Issaquena County is home to the Shipland WMA near Mayersville and the Howard Miller WMA. Howard Miller covers 2,400 acres and is located approximately 13 miles from Rolling Fork. The Mahannah WMA spans Issaquena and Warren Counties and is located approximately 15 miles north of Vicksburg. These areas offer different points of focus for planning: hunting, fishing, and the natural environment each take center stage in their own way.
Hunting and the Natural Environment
Shipland WMA offers public hunting and fishing opportunities year-round. Seasonal rules and permits may change, so check the applicable requirements before planning a specific hunting or fishing trip. Both activities are listed as public uses there and may help you choose what to focus on.
Waterfowl hunting is the focus at Howard Miller WMA, which is managed as a high-quality area for this purpose. It comprises 48 fields separated by levees and drainage ditches. This layout gives the landscape a distinctive character. By way of comparison when choosing activities: Shipland offers public hunting and fishing opportunities, while Howard Miller is especially associated with waterfowl hunting.
Mahannah WMA adds an ecological dimension to the range of activities. It is part of an ecologically largely intact and biologically diverse bottomland hardwood ecosystem in the Mississippi Delta. This offers another way to experience nature in Issaquena County, beyond the area's status as a wildlife management area: Mahannah spans two counties and has a specific place in the Delta landscape.
Traces of the Past
Grace Mounds brings together several periods in time. As early as around 850 AD, people belonging to Indigenous American societies lived there during the Coles Creek period. The mounds were built between approximately 1200 and 1600 AD during the Mississippi period. The two remaining large mounds are visible from Mississippi Highway 1 during most of the year; the best view is from nearby Grace Road. Grace Mounds is on private property.
The Mayersville Archaeological Site also has its own place in the timeline: its main component belongs to the Mayersville phase, dated to 1200–1400 AD. This period overlaps with the approximate timeframe in which the Grace Mounds mounds were built. A small cemetery was located on Mound A at the Mayersville Archaeological Site. The Aden Site, in turn, is a religious, ceremonial, and burial site consisting of three mounds, as well as the type site for the Aden phase of the Coles Creek culture. These sites raise different archaeological questions: their dates, the function of a site, and its role in describing a cultural phase.
Discover more destinations: Glen Allan, Kemper County, Pearl River County, George County, Lincoln County, Smith County, Claiborne, Covington.
For the main travel overview: Mississippi.
