{"id":164244,"date":"2026-07-16T10:30:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T15:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=164244"},"modified":"2026-07-16T10:35:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T15:35:35","slug":"headlighting-deer-investigation-leads-to-charges-across-multiple-mississippi-counties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/headlighting-deer-investigation-leads-to-charges-across-multiple-mississippi-counties\/","title":{"rendered":"Headlighting Deer Investigation Leads to Charges Across Multiple Mississippi Counties"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An investigation by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks (MDWFP) <\/strong>has resulted in multiple wildlife violations and a felony charge against a Brandon<\/strong> man following his arrest for illegally hunting deer at night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On January 9, 2025, 24-year-old William Langston Jr.<\/strong> of Brandon was arrested in Madison County<\/strong> by MDWFP Conservation Officers and deputies with the Madison County Sheriff’s Office for headlighting deer and killing a domesticated cat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the arrest, officers seized two .300 Blackout rifles, one of which was equipped with a thermal scope and suppressor, as well as a .22 caliber rifle equipped with a suppressor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A subsequent investigation into Langston’s illegal hunting activities resulted in charges across both Madison and Rankin Counties, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 21 counts of headlighting deer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 19 counts of hunting from a public roadway<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Unlawful possession of illegally taken white-tailed deer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 Exceeding the annual bag limit for white-tailed deer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b7 One felony count under the Mississippi Pet Protection Act<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Langston pleaded guilty in the Justice Courts of both Madison and Rankin Counties to all wildlife-related charges. He was placed in a pretrial diversion program by the Madison County Circuit Court for the felony charge under the Mississippi Pet Protection Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result of the convictions, Langston was ordered to pay a total of $77,244 in fines by the two Justice Courts. Additionally, the MDWFP revoked his hunting, fishing, and trapping privileges for three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We appreciate the support from the Madison County Sheriff’s Office for their assistance on the case and to the general public for being vigilant and reporting the violation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our officers are committed to protecting Mississippi’s wildlife resources and holding violators accountable,” said Lt. Colonel Chris Reed<\/strong>. \u201cPoaching has no place in Mississippi, as it steals from every law-abiding sportsman in our state. We take these violations seriously and will continue to investigate and prosecute those who choose to break the law.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The mission of the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks is to conserve and enhance Mississippi\u2019s wildlife, fisheries, and parks; provide quality outdoor recreation and engage the public in natural resource conservation.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An investigation by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks (MDWFP) has resulted in multiple wildlife violations<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":164250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17316],"tags":[29219,7494,35350,23561,28723],"class_list":["post-164244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mississippi","tag-deer","tag-hunting","tag-illegal-hunting","tag-madison-county","tag-mississippi-department-of-wildlife-fisheries-and-parks"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Deer-Picture2.jpg?fit=859%2C793&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164244"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164251,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164244\/revisions\/164251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}