Dixie Electric again asking hunters not to shoot around power, fiber lines

LAUREL, Miss. (WDAM) - Representatives with Dixie Electric Power Association are, once again, asking dove hunters not to shoot around power and fiber optic lines.

“We know it’s the easy shot, but we ask that you don’t take the easy shot,” said Amanda Mills, communications specialist with Dixie Electric Power Association (DEPA). “Help your co-op, help your neighbors and stay away from shooting anywhere near a power or a fiber line.”

Jeremy McAndrew, a system engineer for DEPA, says on September 3, dove hunters damaged fiber optic lines in Forrest and Jones counties, causing more than $50,000 in damage and knocking out the internet to more than 1,000 subscribers for more than eight hours.

“We tracked it down to dove shooting instances, where the shot pellets damaged the fiber optic lines,” McAndrew said.

In August, before dove season began, representatives from DEPA, Pearl River Valley Electric Power Association and Southern Pine Electric had initially asked hunters to avoid power and fiber lines, asking them instead to “shoot smart.”

Mills is hoping there won’t be any more damage done to power and fiber lines this hunting season and is reminding hunters that it’s also against the law to fire at the lines.

“Shooting anywhere near an electrical line is a federal crime,” Mills said. “There’s also consequences that could come with that if you are deemed liable for the damage.”

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