The National Deer Association is pleased to announce Dr. Bronson Strickland, Extension professor at Mississippi State University’s Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Aquaculture, as the 2023 Joe Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award winner. This award is presented to a person who has dedicated their life and/or career to wildlife management in general, and deer management in particular. The recipient must also have made a significant impact in deer management, deer research, or deer hunting.
Bronson was born and raised in Athens, Georgia and received a bachelor’s degree in Forest Resources from the University of Georgia in 1995. Next, Bronson pursued a master’s degree from Texas A&M University-Kingsville where his research involved estimating white-tailed deer carrying capacity in southern Texas. After graduating in 1998, Bronson moved to Starkville, Mississippi to work as a research associate at Mississippi State University, and in 2000 he began work on a doctorate degree where he continued research on the ecology and management of white-tailed deer populations.
Upon graduation, Bronson worked as a research wildlife biologist with the National Wildlife Research Center in Mississippi where he developed and directed research related to the understanding and minimization of wildlife damage caused by fish-eating birds at aquaculture facilities, natural fisheries, and sensitive habitats. In 2006, Bronson joined the faculty at Mississippi State as the Extension Wildlife Specialist. Bronson is currently the co-director of the Deer Ecology and Management Research Laboratory at Mississippi State University, conducting extensive research into whitetail deer.
This research maintains ongoing collaboration between the Deer Ecology and Management Research team and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks to inform sustainable management for both biodiversity and recreational hunting. Bronson is an educational innovator as he was one of the first academics to embrace and successfully incorporate social media and all associated technological platforms for education. He is also an instructor in NDA’s Deer Steward Level 1 online course.
You can follow Bronson and his team’s research work and podcast under the MSU Deer Ecology and Management Lab at Mississippi State University either on the website or YouTube.