It won’t have any effect in our immediate area, but there are some slight modifications in parts of the three Louisiana duck hunting zones for this year. New zone boundaries for Louisiana duck hunters will go into effect beginning Nov. 5 as the season opens with youth waterfowl weekend in the coastal and west zones. The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission adopted the new boundaries in November of 2015 for the 2016-17 hunting season.
“We changed from two zones to three in 2012,” said Larry Reynolds, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Waterfowl Program Manager. “Now the boundaries of those zones are being modified to better fit the desires of rice growers and hunters in particular parts of the state.”
Zones can be changed every five years. These new boundaries will be in effect for the 2016-17 through the 2020-21 waterfowl hunting seasons.
The accompanying map depicts the new zone boundaries with colored areas where hunters are now in different zones than in the previous four years. Specifically, the new boundaries are:
East Zone: The area of the state between the Mississippi state line and the line going south on Hwy. 79 from the Arkansas border to Homer; then south on Hwy. 9 to Arcadia; then south on Hwy. 147 to Hodge; then south on Hwy. 167 to Turkey Creek; then south on Hwy. 13 to Eunice; then west on Hwy.190 to Kinder; then south on Hwy. 165 to Iowa; then west on I-10 to its junction with Hwy. 14 at Lake Charles; then south and east on Hwy. 14 to its junction with Hwy. 90 in New Iberia; then east on Hwy. 90 to the Mississippi state line.
West Zone: The area between the Texas state line and the line going east on I-10 from the Texas border to Hwy. 165 at Iowa; then north on Hwy. 165 to Kinder; then east on Hwy. 190 to Eunice; then north on Hwy. 13 to Turkey Creek; then north on Hwy. 167 to Hodge; then north on Hwy. 147 to Arcadia; then north on Hwy. 9 to Homer; then north on Hwy. 79 to the Arkansas border.
Coastal Zone: Remainder of state. The major changes include moving a large amount of rice-growing acreage in Evangeline, Jefferson Davis, Acadia, and Vermilion parishes from the coastal to the east zone; and moving a portion of northwest Louisiana from the east zone to the west zone. Hunters should review the new map to verify their waterfowl hunting zone and then check associated hunting season dates.
