BY JOE MACALUSO | Contributing writer
21 hrs ago
In the next few days, the entire state will be open to deer hunters and their modern firearms seasons.
True, archery hunters have had their opening days, and some primitive firearms owners already are afield.
But, it’s days-upon-days modern firearms seasons that brings tens of thousands of hunters to stands and blinds near fields and into forests, swamps and marshes.
Now, with black bears increasing in numbers, there’s the possibility of hunters encountering another large animal.
“It’s a guesstimate that we have about 1,500 black bears in Louisiana now,” John Hanks said.
Hanks heads up Wildlife and Fisheries’ Large Carnivore Program from his office in Monroe. He’s in charge of Louisiana’s second black bear hunting season coming up in December, a hunt opened to those drawn in a lottery in October.
“Most of the bears live in the Mississippi alluvial valley, lands on the eastern side of the state around the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers all the way to the coast,” Hanks said. “Bears are much less frequently seen in the western parishes. Yes, bears can move. They move a lot during breeding season.”
Because Louisiana’s black bears usually don’t hibernate like their northern brethren, it’s likely deer hunters in the eastern parishes will see a bear on feeding patrol especially in November and December when bears try to consume as many calories as possible to be able to bear up under wintertime’s scarce food resources.
Because there have been a handful of documented instances when deer and feral hog hunters mistakenly have shot and killed black bears that hunters need to heed one of the primary rules in hunting – know your target.
In these documented cases, hunters have faced fines up to $10,000.
“We haven’t had any cases like that recently, the mistaken-identity cases,” Hanks said. “There have been some instances when bears have been shot on purpose.”
Those cases were prosecuted, too.
“It’s always best to identify a target,” Hanks said. “If the animal is black and obscured by any cover, well, it could be a hog or someone’s black Labrador retriever, or another black dog.
“We’ve had people send in trail-camera videos of animals in heavy cover and they want us to identify the animal. It’s very difficult even then. The only way anyone could know is if the animal stops in an open area and, then, we have a good ID,” Hanks said. “Just be sure of what you’re shooting at before firing a shot.”
The same goes for the human animal, too. Though not every season, but there have been a handful of instances during the past 10 years when a hunter is shot by another hunter, the latter most times mistakenly firing at movement.
This comes with another warning – wear hunter orange hats and vests while on the move in the forest and fields during the hunting season.
The commission
Recreational fishing groups along with conservation and environmental organizations came away from Thursday’s Wildlife and Fisheries Commission meeting vowing to fight a notice of intent to remove a portion of a half-mile buffer zone to a quarter-mile zone for the menhaden fishing industry.
The move adds about 12 square miles of nearshore waters available to menhaden fishing operations.
The move comes after an agreement for a half-mile buffer zone across the state’s coast, an agreement that lasted one fishing season for menhaden boats.
Public comment will be taken after the notice is posted on Dec. 19 in the State Register. Mail comments to Jason Adriance, Fisheries Division, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, P.O. Box 98000, Baton Rouge, LA 70898-9000 or email: jadriance@wlf.la.gov. The deadline is 3 p.m., Jan. 23.
Boat owners
A new website – boat.wlf.la.gov – opened late last week to handle boat registrations and renewals without boat owners having to visit a Wildlife and Fisheries office.
The new system allows customers “a secure platform” where they can create an account, provide their registration number and first four digits of their Hull ID and make a credit card payment.
And, the agency has sent a postcard to “certain registered businesses and co-owner accounts” which do not have up-to-date personal or account information on file. The card has instructions on how to upload current information and to renew registrations and other boating-related documents.
Volunteers needed
Following work to plant 4,000 shrubs on terraces in Terrebonne Parish – named the Lake Boudreaux vegetative planting project – the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana is asking for volunteers for a Nov. 20-22 project to plant dune grasses on Grand Isle.
The plan is to plant 25,000 plugs of bitter panicum along a stretch of beach near a newly constructed levee on the Gulf side of the island, a stretch badly damaged in Hurricane Ida.
The coalition will provide water, lunch, work gloves, sunscreen and all necessary equipment. Volunteers can register online: connect.crcl.org/civicrm/event/list
Red snapper
As of late Friday, no word from Wildlife and Fisheries about the recreational red snapper season. The last report, through Oct. 19, was that 20,178 pounds remained in this year’s state annual allotment of 894,955 pounds.
Exposing the Big Game 