Louisiana reports results from its first-ever sport alligator hunting season

Sport hunters bagged more than 1,800 alligators during Louisiana’s new recreational hunting season, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries announced Monday. 

The monthlong season, which the Louisiana Legislature established during its spring session, ended Oct. 31. Gov. Jeff Landry lauded the campaign, in which 3,600 hunters participated, as a wild success. 

“With more than 3 million alligators in our state, this was an exciting opportunity for families to enjoy our Sportsman’s Paradise,” Landry said in a news release. “We can’t wait to bring it back next year.”

The state set a maximum of 10,000 alligators for its first recreational hunting season. State residents had to hold a standard hunting license and obtain an alligator hunting permit through a lottery in order to bag a reptile. Non-Louisiana residents were also able to participate as long as they accompanied a state hunter with a recreational permit and acquired the necessary $150 out-of-state license.

Sen. Robert Allain, R-Franklin, authored the bill that created the recreational hunting season, which overlapped with the commercial season. Commercial hunters began taking gators in early August in the state’s eastern zone and early September in the western zone. Both commercial seasons last through Dec. 31.   

Before the sport hunting season existed, anyone who wanted to hunt gators for fun in Louisiana’s public waters and wildlife management areas needed tags from a state-licensed commercial hunter, who typically harvests the reptiles for their hides and meat.

The state’s 2,900 licensed commercial hunters get tags for every gator they are allowed to harvest, with the number they are issued based on the property where they hunt and the local gator population. 

Wildlife officials and conservationists have celebrated the establishment of an alligator sport hunting season as a sign of success for the species. Once listed as federally endangered, the wild alligator population in Louisiana has risen from 100,000 to more than 3 million over the past 50 years, according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. 

Officials rescued the species by limiting the taking of alligator eggs, and they encouraged farming to help boost its numbers in the wild.