re: Louisiana Game Harvest Survey

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May I make a suggestion? Hunters need to be surveyed on seasons and dates.

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They have been, a number of times. 2005, 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2015. On those surveys, questions on season length, timing, zones, bag limits, etc. have been asked. And what we primarily find is that hunters do NOT speak with one voice on virtually anything.

Groups of hunters in NW and SW Louisiana want earlier seasons, saying that January hunt days are worthless.

Groups of hunters in the rice prairies and the woods of NE LA want later seasons say exactly the opposite, that they have no birds until mid-December.

There is a growing group of hunters that prefer to hunt when we traditionally have the split because those are good "flight" or migration days.

Very few hunters have expressed a desire for shorter seasons or lower bag limits, but most everyone wants something "different" based on their local situation. And we have made some changes, and those don't satisfy either ...... like the new East Zone boundary where rice-field hunters got later seasons.

One of the best examples is the new West Zone created in 2012 by splitting the old West Zone into a West Zone and a Coastal Zone. Hunters supported the new zone in NW LA so they could have separate seasons from the coastal guys. It made sense. NW LA is reservoirs and piney woods, different from coastal marshes and prairies and the MAV hardwoods and swamps. But after we made the new zone, we found out that some hunters supported it so they could have LATER seasons and other supported it so they could have EARLIER seasons. And guess what? For the last 2 seasons, the best compromise was (is) to have the same season dates as the Coastal Zone.