JACKSON — State Senator Bob M. Dearing wants to halt hunting in the Homochitto National Forest.

The local legislator said Monday there is a dwindling supply of deer in the parts of Adams and Franklin counties that the forest encompasses, and he said he plans to ask for a cease fire for a couple years to repopulate the area.

“I have a couple friends that live right on the boundary (of the forest), and they say that over the past few years, the deer just aren’t there that used to be there,” Dearing said. “They think it’s being over-hunted, and they asked me to check with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks to send a biologist out there to check around.”

Wildlife Bureau Director Larry Castle said the deer population is lower than the past few years but that it is not unusual.

“In an area like the Homochitto that’s so dominated by open hardwood timber, deer populations in there can’t exist for extended periods of time for a very high level,” Castle said. “So the population in areas like that becomes varied. That’s occurred over my career many times in the Homochitto, and it’s not unique to the Homochitto at all.”

One of Dearing’s concerned friends is Ken Anderman of Roxie, who owns 43 acres in the national forest.

He said the population is down not because of over-hunting but because of illegal hunting.

“We don’t have enough people to control what is being killed,” he said. “They opened for the whole hunting season the legality to kill doe on private land. But when that opened, the hunters assumed it was legal to do in the forest on public land.

“It’s not, but they do it every day.”

Anderman said he contacted the MDWFP to patrol the area but was told there was not enough funding or manpower to regulate the area.

However, MDWFP Chief of Law Enforcement Steve Adcock said that is simply not true.

“We have officers working out there all the time,” Adcock said. “I can assure you that if something is going on out there, it would have at least gotten to my level.”

Adcock said he cannot remember any complaints from Anderman.

District Forest Ranger Tim Reed said has not heard of any decline in the deer population in the Homochitto National Forest, but he said he would not be the first person to know.

He said state or district biologists would have to determine whether the population has changed.

Anderman, who hunts on his land at least once a week, said he is certain there’s a difference.

“I’ve lived out here three years, but I bought this land in 1999,” Anderman said. “When we drive in and out, there’s not nearly as many deer. Used to you would see several; now you could hunt several times before you see one.”

Castle said Anderman might be right — and he’s heard the complaints before — but there isn’t anything unnatural going on.

“In hunters minds, all of them set that bar that is normal and preferred by them at a point in time that they remember when the deer population was the highest it has every been. Any undulations in that population lines, they’re unhappy. They remember a better day. They compare every year to a better day, and they become a little bit implacable with the deer population at that time.”

But Anderman said the problem stems also from hunting with dogs. He said if dog hunting stopped, not nearly as many deer would be killed.

But his solution would curtail more than just canine activity.

“I think they should cease hunting for five years to let the deer repopulate,” Anderman said. “Then they can open it back up if they think they can regulate it.”

Dearing said he plans to talk to the MDWFP within the week to discuss what can be done but will wait until he sees the committee to ask questions.

“It’s just an inquiry to see if there is a shortage of deer, and if so, what can be done about it,” Dearing said.

But while Castle said he cannot speak to whether legislation would pass halting hunting in the area, he said a those measures are simply not necessary.

He said there are already measures in place to significantly manage hunting on open public land, such as restricted on antlerless deer seasons.

“A cease-fire would not be acceptable biologically because there are a viable number of deer present there,” he said. “As far as what’s best for the deer population, there would be no justification. All it’s going to do is prevent a legitimate hunting opportunity.”