outdoors.column.bonnette
Published 6:00 am Sunday, November 15, 2020
Duck season began yesterday for the state’s Coastal and West zones. So how was it for you?
This column was written prior to the start of the first split so we don’t have any opening-day information.
Larry Reynolds, the state’s waterfowl program manager, made his yearly flying survey on Thursday, but it was not available in time for this edition. We expect to have it next week.
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Yesterday only the Coastal and the West zones were open for hunting. The East comes into the picture next Saturday.
In talking with hunters who had been busy setting up blinds as well as reconstructing those that were damaged by the two hurricanes that came our way, it appeared that most of the birds seen were north of La. 14 which divides the Coastal and the East zones.
I got out Thursday and saw a good supply of ducks — gadwall, scaup and shovelers as well as some teal
— in the Lacassine National Wildlife Refuge impoundment. Also, there were numerous snow geese and some specklebellies in wet areas before the impoundment.
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Perhaps you saw this or you missed it like I did because of lack of internet service when Hurricanes Laura and Delta came through.
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In an early September release from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the commission adopted a two-zone east-west boundary option for the waterfowl hunting seasons of 2021 to 2025.
The LDWF recommended the option after consideration of hunter preferences from the 2020 Louisiana Waterfowl Hunter survey and federal waterfowl harvest data over the past 20 years.
The new boundary combines the current West and Coastal zones as well as a portion of the East Zone into a West Zone with the other portion of the state being the East.
All take effect for the 2021-22 season and will run through the 2025-26 season.