Several deer hunters I’ve met since Thursday have said they agree with the state’s decision to renew the declaration of emergency for revised deer hunting dates in much of the Atchafalaya Basin.

The nation’s last great overflow swamp flooded in late spring and early summer, which prompted the declaration of emergency in July. State Department of Wildlife and Fisheries biologists recommended renewing the changes based on estimates of deer mortality caused by the historic flooding along the Mississippi River, which prompted the opening of the Morganza Spillway on May 14.