Louisiana D.W.F. Hosts Beyond Becoming an Outdoors Woman Deer Hunt

Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries 12.13.12

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) hosted a Beyond Becoming an Outdoors Woman (BBOW) deer hunt workshop at the Floy Ward McElroy Wildlife Management Area on Dec. 7-9.

The workshop, facilitated by the Wildlife Division / Education Section staff, provided six novice hunters the opportunity to gain hunting experience and harvest deer from a state WMA.

Floy Ward McElroy WMA, located in Richland Parish, consists of 681 acres of mature and recently reforested bottomland hardwoods, sloughs and backwater areas. Hunting activity on the WMA is limited to youth and educational lottery hunts only.

The women hunters were selected by lottery after attending the deer hunting course offered at the Becoming an Outdoors-Woman (BOW) workshop. Upon arrival Friday, each hunter participated in a safety refresher program and sighted in their rifles at the Richland Parish Sheriff’s Department shooting range. Overnight accommodations were provided at Poverty Point Reservoir State Park.

Each hunter was accompanied by a guide and made two hunts on Saturday and one on Sunday morning. A 185-pound, 5-point buck was harvested by Tina Faul and a yearling buck by Linda Dugas. The fall hunting trip included other deer and wildlife sightings, enhancing each hunter’s outdoors experience.

For more information on upcoming BOW or BBOW workshops, visit the LDWF website at www.wlf.la.gov, scroll to the bottom of the home page and click on Education. To contact a BOW coordinator directly, call or email Dana Norsworthy at 318-345-3912 or dnorsworthy@wlf.la.gov; Bill Breed at 318-343-1241 or wbreed@wlf.la.gov; or Chad Moore at 318-371-3050 or cmoore@wlf.la.gov.

Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries – Enforcement Division(LDWF) is the fish & game regulatory agency of Louisiana. It has jurisdictionanywhere in the state, and in state territorial waters. The agency enforces both state and federal laws dealing with hunting, fishing, and boating safety. The agency also enforces criminal laws in rural areas including DWI enforcement both on highways and waterways. Most of the Department’s Wildlife Agents also carry Federal law enforcement commissions issued from the United States Department of the Interior - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and United States Department of Commerce - U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). These federal commissions allow these state officers to enforce federal migratory waterfowl laws and federal marine fisheries laws in state and federal waters off the coast of Louisiana. Besides their traditional role as a “game warden”, Louisiana Wildlife Enforcement Agents also have a number of other responsibilities, including conducting board of health inspections on some portions of the state’s commercial fishing industry. Agents are trained in and conduct numerous search and rescue operations, both in remote land areas and on the state’s waterways. Agents ensure that hunters, anglers, boaters, dealers, breeders, farmers, and transporters are in compliance with regulations governing equipment, quotas, licenses, and registrations. Agents also assist other State departments and law enforcement agencies in the coordination of educational and professional endeavors, as well as national and state emergency alerts by the Federal Office of Emergency Preparedness. In addition, agents perform search and rescue missions alone or in conjunction with other local, state, and federal agencies.