Lawsuit challenging Louisiana’s hunting license checks without warrants poised for trial

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A Baton Rouge court will soon be tasked with deciding whether state agents have the authority to stop hunters without suspicion on private property to ensure they have the required hunting licenses and tags.

For the past two years, an East Feliciana man has been challenging the constitutionality of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries hunting license stops on private property like the 240-acre commercial tree farm he owns in Ethel.

Thomas Manuel says gaming officials have unrestrained powers to barge onto his property for inspections under Louisiana’s “entry statute,” a law that currently allows the department to conduct searches without a warrant or probable cause. In his March 2024 lawsuit, Manuel contends the routine tag and license checks on his tree farm are an invasion of privacy, and they violate right to privacy protections in the Louisiana Constitution.

“It’s been well-established for 150 years that you need warrants to go on private land. The same as if a police officer wants to come into your backyard; they’d need a warrant first,” Manuel’s attorney, James Knight, said after a hearing last week. “Warrants are required whenever you want to go onto private property to search them. And right now, the department doesn’t do that. It just goes onto private land and roams around to see if people have committed crimes without even suspecting a specific crime.”

But state statutes give gaming officials authority to stop people on public and private lands to “see” if they’re violating wildlife law in those territories. That means game wardens can stop every hunter and check to see if they have their deer tags and hunting licenses. They can also inspect a hunter’s game to make sure they haven’t made any kills that are out of hunting season.

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