BY JOE MACALUSO | Contributing writer

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/sports/outdoors/hunters-need-to-make-sure-of-their-targets/article_7f713f97-7085-4faa-83d6-f006c5332356.amp.html

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.

In large parts of Europe, recreational hunting is still considered an indispensable tool for regulating wildlife populations. It is intended to prevent damage, ensure ecological balance, and curb the spread of so-called invasive species.

https://wildbeimwild.com/en/why-hunting-creates-more-problems-than-it-solves/

Editorial staff, November 9, 2025

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However, a look at data, studies and international comparison regions shows that hunting does not achieve these goals and in many cases has the opposite effect.

For decades, hunting associations have claimed that without hunting, fox, wild boar, and raccoon populations would “explode.” The figures contradict this. For example, the number of raccoons hunted has increased dramatically for years, while the species continues to spread. The same applies to foxes and wild boar. Recreational hunting does not permanently reduce their populations.

The reason is biologically simple: Many wild animals react to hunting pressure with compensatory reproduction. The greater the number of animals killed, the stronger the offspring. Groups of animals are destabilized, social structures are destroyed, young animals are displaced – a situation that maximizes reproduction. Recreational hunting thus creates precisely the populations it claims to prevent: young, productive, and unstable.

Where there is no hunting, nature relaxes.

The counterexamples are clear:

• Luxembourg banned fox hunting in 2015. The predicted epidemics, collapse scenarios, and population explosions failed to materialize. The population stabilized on its own.
• The Canton of Geneva banned recreational hunting as early as 1974. To this day, studies show more stable wildlife populations and higher biodiversity than in the surrounding hunting areas.
• National parks worldwide operate almost exclusively without recreational hunting. Population regulation occurs through habitat, competition, predation, and resource availability, not through gunfire. The result is functioning ecosystems with natural population cycles.

These examples refute the central narrative of the hunting lobby: wild animals do not need human “population control”, but rather intact habitats and undisturbed social structures.

Invasive species: the next fairy tale

Hunting is often portrayed as a necessity when it comes to invasive species. However, data shows that neither raccoons nor coypus can be sustainably controlled through hunting. In many regions, intensive culling even leads to faster spread, because gaps are immediately filled by immigration from neighboring areas – a classic “Sisyphean effect”.

Furthermore, scientifically sound management plans are often lacking. Instead, shots are fired as needed, without evaluating the ecological impact.

Hobby hunting as a cultural relic

Modern recreational hunting often presents itself as a scientifically sound tool for nature conservation. In reality, it is frequently a traditional ritual with a hobbyist character, which subsequently legitimizes itself ecologically. Upon closer examination, the supposed ecological necessities prove to be a pretext for an outdated system.

The number of shots fired has been increasing for years, not because nature is out of control, but because recreational hunting is to be maintained. Ecological realities often play a subordinate role in this.

Time for a new wildlife management system

Modern wildlife management is based on data, ecosystem research, and internationally proven approaches. This includes:

• Promoting natural regulation through habitat improvement.
• Reduction of disturbances, especially those caused by hunting pressure.
• Monitoring instead of ritualized culling quotas.
• The use of specialist game wardens should only occur in clearly defined exceptional cases, not as a permanent practice.

Hunting as a recreational activity is neither ecologically necessary nor scientifically sound. Nature functions when left to its own devices. Modern management must be guided by this principle, not by traditions, myths, or lobbying interests.

The facts are clear: recreational hunting does not solve the problems. In many cases, it creates them.

According to IG Wild beim Wild, annual medical-psychological assessments are also needed for recreational hunters following the example of Holland, as well as an age limit. The largest age group among recreational hunters is 65+, those with age-related, cognitive, visual, concentration, and reaction weaknesses, as well as training and educational deficits. From the age of 45, the number of accidents for humans and animals increases dramatically. The alarming reports of hunting accidents and fatal crimes with hunting weapons show that it’s high time to abolish recreational hunting! Lethal firearms don’t belong in the hands of senile recreational hunters who can use them completely uncontrolled! Recreational hunters represent everything that’s wrong in the world.

