LWFC proposing new rules for young hunters
By JOE MACALUSO
Advocate Outdoors writer
Published: Feb 8, 2008
Young hunters ages 16 and 17 years old will be included in all youth-only hunts and be eligible for the state’s youth lottery hunts if new rules are adopted by the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission.
At Thursday’s LWFC monthly meeting, state Wildlife Division manager Kenny Ribbeck outlined amendments for the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 hunting seasons.
The additions of the young hunters was atop those changes. In recent years, hunters 15-and-younger were eligible for the youth-only hunts on private lands and youth lottery hunts on state-owned or managed wildlife management areas and on federal lands.
Another major change will add crossbows to the legal list of bow-and-arrow weapons allowed for use during archery seasons. Current regulations allow hunters 60 and older and disabled hunters to use crossbows. The new regulations allow all hunters to use crossbows during the legal seasons.
The LWFC will take public comment on these and all other proposed changes through the end of April, finalize the regulations packages in May, then ratify them in June.
The archery-for-deer season in State Deer Areas 3 and 8 will be the first seasons affected by the new crossbow rules.
State wildlife managers said they were spending too much time trying to certify an increasing number of applications for crossbow use. Under existing rules, 60-year-old and older hunters and all disabled hunters wishing to use crossbows had to apply for a special certificate.
Another amendment announced Thursday included reopening the state to pheasant hunting. Ribbeck said the Wildlife Division is receiving more and more reports about pheasants on private lands. The state has been closed to pheasant hunting for most of this decade after numbers dwindled in the southwestern parishes.
Ribbeck said private clubs are releasing pheasants for hunters and that pheasants are escaping and reestablishing their numbers in several areas of the state. Starting in November, this season will have the same dates as the quail season.
Another major proposed change will allow disabled hunters to have two helpers to get to and from stands and retrieve game. Those hunters will also be allowed to use ATVs.
Youth-only squirrel hunts — set this year for Sept. 27-28 — on Boeuf, Clear Creek, Sandy Hollow, Spring Bayou and West Bay wildlife management areas will be added to those opened in the past. Places opened in the past included Bodcau, Jackson-Bienville, Little River, Pearl River, Russell Sage and Sherburne WMAs.
There was more for young hunters, like being able to use any gauge shotgun loaded with slugs during the muzzleloader-only deer seasons. Current rules allow youngsters to use only 20-gauge shotguns. Loggy Bayou WMA will be added to the Floy McElroy WMA for youth-only mourning dove hunting.
Closer to home, four days will be added to the either-sex deer season in the Maurepas Swamp WMA, the 60,000-plus acre area between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
And, the 2009 spring squirrel season (May 2-10) will be opened on all WMAs across the state except for the Biloxi, Camp Beauregard, Fort Polk and Peason Ridge WMAs. The first two years of this newly opened season were limited to seven WMAs.
Horse riders will take a big hit under the new regulations: Trail rides will be banned on all WMAs.
There will be a 36-horsepower limit on surface drive boats for hunters on the Atchafalaya Delta and Pass a Loutre WMAs. Camp Avondale in East Feliciana Parish will have a special Nov. 8-10 deer season.
WW - Here is another biggie -
The state Legislature will have to create a new weapons category to allow hunters to use the .45-70 rifles during the muzzleloader season. State Wildlife Division chief Jimmy Anthony said the weapon technically is not a muzzleloader weapon. The .45-70 is allowed to be used by Mississippi muzzleloader hunters.
Changes proposed to the two private-lands deer management programs would give the landowner buck and antlerless deer tags that would not count against an individual hunter’s three buck and three-doe tags.
And, the plan for the statewide deer-tagging program will be implemented for the 2008-2009 season.
In other action, the LWFC:
· Modified the proposed rule to require kill-switch use for all tiller-steered outboards to exclude outboards used on sailboats and outboards 10-horsepower or less;
· Changed state rules on size and daily limits of vermilion snapper; received stock assessments on mullet, drum, sheepshead and flounder - all four meet requirements for stock sustainability;
· Opened the Sister Lake Oyster Area for a special Feb. 11-29 season; tabled a similar request for a May season in Lake Mechant and Sister Lake;
· Voted to hold its June meeting on June 5 in Baton Rouge.
Lousiana proposes legalizing crossbows for all hunters
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Lousiana proposes legalizing crossbows for all hunters
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