JACKSON — Revenue at the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks is declining, according to a report released Thursday morning. License sales fund 90 percent of the MDWFP budget, which is why the report is so important each month.

Jason Thompson, director of administrative services, told MDWFP commissioners at a meeting Thursday that fiscal 2025 revenue to date, through the end of September 2024, was $2.9 million. This is a drop in revenue of $250,000 compared to last year.

Thompson said although they saw a 13 percent increase in the purchase of velvet season permits, other licenses and privileges were down. Nonresident license sales through September 2024 were $1 million, a decrease of $200,000 from last year’s report of $1.2 million.

“Unlike some states, we are completely dependent on our license sales,” Commission Chairman Scott Coopwood said.

Why the decline

Earnings reports fluctuate and it is possible that earnings will rebound at the November meeting. Thompson said it was difficult to say exactly what caused the drop in revenue. His team will dig deeper into the numbers. He added that the MDWFP could launch a survey of non-resident non-returning customers asking why they are no longer purchasing licenses.

“We will have an approach to understanding why there has been a decline,” Thompson said.

July’s revenue reports were down $23,000 from last year and August’s were up $110,000. Thompson said at the September commission meeting that the figure for August was up due to the fall of dove season on Sept. 1, which was a Sunday this year.

He again pointed to the opening of dove season Thursday afternoon as a factor behind the earnings report. Hunters purchased licenses the Friday and Saturday before the opening, which fell in the August earnings report.

“We knew this report would be down to earth,” Thompson said. “Hopefully that will change with deer season.” We’ll just have to wait and see. It’s early. Deer season can change things.

Decline observed nationally

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service reports that license sales declined in fiscal year 2024. Nationally, hunting license sales decreased 0.11 percent, resulting in a loss of funding of $17,406, while fishing license sales decreased by 0.67 percent, resulting in a funding loss of $6,017,081.

Mississippi saw growth in hunting license revenue in fiscal year 2024 compared to fiscal year 2023. Thompson said he is talking with other states and agencies are again noticing a slight decrease in revenues and license sales. COVID-19 has helped bring people back outside, as charts released by the USFWS show. The same chart also shows ups and downs in license sales, with the peak number of licensees being reached in 1982.

Thompson said they are looking for creative ways to offset any declines. He mentioned that Ohio was selling a multi-year license and he was curious to see how that would work for Ohio.

A new system

Thompson said that sales of new licenses The PayIt system will be operational on February 18, 2025. MDWFP is preparing to launch the new system.

PayIt will help the agency with marketing and data collection. In turn, this information could help improve license sales. Recruitment, retention and reactivation is the model that MDWFP Marketing Director Jeremy Bass sees as the key to improving license sales.

“The new system may include many different data sources that we haven’t tapped into,” Thompson said. “We’ll be able to leverage park data and see how many people who buy state park passes are actual hunters and then market directly to them. With fishing rodeos, we can measure the success of how many of these kids buy a fishing license.

Thompson said the agency currently has people trained to use the tools PayIt has to offer for license sales and marketing. He added that he believed the new system would make license sales easier.

The new license sales system comes at a time when the MDWFP work hard to reach a wider audience with podcasts, redesigned publications and website, increased social media presence and improvements to national parks.