Recreational hunters live speciesism. Speciesism is comparable to racism and sexism, and that’s no culture or tradition.

In particular, with recreational hunting, it’s essential to take a close look. Nowhere is there as much manipulation with untruths and fake news. Violence and lies are two sides of the same coin.

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From WYOMING UNTRAPPED:

TOMORROW, November 10, Cody Roberts will appear before the Third Judicial District Court in Sweetwater County to face felony animal cruelty charges.

This is the man accused of running down a wild wolf with a snowmobile, taping her mouth shut, parading her alive into a bar, and then killing her. The case was moved from Sublette County due to overwhelming public concern, a rare acknowledgment of just how deeply this act has disturbed people across Wyoming and beyond.

It’s important to remember that we’ve reached this point because of public outcry, because people refused to stay silent, because communities across Wyoming and the nation demanded accountability. This hearing is happening because compassion was louder than cruelty, and because so many stood up for what is right.

This is not only about one man, or one wolf. It’s about whether violence toward wildlife is met with silence or with justice. When cruelty becomes culture, empathy must become action.

The hearing is open to the public, both in person and through the Wyoming Courts live audio stream at www.wyocourts.gov
→ Courts → District Courts → Sweetwater County → Courtroom 2.
If you can attend, do. If you can listen, please do. Presence matters. Witnessing matters.

Let’s remember the power of our voices as we continue to fight for wildlife, for compassion, and for a more humane Wyoming.

Experts, fearing a potential outbreak, are focusing on improving testing, result turnaround time and outreach.

by Jim Robbins, KFF Health NewsFebruary 5, 2024

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Each fall, millions of hunters across North America make their way into forests and grasslands to kill deer. Over the winter, people chow down on the venison steaks, sausage, and burgers made from the animals.

These hunters, however, are not just on the front lines of an American tradition. Infectious disease researchers say they are also on the front lines of what could be a serious threat to public health: chronic wasting disease.

The neurological disease, which is contagious, rapidly spreading, and always fatal, is caused by misfolded proteins called prions. It currently is known to infect only members of the cervid family — elk, deer, reindeer, caribou, and moose.

Animal disease scientists are alarmed about the rapid spread of CWD in deer. Recent research shows that the barrier to a spillover into humans is less formidable than previously believed and that the prions causing the disease may be evolving to become more able to infect humans.

A response to the threat is ramping up. In 2023, a coalition of researchers began “working on a major initiative, bringing together 68 different global experts on various aspects of CWD to really look at what are the challenges ahead should we see a spillover into humans and food production,” said Michael Osterholm, an expert in infectious disease at the University of Minnesota and a leading authority on CWD.

“The bottom-line message is we are quite unprepared,” Osterholm said. “If we saw a spillover right now, we would be in free fall. There are no contingency plans for what to do or how to follow up.”

The team of experts is planning for a potential outbreak, focusing on public health surveillance, lab capacity, prion disease diagnostics, surveillance of livestock and wildlife, risk communication, and education and outreach.

Despite the concern, tens of thousands of infected animals have been eaten by people in recent years, yet there have been no known human cases of the disease.

Many hunters have wrestled with how seriously to take the threat of CWD. “The predominant opinion I encounter is that no human being has gotten this disease,” said Steve Rinella, a writer and the founder of MeatEater, a media and lifestyle company focused on hunting and cooking wild game.

They think, “I am not going to worry about it because it hasn’t jumped the species barrier,” Rinella said. “That would change dramatically if a hunter got CWD.”

Other prion diseases, such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, have affected humans. Mad cow claimed the lives of more than 200 people, mostly in the United Kingdom and France. Some experts believe Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s also may be caused by prions.

