Many Mississippi hunters lease hunting rights from private landowners throughout the state. Numerous other Mississippi hunters rely on public or private lands available without fees. How and why leasing and nonleasing hunters differ has not previously been investigated, yet these differences are important for a number of reasons. First, understanding Mississippi’s lease hunters and how they differ from other hunters can help landowners that lease hunting rights identify niche markets, target marketing, and tailor leases to hunter preferences. Additionally, public land managers and other natural resource managers can use this information to target educational campaigns, tailor hunting leases, and set management goals to improve hunter experiences and incorporate hunter preferences into their larger management objectives. Finally,
policy makers and legislators can fine tune hunting regulations to better serve these two distinct hunting constituencies. Scientists in Mississippi State University’s Forest and Wildlife Research Center conducted a study of Mississippi hunters to assess what percentage of Mississippi hunters lease hunting
land and to explore differences between hunters that lease hunting land and those that do not. The questionnaire consisted of questions about hunter socioeconomic characteristics (age, sex,household income, education, and number of dependents); characteristics of their hunting activities (experience, hunting frequency, species hunted, and sources of lands hunted); and hunting preferences and perceptions (preferred hunting companions and perceptions of game quantity, game quality and crowding on public and private lands). The questionnaire also included a series of questions about the characteristics of the leases such as size, access,
location, game species present, management activities, and costs. Questionnaires were sent to 2,000 hunters in 2007 to gather information on their 2006 hunting activities; 726 individuals submitted completed surveys.