February 10, 2003

Mississippi Outfitters Celebrates 10-Year Anniversary
by James L. Cummins

Almost 10 years ago to date, the non-profit Mississippi Outfitters Association was formed to improve the economy of Mississippi through wildlife-associated recreation. Other areas of the United States, such as Arkansas, Maine and Montana are fully utilizing fish and wildlife resources, not only as a means of rural economic development, but to attract and retain industry. A group of Mississippi leaders wanted to do the same and formed the organization. During its 10-year history, Mississippi Outfitters has had tremendous success. More and more tourists are visiting Mississippi each year to spend their vacations hunting and/or fishing.

Its goals are to: 1) To expand the outfitting industry in Mississippi, 2) To increase participation of small scale, limited resource and socially disadvantaged farmers and landowners in the outfitting industry; 3) To initiate and support selected educational activities and training programs for the state's outfitters and guides; 4) To instill the highest standards of professionalism, sportsmanship and ethics in the state's outfitters and guides; 5) To promote the services and practices of the state's outfitters through print media, internet, radio, television and trade shows; 6) To encourage the leasing and/or selling of lands for wildlife-associated recreation, and; 7) To promote wildlife-associated tourism.

Only a few months after the Association was formed, 18 outfitters offering 18 different types of trips were up and running. This included 6 duck hunting outfitters, 2 quail hunting outfitters, 2 deer hunting outfitters, 1 rabbit hunting outfitter and 7 fishing outfitters. Now, there are 34 outfitters offering 77 different trips. The recent economic problems has caused the number of outfitters to decrease from approximately 50 to 34. Now, these outfitters offer the following types of outings: duck hunting (19), quail hunting (12), deer hunting (23), rabbit hunting (2), turkey (11), dove (6), squirrel (6) and hog (3). There are 8 fishing outfitters offering trips for bass, bream, catfish, crappie and deep sea fishing.

To help supply these outfitters with people to pay for hunts, a tremendous amount of advertising has been conducted to recruit potential clients. Mississippi Outfitters has received 10,016 inquiries via telephone and 650 inquiries via email.

The internet has enabled the Association to reach large numbers of people. The site, www.outfitters.org, is filled with lake maps, graphics and stunning photography. To date, the Association has received requests from 56 foreign countries. Since the web site was developed in 1997, we have had 187,600 visits and are currently averaging 1,000 visits per week. Landowners, guides, sporting goods stores, hotels/motels, restaurants, mechanic shops, convenient stores, grocery stores, gift shops and a variety of other businesses have economically benefitted from the Association. Mississippi Outfitters is helping improve the environmental quality of Mississippi. Landowners are realizing that economic resources can be obtained from wildlife, and as a result, are improving fish and wildlife habitat.

If you are interested in becoming an outfitter in Mississippi, please contact Alyene Boyles, Director, Mississippi Outfitters Association, Post Office Box 9, Stoneville, MS 38776 or call 1.800.270.3358 or by contacting us via the internet at www.outfitters.org.


James L. Cummins is Executive Director of the Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation in Stoneville, Mississippi. Known as "Wildlife Mississippi," the Foundation is a non-profit, conservation organization founded to conserve, restore and enhance fish, wildlife and plant resources throughout Mississippi