Only a Couple of Hunter Education Field Days Coming in North Louisiana

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has established that opening day of Dove Season here in North Louisiana is coming on September 5th this year.  It's the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend, so if you've got a great place to hunt, you might want to hunt all three days of the holiday weekend.

Of course, archery season for deer will begin October 1, squirrel season opens on October 3 and regular gun season for deer will open October 31 here in Area 2 of North Louisiana.  And just a couple weeks after that, duck season gets underway.

And if you've got a teenager who'll need to get their hunting license for the first time, or you're new to Louisiana and will have to purchase your hunting license here for the first time, you'll need to complete your Hunter Education Course before you can actually get that license.

In Louisiana, all persons 16 years of age are older are required to possess a valid Louisiana Hunting License anytime they are hunting AND persons born on or after September 1, 1969, must successfully complete a Hunter Education Course in order to receive that Louisiana Hunting License.

And with this being such an incredibly weird year, I've noticed that there's a real lack of scheduled classes for persons to complete their education in a classroom environment. In fact, I didn't find one scheduled "class" anywhere in North Louisiana between now and October 3rd.

COVID-19 concerns are the culprit I'm sure, but the LDWF does provide a way for hunters to complete the required Louisiana Hunter Safety course online HERE but after the completion, hunters must still complete an official LDWF sanctioned "Field Day" and I've found a couple of those scheduled in the next couple months.

August 25 from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm at the LDWF Region 1 Office on Highway 80 in Minden. (There is another Field Day scheduled at the same location on August 18, but there are no seats left for that event)

October 3 from 8:00 am until 12:00 pm at the Caddo Parish Sheriff Training Academy at 15639 Louisiana Highway 1 in Shreveport. As with my findings from Webster Parish, there are a couple of other field days at this same location on September 5 and September 12, but those are totally booked as well.

Obviously, these field days are booking fast, so if you or your youngster have any intentions of hunting this Fall, you'll want to complete the online Hunter Education Course quickly and get registered for one of the few remaining Field Days, before they too are all booked up.