A Declaration of Emergency (DE) expanding the Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Control Area to Ouachita Parish was confirmed by the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission (LWFC).
Commissioners approved the confirmation during their monthly meeting on April 9 at the Vidalia Convention and Visitors Center. The group temporarily relocated its regular meeting from Baton Rouge to Vidalia in an effort to generate interest in north Louisiana.
The DE was initially issued by LDWF Secretary Tyler Bosworth in response to a recently confirmed case of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) detected in a hunter-harvested whitetail deer in January. The declaration includes all of Ouachita Parish and portions of Lincoln, Jackson, Union, Morehouse, Caldwell and Richland parishes.
Additionally, commissioners tabled a Notice of Intent (NOI) that would have reduced portions of the existing Control Area where supplemental feeding and baiting are prohibited, while adding new areas due to recently confirmed CWD cases in hunter-harvested whitetail deer in Concordia and Ouachita parishes.
The measure was tabled because of a bill sponsored by Sen. Glen Womack that could modify the LWFC’s CWD Control Area. Rep. Neil Riser (District 20) and Sen. Stewart Cathey Jr. (District 33) are co-sponsors of the bill.
“I expect it will go through both the House and Senate Natural Resources committees, as well as receive votes in both chambers,” LWFC counsel Cole Garrett said. “There will be opportunities for both dialogue and discussion as we move forward.”
CWD management changes
As Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR) 24 is currently filed, it could change the CWD Control Area in four ways.
First, it would shrink the existing control area from a 25-mile radius, with a 15-mile enhanced zone, to a 15-mile area with a 5-mile enhanced zone.
It would also redefine “apparent prevalence,” meaning the percentage of deer tested for CWD that return positive results within a surveillance season.
The surveillance goal would also be modified for a CWD management zone. It is currently defined as the statistical probability of detecting CWD at a 1.5 percent prevalence rate with 95 percent confidence, based on a minimum sample size of 300 and developed by subject matter experts.
“(The bill) mentions the 1.5 percent prevalence rate threshold,” Garrett said. “When that is reached, it would trigger baiting restrictions within the 15-mile zone.”
Placement of bait and supplemental feed for wild quadrupeds and birds, or hunting over bait, is prohibited within both the 5-mile and 15-mile zones. However, placement is allowed from Sept. 1 through March 31 when apparent prevalence is below 1.5 percent and the surveillance goal is met annually, according to the bill. If the prevalence exceeds 1.5 percent, the prohibition would remain in effect for future surveillance seasons.
The bill also states that failure to meet the surveillance goal in any CWD management zone would result in a prohibition of baiting and supplemental feeding within the associated 5-mile and 15-mile zones for the following surveillance season.
“The surveillance goal would be established by our staff,” Garrett said. “We want hunter harvest to be how we collect this data. We don’t want to go out and hire sharpshooters. This is an incentive to ensure testing is done.”
According to Garrett, the final major change in the bill would lift restrictions in a management zone if no positive CWD detections occur within the control area for three consecutive years.
When asked when the bill might pass, Garrett said, “I expect it to go through committee hearings as well as chamber hearings, so maybe a month.”
Black bear season
Meanwhile, LDWF Biologist Director Dr. Jeff Duguay reported that his department received only six comments regarding the Notice of Intent for the black bear hunting season.
The LWFC has adopted a NOI to hold the next Louisiana black bear hunting season in December 2026 across all management areas.
Louisiana held its first black bear hunting season in more than 35 years in December 2024, limited to Bear Management Area 4 in Northeast Louisiana. The second season, held in December 2025, expanded to Areas 1, 2 and 4.
During the meeting, Chairman Andy Brister read a letter of support from Tensas Parish landowner John Mabray, who urged that more bear tags be allocated to landowners.
“The lottery system has a fundamental flaw,” Brister read. “It does not guarantee that permits will be issued to private landowners whose property has a high population of bears.”
The lottery system has “no flaw,” according to Thomas “Tommy” Tuma, LDWF assistant secretary.
“It is a lottery system, and everybody has a chance to be drawn,” Tuma said. “We intentionally did not give preference to landowners. How would you do that?”
Tuma speculated on how many bear tags might be available next season.
“There has to be a science-based harvest, and that is exactly what we are doing,” Tuma said. “At a local level, some landowners may feel bears are overpopulated, but the science does not support that.”
Bear tags will likely increase, according to Tuma.
“We do have a data set, and as we build that data set, we will be able to adjust,” he said. “I don’t know exactly what that looks like. We had 16 tags last year. It will probably be in the low 20s.”
Tuma added that the LDWF will remain “conservative” with bear tags because “the last thing we want to do is go back to re-listing the black bear.”