First discovered in Colorado in captive deer in 1967, CWD has since spread widely. It has been found in animals in at least 32 states, four Canadian provinces, and four other foreign countries. It was recently found for the first time in Yellowstone National Park.

Prions behave very differently than viruses and bacteria and are virtually impossible to eradicate. Matthew Dunfee, director of the Chronic Wasting Disease Alliance, said experts call it a “disease from outer space.”

Symptoms are gruesome. The brain deteriorates to a spongy consistency. Sometimes nicknamed “zombie deer disease,” the condition makes infected animals stumble, drool, and stare blankly before they die. There is no treatment or vaccine. And it is extremely difficult to eradicate, whether with disinfectants or with high heat — it even survives autoclaving, or medical sterilization.

Cooking doesn’t kill prions, said Osterholm. Unfortunately, he said, “cooking concentrates the prions. It makes it even more likely” that people will consume them, he said.

Though CWD is not known to have passed to humans or domestic animals, experts are very concerned about both possibilities, which Osterholm’s group just received more than $1.5 million in funding to study. CWD can infect more parts of an animal’s body than other prion diseases like mad cow, which could make it more likely to spread to people who eat venison — if it can jump to humans.

Researchers estimate that between 7,000 and 15,000 infected animals are unknowingly consumed by hunter families annually, a number that increases every year as the disease spreads across the continent. While testing of wild game for CWD is available, it’s cumbersome and the tests are not widely used in many places.

A major problem with determining whether CWD has affected humans is that it has a long latency. People who consume prions may not contract the resulting disease until many years later — so, if someone fell sick, there might not be an apparent connection to having eaten deer.

Prions are extremely persistent in the environment. They can remain in the ground for many years and even be taken up by plants.

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Because the most likely route for spillover is through people who eat venison, quick testing of deer and other cervid carcasses is where prevention is focused. Right now, a hunter may drive a deer to a check station and have a lymph node sample sent to a lab. It can be a week or more before results come in, so most hunters skip it.

Montana, for example, is famous for its deer hunting. CWD was first detected in the wild there in 2017 and now has spread across much of the state. Despite warnings and free testing, Montana wildlife officials have not seen much concern among hunters. “We have not seen a decrease in deer hunting because of this,” said Brian Wakeling, game management bureau chief for the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks. In 2022 Montana hunters killed nearly 88,000 deer. Just 5,941 samples were taken, and 253 of those tested positive.

Experts believe a rapid test would greatly increase the number of animals tested and help prevent spillover.

Because of the importance of deer to Indigenous people, several tribal nations in Minnesota are working with experts at the University of Minnesota to come up with ways to monitor and manage the disease. “The threat and potential for the spread of CWD on any of our three reservations has the ability to negatively impact Ojibwe culture and traditions of deer hunting providing venison for our membership,” said Doug McArthur, a tribal biologist for the White Earth Nation, in a statement announcing the program. (The other groups referenced are the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and Red Lake Band of Chippewa.) “Tribes must be ready with a plan to manage and mitigate the effects of CWD … to ensure that the time-honored and culturally significant practice of harvesting deer is maintained for future generations.”

Peter Larsen is an assistant professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Minnesota and co-director of the Minnesota Center for Prion Research and Outreach. The center was formed to study numerous aspects of prions as part of the push to get ahead of possible spillover. “Our mission is to learn everything we can about not just CWD but other prion-like diseases, including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease,” he said. “We are studying the biology and ecology” of the misfolded protein, he said. “How do prions move within the environment? How can we help mitigate risk and improve animal health and welfare?”

Part of that mission is new technology to make testing faster and easier. Researchers have developed a way for hunters to do their own testing, though it can take weeks for results. There’s hope for, within the next two years, a test that will reduce the wait time to three to four hours.

“With all the doom and gloom around CWD, we have real solutions that can help us fight this disease in new ways,” said Larsen. “There’s some optimism.”

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KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

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