John K. Flores: Winning the lottery; it's time to sign up for WMA hunts

Over the last half century, one of the biggest generational differences that I’ve seen when it comes to hunting is access. When I was growing up in Michigan, in the fall I regularly came in from school, dumped my books on my bed, grabbed my 20-gauge crack barrel shotgun, and headed to the woods to hunt pheasants and squirrels.
I can remember walking along the railroad tracks and farm field fence rows, where the grass was knee deep. The grass was prime cover for pheasants. Invariably, you’d see the farmer working his land and with an exchange of waves we’d both go about our respective business.
I can’t speak for the adults back then, but farmers didn’t seem to have a problem with schoolboys hunting on their property. That’s simply not the case today.
Today, 95% of the land across Louisiana is behind locked gates and posted “No Hunting No Trespassing.” It seems the whole world has become more fearful, where “liability” is usually the reason given to deny access to land.
Perhaps the greatest impact this has had on hunting is the average age of hunters has been steady on the increase. Oh sure, there’s plenty of dads that take their kids down to the lease where their camp is to hunt and that’s a great thing. I was part of a hunting lease for many years. Unfortunately, hunting leases are expensive and unaffordable for many.
For some time now, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries has been doing its best to create hunting opportunities for youth hunters.
For eight years I entered my grandson, Gabriel Flores, in youth waterfowl lottery hunts across the state. Most of them were opportunities provided by the LDWF and some were provided by the United States Fish & Wildlife Service.
I loved every minute of the process. Each year I’d call his dad up and say to him, “Jason, I’m putting Gabriel in for a bunch of hunts again.”
To which my oldest son would reply, “Sure Dad. He loves hunting with you.”
I’d apply for every waterfowl hunt both the LDWF and USF&WS offered, just to see what would stick to the wall. Most years, at least one would stick, but there were some years when two would.
Since most of them were a couple hours’ drive, I’d make a big deal of it by getting a hotel in the nearest town, taking him out to dinner the night before, and out for breakfast after the hunt.
Most of the hunts were good, but others like the Sherburne Wildlife Management Area Youth Waterfowl Hunts were stellar. On Sherburne, parents and guardians get to be in the blind with the youths, but are non-shooters. It’s strictly a youth affair when it comes to shooting on State WMA Waterfowl Youth Hunts.
On the Sherburne hunt, Gabriel’s blind mate wanted to shoot big ducks (i.e.: mallards, pintails, gadwalls…), so by agreement didn’t shoot for the first hour. There were ducks everywhere and limits could have been obtained minutes after legal shooting light.
After that first hour, Gabriel leaned over to me and said, “Can I start shooting?” Right about then, I told our blind mates, he was going to start shooting. In minutes, my grandson had a limit of ducks on the water and so did our new duck hunting acquaintances.
In a recent press release, the LDWF announced they’re now accepting applications for Deer and Waterfowl Lottery Hunts. The deadline to apply for the deer lottery hunts is Aug. 31, and the deadline to apply for waterfowl lottery hunts is Sept. 30.
The state’s lottery hunts are not all limited to youth. There are opportunities for persons with disabilities, including veterans, on select WMAs according to the release and LDWF website. Also, there are general waterfowl lottery hunts anyone can apply for on Bayou Pierre and Sherburne WMAs and White Lake WCA.
White Lake WCA offers both marsh duck hunts and traditional rice field goose hunts. If you’re successful in drawing out for either of these hunts, there is an additional fee.
Deer and waterfowl lottery hunts are held for youth between the ages of 10-17 on select WMAs. Note that a youth under age 10 may apply, provided he or she will be 10 on or before the date of the hunt for which they apply.
There is a $5 application fee and $5 transaction fee per application. For more information on youth lottery hunts go to https://louisianaoutdoors.com/lottery-applications.
John Flores is the Morgan City Review’s outdoor writer. He can be contacted at gowiththeflo@cox.net