Magnificent buck taken by John Campbell of Poplarville on December 5, 2001 on the Mahannah Wildlife Management Area near Vicksburg.

Can you believe this one for Public Hunting, folks????

From our own personal interview with Mr. Campbell, we discovered he was coming out from hunting, going to lunch through a grown up
field that had been planted in oak trees. He saw the deer running, having been spooked by another hunter. He had to pick his shot and knocked him down at approximately 80 yards with one shot by his Signature 25.06, bolt action rifle. He fired another shot for security as the deer lifted his head, but could not rise.  He did not want to take any chances on losing him.

This fine buck officially scored 198 4/8 inches non-typical by the Boone & Crockett system, 21 scored points (including a pair of matching drop tines on each of the 28" main beams, and weighed 272 pounds.

Mr. Campbell states he will continue to hunt this year and plans to take some grandchildren hunting. Way to go, PapPa!!!! 

This deer has been accepted by the Magnolia Records Program, and according to lists compiled by the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, as  the largest deer taken at a Mississippi WMA.  Mr. Campbell has donated it to the Museum of Natural Science.  


The following information was compiled from Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries & Parks website (for reader information only about Mahannah WMA; not intended to be official information and some errors could occur):

Mahannah WMA is considered a quality hunting area (12,675 acres) and deer hunting is by special permit only.  There were seven, 3-day hunts offered starting on Oct. 21 and ending on Nov. 14.  A total of 30 hunters were randomly drawn from applications received for each hunt.  Each permitted hunter was allowed to bring 1 hunting guest per day on his or her permitted hunt.

Hunters had the opportunity to harvest (2) adult does.  Fawns and bucks were not legal during the antlerless season.

Hunters that harvested an adult doe were allowed to harvest an antlered buck (4 points or more) during one of two 6-day gun buck hunts (Nov. 25 thru Nov. 30 or Dec. 2 thru Dec. 7).

Qualified hunters were notified with regards to which buck hunt he or she would be allowed to participate.

An additional Gun Buck Hunt was offered from Dec. 9-14, in which hunters could apply for a permit and those hunters drawn would not be required to harvest an adult doe before harvesting a legal buck.

For further information contact the MDWFP or the Mahannah WMA at (601) 661-0294.