Sportsman’s Expo Is Coming Up….Here’s Some Hunting Info For You

With the River Run ATV Park and Pieworks of Bossier Sportsman's Expo now only 2 weeks off, we asked our resident hunter, Gary McCoy to give us a detailed report about everything hunters need to know this year.
Here's his report:

It was the same feeling a 6 year old gets about 9am on Christmas Eve. It's ALMOST HUNTING SEASON! I did a little digging in the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Website and got "most" of this year's seasons with a couple of exceptions.

Apparently the L.D.W.F. will hold a meeting this coming Thursday, August 4 to finalize several items for the upcoming waterfowl season including the possibility of the moving of Youth Duck Hunting weekend from before the season to the weekend in the "split" of the season. That info should become available on the LDWF website by next Friday, August 5, along with the definite seasons for both the West Zone and East Zone. Also newly ratified this year are 2 issues in regards to Youth Deer Hunting. The first is the extension of the Youth Deer Hunts from a weekend to a full week. For area 2 this year, Youth 17 and under will be allowed to hunt from Oct. 8-14. Additionally passed was the proposition to allow Youth 17 and under to use any any legal weapon during the primitive firearm season.

In discussion with the staff in the Baton Rouge office, I found that this year's hunting pamphlets are at the printer now and should be available within a short time. Go to Page 9 to read the new rules in regards to the Youth Hunting. It was really hard to find.

And here's the remainder of the schedules for the year:

Dove - North Zone: Sept. 3-18 and Oct. 8 - Nov. 6 and Dec. 10 - Jan. 2
Teal - Sept. 10-25
Area 2: Oct. 8 - 14
Deer - Area 2 - including Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Claiborne, DeSoto, Jackson, Lincoln, Natchitoches, Red River, Sabine, Union,Webster and Winn Parishes will be as follows:

Archery Only - Oct. 1 - Jan. 31
Primitive Firearms - Oct. 22-28 AND Jan. 16-22
Still Hunting Only - No dogs - Oct. 29 - Dec. 6
With or without dogs - Dec. 7 - Jan. 15

Rabbit - Oct. 1 - Feb. 29
Squirrel - Oct. 1 - Feb. 29
Quail - Nov. 19 - Feb. 29

Duck season is essentially still up in the air, but here's what I found on the LDWF website -

The proposed duck season dates for 2011-2012 are as follows:

West Zone: Nov. 12 – Dec. 4, and Dec. 17 – Jan. 22. (Youth Hunt Dec. 10-11)

East Zone: Nov. 19 – 27, and Dec. 10 – Jan. 29. (Youth Hunt Dec. 3-4)

Changes from last year in these proposed season dates include moving the Youth Hunt from the weekend before opening day to the weekend during the split, fewer hunting days in November but more in December for the East zone, and additional hunting opportunity for hunters that use both zones.

The public can comment on the 2011-2012 season dates until Aug. 4 by sending comments to: Larry Reynolds, Waterfowl Program Study Leader, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, P.O. Box 98000, Baton Rouge, LA 70898-9000 or lreynolds@wlf.la.gov .

For specific information,contact your local Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement Office.