Some young Teche Area duck hunters got a sneak peek at what the waterfowl hunting season will bring during the youth duck hunt Nov. 5 on the Atchafalaya Delta Wildlife Management Area.
Cooler temperatures that morning greeted an estimated 40 youngsters who ventured to the popular WMA, according to Shane Granier, biologist manager for the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Coastal and Non-game Natural Resources Division. Granier said 23 duck hunters, who had to be accompanied by an adult, were checked that Saturday.
An estimated 60 blue-winged teal and green-winged teal were gunned down during the first day of the youth duck hunt, he said. Thirty-nine percent of those ducks were blue-winged teal and 25 percent were green-winged teal, he said.
Also included in the harvest of an estimated 60 ducks were gadwalls (14 percent), mottled ducks (11 percent), pintails (8 percent) and wigeons (3 percent), the veteran waterfowl biologist said.
Atchafalaya Delta WMA was the place to be that day among the CNR sites.
Point aux Chenes had an estimated 49 ducks downed by an estimated 50 hunters, half of who were checked for the harvest summary. Forty-eight percent of those were blue-winged teal, 24 percent were green-winged teals, 16 percent were gadwalls, 8 percent were buffleheads and 4 percent were shovelers.
At Pass a Loutre WMA, approximately five hunters shot down an estimated 30 ducks, half of them blue-winged teal and the other half gadwall, Granier said.
The number of ducks down along the coast is encouraging and probably a good indication of things to come with each succeeding cold front, state waterfowl biologists report.
Good luck to all waterfowlers who go out in the marsh and rice fields this season.
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Operating hours at the Sherburne Wildlife Management Area’s shooting ranges will change Nov. 25-26 and Dec. 2-3, according to the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. They will be openfrom 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on those dates.
Normally, hours are from official sunrise to sunset daily at the free shooting ranges.
Sherburne WMA is located in Pointe Coupee Parish at 1132 Sherburne Rd. four miles south of U.S. 190 on Louisiana 975.
The shooting ranges provide for rifle and handgun target shooting at 25, 50 and 100 yards. There also is an archery range with, among other targets, 3-D targets, the state department notes.
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DON SHOOPMANis outdoors editor of The Daily Iberian.