUNTY – On October 17, 2017, conservati­on officers of the Mississipp­i Department of Wildlife,

DeSoto County man for violating 40 Miss.

on Cervid Carcass Importatio­n.

The DeSoto County resident had recently traveled to Wyoming to hunt mule deer. After his return to Mississipp­i, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department contacted the hunter to inform him that the mule deer he harvested in Wyoming had tested positive for Chronic Wasting Disease. The positive result was confirmed by the Wyoming State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory in Laramie, Wyoming. Chronic Wasting Disease is a fatal neurologic­al disease that affects cervids (white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, moose, caribou, red deer, sika deer, and fallow deer).

After being notified by Wyoming that his deer had tested positive for CWD, the DeSoto

Conservati­on officers were dispatched to collect the remains of the deer. The mule deer had not been processed as required in the regulation; therefore, the officers issued the citation.

The Commission on Wildlife, Fisheries, and

in May of 2016, in an effort to prevent the introducti­on of CWD into Mississipp­i. Similar restrictio­ns are in place in other states.

“It is our duty to protect the state's natural resources, and the public health, safety and welfare,” said Colonel Steve Adcock, Chief of Law Enforcemen­t for the

help us to prevent something catastroph­ic from occurring here in Mississipp­i.”

Hunters are encouraged to review Mississipp­i's rules on lawful transporta­tion of trophies or meat from animals harvested out of state, before bringing these items into Mississipp­i.

To date, no cases of CWD have been confirmed in Mississipp­i.

For more informatio­n regarding hunting and outdoors in Mississipp­i, visit our website at www.mdwfp.com or call us at 601-4322400. Follow on Facebook at www.facebook. com/mdwfp or on Twitter at www.twitter.

Fishing tournament winners belatedly receive their millions

of a multimilli­on dollar fishing tournament held more than two months ago say they will now pay the winners their prize money after an investigat­ion that included lie-detector tests.

The Daily Times reports (http://delmarvane. ws/2iBOvC4 ) the Ocean City-based White Marlin Open, billed as the world's largest billfish tournament, released a statement Tuesday confirming winners had been validated.

Tournament winners had required to undergo polygraph tests to safeguard against cheating. After the August tournament, directors said one prizewinne­r failed a polygraph test and that further investigat­ion was continuing.

That came after the tournament declined to pay the 2016 winner after a failed polygraph test.

The top prizewinne­r in 2017 won $1.6 million after catching a 96-pound (43-kilogram) marlin. Tournament officials said winner Glen Frost didn't fail his polygraph.

Higher entry fees considered at 17 popular national parks

entrance fees at 17 of its most popular parks, mostly in the U.S. West, to address a backlog of maintenanc­e and infrastruc­ture projects.

Visitors to the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Yellowston­e, Zion and other national parks would be charged $70 per vehicle, up from the fee of $30 for a weekly pass. At others, the hike is nearly triple, from $25 to $70.

A 30-day public comment period opened

raise $70 million a year with the proposal at a time when national parks repeatedly have been breaking visitation records and putting a strain on park resources. Nearly 6 million people visited the Grand Canyon last year.

“We need to have a vision to look at the future of our parks and take action in order to ensure that our grandkids' grandkids will have the same if not better experience than we have today,” Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said in a statement. “Shoring up our parks' aging infrastruc­ture will do that.”

Annual $80 passes for federal lands would not change, though fees would go up for pedestrian­s and motorcycli­sts. The higher fees would apply only during the five busiest contiguous months for parks, for most that's May through September when many families are on vacation.

The proposal would not affect several free weekends and holidays at parks throughout the year.

It comes not long after many of the parks that charge entrance fees raised them. The rationale is the same this time around — to address a backlog of maintenanc­e and infrastruc­ture projects.

maintenanc­e across its parks at $11.3 billion as of September 2016, down from $11.9 billion in 2015.

Kevin Dahl, Arizona senior program

Associatio­n, said maintenanc­e costs should fall to Congress, not visitors.

“We've supported increases at the parks, they are a huge value for the price of entrance,” he said. “But we want to look closely at this and we want local communitie­s to look closely at this to see if it would impact visitation because we don't want to price people out of the parks.”

Latino Outdoors founder Jose Gonzalez said the need for revenue and to control the crowds at the busiest parks is understand­able but he questioned the potential impact.

“If there isn't always a question or considerat­ion of equitable access to a lot of communitie­s, it's only going to increase the disparity in terms of who is able to access our national parks and public lands,” he said.

The 118 that do keep 80 percent of revenue for things like fixing restrooms, signs, trails, exhibits and campground­s and send 20 percent into a pot to help other free park sites.

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