John K. Flores: Looking ahead to fall, state sets teal, dove lottery hunts

By the time July rolls around each year, hunters, particularly wing shooters, are champing at the bit to get back in the marsh and fields. The first hunting seasons that involve feathers are dove and blue winged teal.
Dove season traditionally opens the first Saturday in September, and the teal season typically follows about a week later, give or take a day or two. What’s more, Louisiana is a state where there always seems to be a cultural component when it comes to hunting.
Dove hunters come out in droves across the state for opening weekend. Families and hunting club members often make the opener a special day to get together to cook out and connect after a long hot summer.
Several years ago, I participated in one of those opening weekend dove shoots near Welch, when a rice field farmer leased out several of his fields for a couple of days. The farmer and his crew cooked hamburgers and supplied us with cold beverages when we came in from the field following our morning hunt, with the option of hunting the afternoon if we hadn’t gotten our limits.
Annually, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries provides access to numerous Wildlife Management Area acres and leases private lands for the public to hunt doves across the state. One of those WMAs is Elbow Slough located in southeastern Rapides Parish.
The opening weekend Elbow Slough WMA hunt is by lottery only. I’ve personally drawn out for this hunt in years past; when weather conditions are right, this hunt can be stellar.
Elbow Slough WMA is a 50 acre field of brown-top millet. The property is managed for wintering waterfowl. On the day of your hunt, you sign in with the LDWF and are then transported to the field a safe distance from other hunters.
By mid-September a cold front will typically pass through Louisiana. Let me qualify cold front by saying instead of waking up to 75 degrees as the overnight low, you wake up to 68 degrees. With this front, generally come blue winged teal.
The early dove season is usually the tune up for waterfowl hunters prior to the teal season. For duck hunters, teal season is the bigger show.
Fall equinox takes place during the September teal season and those shorter days trigger blue winged teal to leave their summer breeding grounds on the prairie. Over the course of the teal season, which this year will run Sept. 14-29, those birds will come south in intermittent waves as fronts pass through.
Another lottery hunt worth applying for is the White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area teal lottery hunt. White Lake WCA just may be the crown jewel of the Mississippi Flyway.
White Lake WCA is a 71,905 acre property of which 75% is freshwater marsh. The property was donated to the state of Louisiana by British Petroleum in 2002. Shortly after the donation, lottery hunts became available to the public.
A typical hunt starts when hunters arrive at the White Lake WCA boat launch at the end of La. 91 south of Gueydan at 5 a.m. Hunters are then transported from the launch by party barge to the White Lake WCA Lodge boat dock. From the boat dock, hunters climb into a vintage mud boat that transports them to marsh, where hunters and gear are transferred to a blind boat.
The blind boat is literally driven right into a comfortable blind. All calling and retrieving is done by the guide you’re assigned.
What’s special is, upon return to the lodge from the marsh, you get an opportunity to tour the lodge itself.
The White Lake WCA lodge is part of history. Numerous dignitaries from around the world in years past visited and hunted at White Lake WCA. There is a room at the lodge called the Johnson room.
It’s the only room with a full-size bed.
Legend has it, the bed in the room was a small twin-size and of course former President Lyndon B. Johnson was a big man. Upon seeing it, he ordered the Secret Service to go out and find a full-size bed for him to sleep on.
The lodge is absolutely beautiful and the grounds are extremely well maintained.
When you leave White Lake WCA following your hunt with birds in hand, you know you were part of something very special.
The deadline to apply for the Elbow Slough WMA dove lottery hunt and the White Lake WCA teal lottery hunt is July 27. To apply for these lottery hunts, go to the LDWF website at https://louisianaoutdoors.com/lottery-applications.
John Flores is the Morgan City Review’s outdoor writer. He can be contacted at gowiththeflo@cox.net.