[1/12/05] Hunters along the state’s western edge will have their season cut short by rising water on the Mississippi River.

While the predicted crest at Vicksburg is still 43.5 feet, a half a foot above flood stage, the expected top-out date has been changed from Jan. 21 to Jan. 28, said Angelo Dalessandro, a forecaster with the Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center in Slidell, La.

With the rising water, the state Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks is invoking a provision in the regulations governing hunting and will close parts of western Mississippi to all types of hunting except ducks and other waterfowl. The actual dates of closing will depend on water levels at certain key cities: Memphis, Helena, Ark., Greenville and Vicksburg.

John Collins, assistant chief of law enforcement for wildlife division, said the reason is to protect species that would be especially vulnerable.

The high water “forces the deer out of their natural habitat next to the river and into unfamiliar areas,” Collins said. “And that makes them very vulnerable to people out on the fringes or hunting from boats.”

State law requires hunting be restricted anytime animals are forced out of their natural habitats and includes deer, rabbits, squirrels and other animals still in season.

In Warren County and adjacent Issaquena and Sharkey counties, the seasons will close when the Mississippi reaches 43 feet on the local gauge and will not reopen until it reads 41 feet. Specifically, the area includes those areas of the three counties south of Mississippi 14, west of U.S. 61 and north of the Big Black River.

Deer season, hunting with dogs and guns, this year was scheduled to end Jan. 19 and be followed by archery and primitive weapons season until the end of the month. Squirrel and rabbit season would normally continue until Feb. 28.

When the gauge at Greenville reaches 48 feet and until it falls to 46, lands in Washington and Issaquena counties will be closed to hunting from south of U.S. 82, west of Mississippi 1 and north of Mississippi 14.

When the Helena gauge rises to 41 and until it falls to 39 feet, land in Coahoma, Bolivar and Washington counties south of U.S. 49, west of U.S. 61 to the intersection with Mississippi 444, west of Mississippi 1 and north of U.S. 82 will be closed.

In DeSoto, Tunica and Coahoma south of the Tennessee line, west of U.S. 61 and north of U.S. 49 will close when the Memphis gauge rises to 34 feet and until it falls to 32 feet.

Dalessandro said two crests are coming, one as a result of water from the Upper Mississippi River and the other because of water from the Ohio River Basin. Both are as a result of storms that moved across the basin in the past several days and caused flooding in the upper reaches of the Ohio basin.

The water “kind of came and just didn’t stop,” he said. “It’s just a high, swollen river right now.”

Dalessandro said people who live along the Mississippi should not expect a quick rise to a crest followed by a quick fall. As the river approaches flood stage at Vicksburg, it will creep slowly to the crest. The fall after the crest will also be slow.

He said additional rain this week could change the crest, but storms should taper off by Friday. This would allow time for water to drain out before additional rain falls.

With the crest predicted for the same level as the earlier one, Wayland Hill, with the Hydraulics Branch of the Vicksburg District Corps of Engineers, said the flooded areas will not likely increase. In this area, the low-lying areas include Long Lake, Chickasaw Road area and, possibly, some of the Ford Subdivision area of Kings.

With the Mississippi continuing to rise, Hill said the district may have to close the Steele Bayou Control Structure, joining the Little Sunflower River Structure, which is already closed.

With the Mississippi predicted to reach 43.5 feet, he said the water level on the Yazoo River side of Steele Bayou will reach a level of about 92 feet mean sea level.

Depending on how much rain falls in the Mississippi Delta, the water on the land side of Steele Bayou could rise to between 90 feet msl and 92 feet mean sea level.