Louisiana’s southeasternmost wildlife management area became the ugly, oily poster child for manmade catastrophes after April 20, the day of the Deepwater Horizon explosion.
Ironically, Pass-A-Loutre WMA, a 115,000-acre tract in southern Plaquemines Parish at the mouth of the Mississippi River, approximately 10 miles south of Venice, became a headquarters for people responding to the disaster. At the height of the coordination efforts, there were 10 houseboats housing response personnel who planned and carried out the fight to protect and/or clean our coast.
Todd Baker, field supervisor and veteran biologist for the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, knows all about it. Baker has been in the thick of the mess since Day 1.
“Pass-A-Loutre got hit pretty bad … 90 percent impacted (by oil) in some degree or other. The good news is it didn’t penetrate too far inside,” Baker said Aug. 2.
The oiliest areas were Blind Bay, Garden Island Bay, Redfish Bay and the mouth of Pass-A-Loutre. The area’s waters were the first to be closed to fishing and the last to open.
The development sickened Baker, who oversees the LDWF’s Coastal and Nongame Resource Division. He was heartened by the fact hunting in the area’s interior should be good or better for deer and rabbits this season.
“I think it’ll be fine. The places hit were not deer habitat, not rabbit habitat,” he said, noting a high river also set the table well for waterfowl habitat.
Unlike hunting for deer and rabbits, though, waterfowl hunting regulations on the area may be changed.
Baker reported other WMAs in the division — including Atchafalaya Delta WMA far to the west — weren’t affected adversely by the oil spill, although oil sheens and a slug of oil on Grand Bayou were reported on Pointe-aux-Chenes Wildlife Management Area.
Baker didn’t anticipate any significant negative impact there, and predicted excellent rabbit hunting for 2010-11.
Indeed, Pass-A-Loutre WMA bore the brunt of the oil spill, he said. He is concerned that much of the “prey base” has been wiped out and stands of roseau cane were annihilated by the oil to an extent he has never seen while dealing with as many as 10 minor oil spills every year on Pass-A-Loutre WMA. The hardest hit area this time was Blind Bay, he said.
“We were well-versed in oil spills until this one hit,” he said, noting he has worked the area since 2001. “A lot of the prey base is missing — snails and fiddler crabs in particular.”
He is concerned that migratory birds might pick up contaminated snails.
As for 35,000-acre Pointe-aux-Chenes, located 15 miles southeast of Houma, duck hunting ought to be fantastic, rivaling that of the rabbit hunting. Deer hunting should be fair to good, too, particularly on the 4,000-acre Point Farm, an upland ridge that is the only deer habitat available and a place where many rabbits are plunked, too.
Before the oil spill started occupying more of his time, Baker saw “an awful lot of rabbits out there.” That was in the spring. The rabbit hunting should be good on Point Farm and anywhere in the marsh of Pointe-aux-Chenes, he said.
“It’ll be pretty good, right on track with last year,” he said.
About duck hunting prospects there, he said, “We finally got the Montegut Unit closed. That marsh just exploded. I’m looking for us to have an excellent season. I think it’ll be a great year. It’ll be an interesting year for South Louisiana.”
Baker also calls for very successful duck hunting, conditions permitting, on Biloxi WMA southeast of Pearl River WMA. There are limited rabbit hunting opportunities and no deer hunting on the area, he said about an area that is fresher, thus improved, because the marsh has thrived ever since the rock plug was put in the MRGO, which makes it difficult for salt water to enter the area. A few pintails already have been observed by biologists, he said.
There were reports of minimal oil sheens at various times on Biloxi WMA, he said.
It’s a tougher call for him on hunting prospects at Salvador WMA, where higher water coursed through the acreage from Davis Pond in an effort to push more water into the Gulf. But he believes rabbit hunting and deer hunting success won’t exceed that of last season, which he rated as average.
People reported seeing quite a few deer this year on the 32,520-acre area in St. Charles Parish about 12 miles southwest of New Orleans, Baker said.
Below Salvador, he was aware of the dismay and anger voiced by oyster fishermen who lost their oysters due to the fresh water from Davis Pond. He hopes BP will be held accountable for the losses.
Lake Boeuf WMA north of Salvador once again will shine as a true hidden treasure for hunting in Louisiana, Baker said. For deer and small game, it’s hard to beat, he said, noting the rabbit and squirrel habitat doesn’t get hunted at all.
“This 800-acre tract is really underhunted, in my opinion,” he said.
He forecast a “very good year for deer” in a quality environment made so by hurricanes over the last five years, including Gustav and Ike in 2008 and Katrina in 2005.
Cassidy LeJeune, the biologist supervisor who has spent the summer working out of the oil-spill response center in Houma, was relieved oil hasn’t impacted Atchafalaya Delta WMA.
“We haven’t seen any oil in the management area. There were minor amounts of oiling on Pointe au Fer right on the Gulf. There were no impacts to the main deltas — either the Wax (Wax Lake Outlet) or the main Delta. Everything’s clean,” LeJeune said. “I think some of it’s due to the Atchafalaya River. I think the flow of the river helps keep the area flushed south of the WMA.”
Deer hunting ought to be good, he said, noting the past few seasons were banner years with some quality bucks shot. There were several 12- and 13-pointers taken last season, he said, and expects more to come off the area this season.
A total of 165 deer are killed on average each season on the WMA below the Atchafalaya Basin, according to LeJeune.
As many or more should be in the harvest this season, he said, perhaps one or more by ardent bowhunter Scott Dupre of Charenton, a veteran LDWF enforcement agent, and his 13-year-old son Elijah, who has four deer to his credit in his young bowhunting career. The Dupres love to hunt deer on the area.
Rabbit hunters flock to the area, as well, LeJeune said, because the habitat is ripe for the hares.
“Rabbit hunting should be as good as the previous season. We didn’t have any complaints,” he said.
Waterfowl hunting prospects are fair to good, he said, adding he is relieved there was no impact from the oil spill. Waterfowl habitat is in good condition on one of the most popular area’s to hunt ducks on public land in southcentral Louisiana.
However, duck hunting success was down last season, off 30 percent from 2008-09. Duck hunters killed an average 1.7 per effort.
LeJeune believes duck hunting success will rebound this season, providing the ducks come down. There is food and prime habitat waiting for them if they do, he said.
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Editor’s Note: This story appears as part of a feature in Louisiana Sportsman’s September issue. To ensure you don’t miss any information-packed issues, click here to have each magazine delivered right to your mail box.
