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As the meat of the hunting season starts, Jones County will have only one conservation officer in the field. But the county will have all of the law enforcement it needs if there are problems, said officials with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.

“Our goal is to have two (officers) in every county, but we shift wherever the need is,” said MDWFP spokesman Jim Walker. “If we have a high volume of spotlighting or road-hunting calls, we’ll mobilize the man-power we need to take care of the problem.”

Jones County has had three conservation officers based here for many years, but Pat Butler retired after 34 years on the force after having open-heart surgery and Sylvester Busby retired after 25 years to go to work in the oilfield.

That leaves the “junior” officer Richard Holifield, who has 15 years of experience working for the MDWFP in Jones County, as the most popular — and populated — season starts in the state. Jones is one of the more complicated counties to work, too, because the zones for some hunting seasons change at Highway 84. For example, the deer season can be open on one side of the highway, but not the other. Bow season for deer began on Oct. 1 and hunters can start shooting at whitetails in November.

“It’s a blow to us,” Maj. Lane Ball of the MDWFP said of the retirement of Busby and Butler. “That’s 64 years of experience.”

Ball said there’s a new class of recruits going through the 24-week training program now, but they won’t be finished until December or January. That means Holifield will be the only conservation officer based in Jones County, but he won’t be alone, Ball said.

“The way we work now is completely different than it used to be,” Ball said. “It used to be by county, but not any more. Richard may be in Wayne County, Forrest County or Covington County at any given time, any day, if one of them needs help.”

On the flip side, a half-dozen conservation officers could be in Jones County working a detail at any given time, too.

“We routinely do that during deer season,” Ball said. “We send multiple officers when needed.”

Jones County had three conservation officers for so long, Ball said, because Butler was a lieutenant while Busby and Holifield were field officers.

There are 18 new conservation officers in training now, but it takes a while, Ball said.  After the 10-week law enforcement academy that all police officers have to go through, conservation officers undergo another 14 weeks of specialized training, he said, then they are paired with an experienced officer for a while before being set out on their own.  All candidates must have a college degree or at least five years of full-time law enforcement experience before they will even be considered for an MDWFP job.

“It takes a long time to get someone ready for this job,” Ball said.

When conservation officers work, the people they deal with are almost always armed, and it’s often in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere, and they’re working alone.

“They have to learn to overcome the anxiety of working by themselves, approaching violators in the woods, approaching vehicles at night,” he said.

Ball said there are “five or six” new trained officers waiting to get their assignments and there will be 18 more in several weeks. He’s not sure if one of them will be assigned to Jones County.

In the meantime, he said Holifield will be able to handle what comes his way, and he’ll have reinforcements if needed.

“He’s a good career officer,” Ball said.

To report wildlife violations, call 1-800-BE SMART (237-6278).

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