John K. Flores: Deer season looks good, but disease remains a concern

For the past several weeks deer season has been open in St. Mary Parish’s deer hunting area 7. Archery season opened Sept. 17 followed by a one-week primitive firearms season on Oct. 8 that ran for 7 days, which led up to the current regular firearm season that opened Oct. 15. So, what can St. Mary Parish’s deer hunters expect this hunting season?

When comparing St. Mary Parish’s area 7 coastal marsh deer hunting to the other 9 hunt areas in the state that include bottomland hardwood, upland hardwood, mixed pine and hardwood, swamp hardwood, and coastal prairie, it stands out amongst them.

Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Deer Program Manager Johnathan Bordelon, said, “St. Mary remains as the highest deer harvest parish in coastal Louisiana. The productivity and plant species composition of those marshes there, are the primary reason. The delta in that area is not experiencing the same challenges as the marshes east and west. It should continue to do well despite short term set-backs from major events such as flooding from tropical systems.”

In 2020 and 2021 Louisiana experienced five and two tropical storm events respectively. Four of the events were severe catastrophic storms causing serious wind and flood damage along the coastline. Coastal hunt areas 7, 9 and 10 were all impacted but continue to show the resilience of the whitetail deer population east to west.

Bordelon said, “Deer area 10 is back on pace as far as harvest. The 2020-21 harvest for deer area 10 returned to the 10-year average. St. Mary in deer area 7 landed back on the 10-year average for reported harvest. The 10-year average for St. Mary Parish is 1090. Last season there were 1072 deer reported.”

The LDWF utilizes two methods to estimate deer harvest. Since 1970 the department has used its annual hunter harvest survey questionnaire. The other method is through the required license reporting system. According to Bordelon, the statewide harvest for the 2021-22 season was the highest reported for the past 10 seasons, besting the previous 10-year high.

The biggest issue currently facing Louisiana is chronic wasting disease. CWD is a neurodegenerative disease found in most deer species, including white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, moose and caribou. CWD is infectious, always fatal, and has no known treatment according to the LDWF website.
CWD was discovered for the first time in Louisiana in 2022, in Tensas Parish, becoming the 29th state to detect the disease.

As a result, the LDWF has developed an action plan to help control the spread of the disease. Some of those restrictions include feeding and baiting in the control area where the disease was found. Included in the restriction is the movement of deer body parts.

Additionally, hunters are not allowed to move a whole deer out from the control area. Thus, restricting movement to deboned meat, clean skull caps with antlers and cape. Any deer harvested within the control area must also be tested.

The CWD control area is currently all of Tensas Parish which borders Mississippi, a large portion of Madison Parish, also bordering Mississippi, and part of Franklin Parish.

At the present time, St. Mary Parish deer hunters shouldn’t have any concerns with Tensas Parish being some 200 plus miles away.

However, Bordelon said, “There is concern outside of Franklin, Madison and Tensas parishes. The disease continues to be detected across new counties in adjacent states.

"One, just seven miles north of the Louisiana-Arkansas line. It appears CWD was detected early in Tensas Parish based on one positive detection despite parish-wide sampling and the large number of non-detections.

“That area has been the focal point since 2018,” Bordelon continued, “which marks the year the disease was detected in an adjacent Mississippi county.

Unfortunately, there are areas in adjacent states detecting an increase in prevalence within already positive counties. Only time will tell what that means for Louisiana, but continued surveillance and mitigating measures have never been more important.”

When considering the state’s deer population and harvest trend, Bordelon says it’s difficult to come away with a statement that fits the entire state due to regional differences.

Moreover, though the state is currently stable with harvest numbers increasing, there are exceptions.
Bordelon said, “Overall harvest has been good, but in some cases, we are seeing issues with deer herbivory and crop damage in areas where it hasn’t been an issue in the past.”

For St. Mary Parish area 7 hunters, 2022-23 should be another productive season.

There have been no coastal tropical events and the local marshes are lush with plenty of feed.

John Flores is the Morgan City Review’s outdoor writer. He can be contacted at gowiththeflo@cox.net.