Louisiana Women in the Wild Experience Successful Duck Hunt at Pass-a-Loutre WMA

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF), in conjunction with Cabela’s, held a lottery duck hunt for the Louisiana Women in the Wild-Hunting BasicsWorkshop participants on November 17-18 at the Pass-a-Loutre Wildlife Management Area.

Six ladies arrived in Venice, traveled by boat to the wildlife management area and set out to experience their first duck hunt. LDWF Education Section staff members served as guides for each of the participants. All parties bagged birds that included gadwall, widgeon, scaup and coot. More importantly, participants learned to recognize waterfowl habitat, areas to set up blinds, and became familiar with waterfowl flight patterns, duck identification and placement of duck decoys. Cabela’s provided hunting items for each participant, ammunition, and food for the weekend.

Prior to the hunt, participants completed an eight-hour workshop focused on conservation, safe hunting and firearm skills, game basics, scouting/blood trailing, rifle and shotgun shooting techniques, and archery. In addition, tree stand safety, duck hunting, and game cleaning demonstrations were provided.

During the 2012-13 hunting season, other workshop participants had the opportunity to be drawn in a lottery to participate in deer hunts on Tensas National Wildlife Refuge and Atchafalaya Delta Wildlife Management Area. The goals of the program are to develop new hunters by providing women with limited hunting experience the basic skills and confidence they need to venture afield and become active hunters with their families and friends.

The Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is charged with managing and protecting many of Louisiana’s abundant natural resources. For more information, visit us at www.wlf.louisiana.gov, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ldwffb or follow us on Twitter @LDWF.

For more information on future workshops, contact Gene Cavalier at 985-882-9159 or gcavalier@wlf.la.gov, or Karen Crabtree at 318-766-8144 or kedwards@wlf.la.gov .

Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries – Enforcement Division(LDWF) is the fish & game regulatory agency of Louisiana. It has jurisdictionanywhere in the state, and in state territorial waters. The agency enforces both state and federal laws dealing with hunting, fishing, and boating safety. The agency also enforces criminal laws in rural areas including DWI enforcement both on highways and waterways. Most of the Department’s Wildlife Agents also carry Federal law enforcement commissions issued from the United States Department of the Interior - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and United States Department of Commerce - U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). These federal commissions allow these state officers to enforce federal migratory waterfowl laws and federal marine fisheries laws in state and federal waters off the coast of Louisiana. Besides their traditional role as a “game warden”, Louisiana Wildlife Enforcement Agents also have a number of other responsibilities, including conducting board of health inspections on some portions of the state’s commercial fishing industry. Agents are trained in and conduct numerous search and rescue operations, both in remote land areas and on the state’s waterways. Agents ensure that hunters, anglers, boaters, dealers, breeders, farmers, and transporters are in compliance with regulations governing equipment, quotas, licenses, and registrations. Agents also assist other State departments and law enforcement agencies in the coordination of educational and professional endeavors, as well as national and state emergency alerts by the Federal Office of Emergency Preparedness. In addition, agents perform search and rescue missions alone or in conjunction with other local, state, and federal agencies.