Louisiana Duck Hunters Could See Big Change for 2025-26 Season

Louisiana duck hunters are divided on a number of issues. What shotgun is best? Who makes the best ammo or duck call?

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All of these are questions commonly debated on duck hunting forums throughout the Bayou State, but there is still plenty of common ground for these same hunters.

Many wonder about the future of the sport and what has happened to the huge migrations of ducks we once enjoyed here in the Sportsman's Paradise.

While answers for those questions can only be speculation, another area of common ground for hunters, especially here in the West Zone of Louisiana, is the desire to be allowed to hunt any time there's potential for incoming migrations of waterfowl.

The biggest issue for many in recent years has been that during a "split", when the duck season is temporarily suspended, these huge flights, influenced by incoming winter weather fronts, make themselves comfortable on local lakes and rivers, while hunters are disallowed from pursuing them.

Apparently, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has heard these complaints and recently has made an effort to address them.

On January 10, LDWF adopted notices of intent for the upcoming 2025-26 and 2026-27 hunting seasons and included in these notices, which are up for public comment at this time, was a noticeable change to the 2025-26 migratory bird hunting season and rules and regulations.

That change, specific to Louisiana's West Zone, would reduce the duck season splits from two segments down to two.

This means that instead of hunters having two separate periods where duck hunting is suspended, there would only be one.

The proposed dates for the 2025-26 Louisiana duck season for the West Zone are:

• November 1 - November 2 - Youth Only
• November 8 - November 30
• December 13 - January 18, 2026
• January 24 - January 25, 2026 - Veterans Only

Note that these proposed dates would only suspend duck hunting in Louisiana's West Zone one time from December 1 through December 12, and even though season will effectively end a little earlier than in previous years, hunters will have the same number of hunting days.

To view the full notice of intent, all regulation changes and proposed hunting season dates for the upcoming hunting seasons, go to https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/resources/category/commission-action-items.

Public comment will be accepted through 4:00 pm on March 6. It will also be accepted at LWFC monthly meetings from now through March 6.

Comments may be submitted directly to Dr. Jeffrey Duguay, LDWF Wildlife Division, P.O. Box 98000, Baton Rouge, LA. 70898-9000 or 225-765-2353 or by e-mail at jduguay@wlf.la.gov.