BATON ROUGE, La. (KLFY) -- The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has announced that the 2024-25 Louisiana deer hunting season will begin Saturday, Sept. 21.

The season will start in Deer Areas 3, 7, 8, and 10 when archery season opens. See below for the Deer Areas map.

Seasons in the other state deer areas will begin in October. To see exact opening dates in all areas, go to the LDWF Seasons and Regulations page.

Deer hunters are required to have a basic hunting license and deer license, or an equivalent combination. A youth hunting license and deer tags are required for those 17 or younger hunting turkey. To purchase a hunting license, go to the LDWF Licenses and Permits page.

Prior to hunting deer all hunters, regardless of age or license status, must obtain deer tags. They must have the tags in their possession while hunting deer and immediately after harvesting a deer, the hunter must tag the deer with the appropriate carcass or electronic tag before moving it from where it was killed.

Hunters must record required information for tagged deer and validate tags within 72 hours of harvesting a deer. Hunters may validate deer by utilizing text-to-tag tagging through the LDWF web portal or the LDWF web portal via LA Wallet or by calling the validation toll free number. 

Many LDWF Wildlife Management Areas offer deer hunting during the state-wide deer season. Due to the different deer ruts, deer season opportunities are wide ranging. For a complete list of WMAs open to deer hunting and more information on WMA deer hunting, see below:

All visitors to LDWF WMAs must have either a WMA Access Permit, Senior Hunting/Fishing License, Louisiana Sportsman’s Paradise License or Lifetime Hunting/Fishing License. Click here for more information.

For more information on deer hunting in Louisiana, go to LDWF's Deer Page or contact LDWF Deer Program Manager Johnathan Bordelon at jbordelon@wlf.la.gov.

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