ISSAQUENA COUNTY — As hundreds of snow geese circle in unison to land into a flooded rice field at the Howard Miller Wildlife Management Area, the autumn sky is partially darkened out by the sheer mass of birds. It’s a waterfowl hunter’s dream, but Jackie Fleeman is hardly impressed.  

“This is nothing,” said Fleeman, biologist for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, “you ought to come out here when we really have some geese and ducks.”

Getting there

Driving directions to the Howard Miller Wildlife Management Area: from Vicksburg, take U.S. 61 north to Rolling Fork, then 5.2 miles west on Mississippi 14. Turn left onto a paved road opposite the intersection with Mississippi 1. Follow for 4.5 miles, then turn left on Grant Road. Follow Grant Road 3.2 miles to Howard Miller WMA headquarters.

Once a series of flood-controlled fields used for rice farming, the 2,430 acres that make up the Howard Miller WMA are preparing to open to the public for the second season of waterfowl hunting — and plans are in the works to make it the most used management area in the state by hunters, birdwatchers, researchers and schoolchildren alike.

“It is a unique piece of property. There really isn’t another management area of its type in the state. That’s why we are trying to make it a benchmark for the kind of development and use we’d like to see at other management areas,” said Clark Gordin, executive director of the Foundation for Mississippi Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.

The Foundation, a non-profit organization developed five years ago to support MDWFP projects and management areas, hopes to break ground next spring on a $300,000 multi-use building at Howard Miller WMA that would provide educational, recreational and research opportunities to the public and MDWFP employees. The facility would have  viewing stations and would invite school groups and the public to take part in educational seminars on waterfowl identification and habitats. Another portion of the facility would be used by biologists to conduct research and enforce bag limits.

“The whole idea is to create a place that a wide range of the community can use in addition to hunters,” said Gordin. “If we can jump-start this project it might help us sell the idea to a corporate partner because it will begin to affect the entore community.” 

Howard Miller WMA acres were acquired by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks in January 2006 and July 2007. In the first season that waterfowl hunting was open to the public at the management area, 630 hunters harvested 913 ducks in 10 weeks. Of the state’s 15 management areas open for waterfowl hunting, it was the fourth most-used site and ranked third in total number of ducks harvested. It is one of just three management areas selected for a multiyear study on waterfowl hunting management. 

“It’s one of those places that ducks want to be,” said Gordin. “You can try to create a duck hole just about anywhere, but it won’t necessarily work. They may not like it for whatever reason. Ducks are funny like that.”

The reason why Howard Miller is so popular with ducks is likely because they’ve been finding refuge and food there for decades. The land has been rice farming land since the 1960s, and the MDWFP still leases some of the land to farmers. Some of the rice is left unharvested to create cover for hunters and food for waterfowl. The land is divided into 12 fields that can be flooded or dried out via a system of 90 wells and pumps.

The Foundation was awarded a North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant for nearly $1 million in October. Howard Miller is one of three waterfowl management areas in the state that will be improved with the money, most of which will go toward repairing and replacing the pumps and wells on site, said Fleeman, as well as improving four drainage ditches on the property.

This year hunters will be allowed to hunt the grounds on Tuesday, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, beginning Nov. 27. Although reservations have already been filled for the hunts, anyone can still get in on the hunts by going to Howard Miller WMA on the morning of hunting days to participate in a lottery drawing at 4:30 a.m. Shooting time ends at noon, and all hunters are required to have a valid license and pay an additional $15 for a WMA hunting permit.

“You’re not guaranteed to hunt, but there’s a pretty good chance,” said Fleeman, noting every person drawn can take three others on the hunt.

Those without reservations have the best opportunity to hunt on Tuesdays and Saturdays, when 24 areas are open for hunting. On Thursdays and Sundays,12 areas are open. Reservations account for eight of the hunting positions each day, however, if those with reservations fail to show up on any hunting day, their area is given to someone in the lottery.

“Last year was a great year, and I think this year is going to be even better” based on the condition of the land and the number of birds observed, said Fleeman.

The management area is named after Vicksburg native Howard Miller, who was a waterfowl hunting enthusiast and served as chairman of the of the MDWFP for nearly a decade until his death in 1999. His friend and business partner, Jack Branning, said Miller would be proud to know his namesake WMA was being used by so many hunters and being expanded for even more community participation.

“He was very instrumental in getting an awful lot of things done for the general public to have hunting opportunities, as well as for wildlife conservation in general,” said Branning. “He was an outstanding outdoorsman, and he loved duck hunting. He hunted every day of the duck season.”

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Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com.