Louisiana deer season in need of adjustment | thenewsstar.com

By Richard Price

Well, here we are in the “two-minute warning” of deer season. I will personally be glad to see the sun set Sunday. Last Saturday, Margaret Ann and I got up and made our usual morning hunt. As usual, we didn’t see anything. As a matter of fact, I had quit even loading my rifle.

Anyhow, back at the camp, we fried fish for dinner. Mike, Terry, Margaret Ann and I ate about five pounds of river catfish. Then my sugar went up. Remember last Saturday evening, about 80 degrees and the wind blowing right outta somewhere? Boy, I sure was glad when Margaret Ann remembered she had to make church bulletins for Sunday. I brought the big ol’ “jinxed” Four-Fifty-Eight home.

I have got to hunt a good bit this year, I reckon, but have seen fewer deer, bears and turkeys than any other year that I can recall. Looks like we might have to start huntin’ with deer dogs again. Maybe a Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule. I just really believe that our deer, under so much hunting pressure, are literally becoming seasonally nocturnal. And most everyone I’ve spoke with has come to grips that deer season in Louisiana is too long. Most concur that deer season in Area I should open the Friday after Thanksgiving and close 60 days later. Open and closed case. Archery season should open Nov. 1 and close the Sunday after the 60th day.

We have too many tags per person. This has no bearing on those hunters who take 15-20 deer a year anyhow, but a limit of two bucks and a doe would suffice. There ain’t no way me and Margaret Ann can eat six deer, much less process them and store that many. So who else can either? Of course, the powers that be will see this as a reduction in sales of licenses that will therefore dwindle the bank account. Go figger. Remember when we started hunting outa “tree stands?” A deer would not hardly look up.  Click Link Below For Full Story!

via Louisiana deer season in need of adjustment | The News Star | thenewsstar.com.

Tarpon rodeo officials call for support | HoumaToday.com

By Brent St. Germain

Sports Editor

PORT FOUCHON — Grand Isle Mayor David Camardelle has a message for all fishermen.

“We want to tell the people that it’s safe to eat the seafood and the fishing hasn’t been better,” he said.

Camardelle made that statement prior to the start of Thursday’s Grand Isle International Tarpon Rodeo media-day charter fishing trip. The rodeo, which will be held July 28-30, returns after a one-year hiatus following the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico that led to a massive oil spill off Louisiana’s coast.

State Rep. Nickie Monica, R-LaPlace, hosted the fishing trip in an effort to promote the 89th annual installment of the rodeo. More than 15 rodeo organizers and media members boarded the Louisiana at 6 a.m. and ventured out more than 25 miles in search of red snapper and mangrove snapper.

After watching a number of fish pulled onto the 65-foot charter boat owned by Steve Tomney, Monica said he would chalk it up as a successful fishing trip.

“We had such a great day of fishing with everyone limiting out on red snapper,” Monica said. “We want people to know the rodeo is coming back, and everyone is ready. We want people to come out and support the island and the Grand Isle International Tarpon Rodeo.”

Monica reiterated Camardelle’s statement that the fish is safe, and said that he is couldn’t wait to get home and put his fish on the grill. Click Link Below For Full Story!

via Tarpon rodeo officials call for support | HoumaToday.com.

First waterfowl split fantastic for most hunters – Louisiana Sportsman

By Darren Digby

The 2010 duck season has been just what the doctor ordered, so far. Following lackluster early starts in recent years, this year bucked the trend with a parade of respectable cold fronts pushing into the Bayou State.

Though there have been a few warm days, hunters have enjoyed generally winter-like temperatures, with frost showing up on more than a few mornings; the most-recent front barreling through plunged temperatures for the closing morning of the split.

In a region where waterfowl hunting is so dependent upon the weather, it appears that the blessing of seasonable weather has resulted in respectable harvests throughout the state.

Hunter Shaffett with Whispering Oaks hunting lodge (225.301.7335) reported a great first split in the Vidalia area, with a surprising number of mallards showing up well ahead of schedule.

“We haven’t seen mallards like this in a while, especially at this point in the season,” Shaffett said.

He pointed out that water is critical to holding birds in his area right now in both the fields and the flooded hardwoods.

“The gadwall and the mallards showed up with the strong front right after Thanksgiving, and we’ve been hammering them ever since,” he added. Click Link Below For Full Story!

via First waterfowl split fantastic for most hunters – Louisiana Sportsman.

Tax-free shopping brings out hunters in Louisiana | The Town Talk

By Jeff Matthews • jmatthews@thetowntalk.com • September 5, 2009

Louisiana Archery and Sports Center in Pineville was supposed to open at 9 a.m. Friday.

But the customers couldn’t wait that long.

“We normally open at 9, but we had customers outside looking to get in at 8,” said manager Beth Thomas. “So I let them in. I didn’t want to keep people waiting. I know some folks were stopping by before they had to get to work.”

Friday marked the opening day of the first “Louisiana Second Amendment Weekend Sales Tax Holiday,” a three-day period when purchases of firearms, ammunition and hunting supplies are exempt from state and local sales and use taxes.

If business at Louisiana Archery and Sports Center on Friday was an indication, it should prove to be popular locally. The crowd stayed steady into the early afternoon at the store on La. Highway 28 East, and was expected to stay strong into today. The store is not open Sunday, although the holiday extends into that day.

“Accessories, guns, stands, bows,” Thomas said. “We’re selling a lot of everything. Anybody wanting to purchase big-ticket items, this is the time to do it.”

Liz Meyer of Ball was birthday and Christmas shopping with her mother for her husband and son. She bought a floating shotgun case, a pair of shotgun shell belts and Thermacell mosquito repellent.

“I’m here to cash in on no sales tax like everybody else,” she said.

Sean Lacombe of Deville bought two deer stands priced at $200 each, saving him close to $40.

“I’m here strictly because of the tax-free weekend.” he said. “It definitely helps when you’re spending $400. I was going to purchase them a couple of weeks ago, but I decided to wait until today to save some money.”

Hunting is big business in Louisiana, with more than 250,000 estimated hunters spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year on the sport. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported that more than $200 million in hunting equipment was purchased in Louisiana in 2006. The FBI conducted gun checks on roughly 250,000 firearms purchased in Louisiana in 2008.

Unlike the general sales tax holiday on Aug. 7-8, which waived state taxes but not local taxes, this weekend’s holiday covers both. That can add up to as much as 9 percent of purchase price.

The bill establishing the event makes it an annual event to run the first Friday-Sunday in September.

“I think a lot of people have been waiting for this weekend,” Thomas said. “We had the one a few weeks ago, even then people were saying, ‘I’m going to wait until September to get the full effect.’”

via Tax-free shopping brings out hunters in Louisiana | thetowntalk.com | The Town Talk.