• By JOE MACALUSO
• Advocate Outdoors writer
• Published: Nov 15, 2009

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In the days leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday, a time when loads of youngsters spend time hunting with parents and grandparents, there’s good news coming from the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

By now, most Louisiana hunters know that if you were born on or after Sept. 1, 1969, you must successfully complete a state-certified Hunter Safety Course in order to be able to buy a hunting license.

Earlier this month, John Sturgis, who runs the LDWF program, said the LDWF’s Web site will continue to carry a HSC schedule, and users will be able to register online for the course.

Sturgis said users will be able to search for courses by parish and within a number of miles from your home —you enter your ZIP code — and through Google, get a map directing you to the HSC site.

Sturgis said the online course registration will be for users who want to take the entire course and for those who need a “field day” to complete the course after passing classroom work provided on the Web site.

High-water deer

Wildlife and Fisheries biologists and game managers are telling landowners and deer hunters to hold off feeding deer moving to higher ground to get away from flooding across the state.

Though most of the flood conditions are in the western and northern parishes, the combination of higher tides from this week’s storm in the Gulf of Mexico, continued rains and the push of higher water in the Mississippi River and Atchafalaya River systems will bring high water into the eastern and southeastern parishes.

State biologist Scott Longman said most whitetails have adapted to flooding conditions and moved to higher ground.

Though that concentrates deer in smaller areas, the LDWF’s Wildlife Division announced the deer seasons will remain open and advised landowners and hunters not to feed these displaced deer.

Longman said a supplemental feeding program is a plan reserved for “extreme circumstances.”

Longman’s report from the Wildlife Division said landowners and hunters should monitor the browse — deer food — available to deer and undertake a plan to take more deer from their land should the deer begin to outstrip the areas ability to provide enough food for the deer.

“Protecting deer during a time of reduced food availability will only cause further stress, and render deer more vulnerable to disease, parasites, low productivity or even mild to moderate starvation,” the report said.