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The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission set dates for the 2000-2001 duck, coot, goose, rail and gallinule seasons by declaration of emergency at the Sept. 7 meeting of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries meeting in Baton Rouge. The commission accepted recommendations of a 60-day duck season from the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries at the Aug. 3 commission meeting. The recommendations were based on frameworks set by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Migratory Bird Management.
The commission set the following season dates:
Ducks and Coots
East Zone and Catahoula Lake Zone: Nov. 18 - Dec. 3, 2000; Dec. 9, 2000-Jan. 21, 2001
West Zone: Nov. 11 - Dec. 3, 2000; Dec. 16, 2000 - Jan. 21, 2001
Youth Waterfowl Hunting Days: Statewide, Jan. 27-28
Shooting Hours: One-half hour before official sunrise to official sunset statewide.
Daily Bag Limits/Ducks: Six. May include no more than four mallards (no more than two of which may be females), three mottled ducks, one black duck, two wood ducks, one pintail, one canvasback, three scaup and two redheads.
Daily Bag Limit/Coots: 15.
Daily Bag Limit/Mergansers: Five, only one of which may be a hooded merganser. Merganser limits are in addition to the daily bag limit for ducks.
Possession Limits for ducks, coots and mergansers are twice the daily bag limit.
Geese
Light Geese (snow, blue, Ross’) and white-fronted (specklebelly) geese:
East Zone: Oct. 28 - Dec. 3, 2000; Dec. 9, 2000 - Jan. 26, 2001
West Zone: Nov. 11 - Dec. 10, 2000; Dec. 16, 2000 - Feb. 9, 2001
Shooting Hours: One-half hour before official sunrise to official sunset.
Daily Bag Limit/Light Geese (snow, blue, Ross’): 20.
Daily Bag Limit/White-fronted (Specklebelly) Geese: Two.
Possession Limit is twice the daily bag limit for white-fronted (specklebelly) and Canada geese. There is no possession limit for blue and snow geese.
Conservation Order for Light Geese:
West Zone: Dec. 11-15, 2000; Feb.10 - March 11, 2001
East Zone: Dec. 4-8, 2000; Jan. 29 - March 11, 2001
Only snow, blue and Ross’ geese may be taken under the terms of the conservation order, which allows the use of electronic calls and unplugged shotguns and eliminates the daily bag and possession limits. Shooting hours begin one-half hour before sunrise and extend until one-half hour after sunset.
Under federal law, all other waterfowl hunting seasons must be closed to permit implementation of the conservation order. The measure is designed to halt widening destruction of arctic migratory bird breeding habitat by over abundant populations of lesser snow geese (blue and snow geese) and Ross’ geese, which have more than tripled over the past 30 years.
Canada Goose Season
Jan. 16-24, 2001. Shooting hours are one-half hour before official sunrise to official sunset. The daily bag limit for Canada geese is one.
The Canada goose season will be open statewide except for a portion of southwest Louisiana. The closed area is described as follows:
Beginning at the Texas state line, proceeding east along Hwy. 82 to the Calcasieu Ship Channel then north along the Calcasieu Ship Channel to its junction with the Intracoastal Canal, then east along the Intracoastal Canal to its juncture with La. Hwy. 82, then south along La. Hwy. 82 to its juncture with Parish Road 3147, then south and east along Parish Road 3147 to Freshwater Bayou Canal, then south to the Gulf of Mexico, then west along the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico to the Texas state line, then north to the point of beginning.
A special permit is required of everyone, regardless of age, to participate in the Canada goose season. This permit may be obtained by mail or in person at any LDWF Wildlife Division District office. A non-refundable $5 administrative fee will be charged.
Return of Canada goose harvest information listed on the permit is mandatory. Failure to submit this information to LDWF by Feb. 15, 2001, will result in the hunter not being allowed to participate in the Canada goose season the following year.
Rails
Nov. 11, 2000-Jan. 3, 2001.
Daily Bag Limits: 15 in the aggregate for king and clapper rails and 25 in the aggregate for sora and Virginia rails.
Possession Limits: 30 for king and clapper rails, 25 for sora and Virginia rails.
Gallinules
Nov. 11, 2000-Jan. 3, 2001.
Daily Bag Limit: 15.
Possession Limit: 30.
Snipe
Nov. 4-Dec. 3, 2000; Dec. 14, 2000 - Feb. 28, 2001.
Daily Bag Limit: 8
Possession Limit: 16
For more information, contact Robert Helm at 225/765-2358 helm_rn@wlf.state.la.us
Uploaded: 9/10/2000
Uploaded: 9/10/2000