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Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries

@wlfla

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The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is charged with managing and protecting Louisiana’s abundant natural resources.

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This Turkey Tuesday is about sociality in wild turkeys. Obviously, wild turkeys are social animals as they form flocks that we’re now seeing throughout North America. Although these flocks are typically comprised of one sex, with hens and toms being in different flocks, you do see instances of toms displaying around hen flocks despite the fact that breeding season is many months away. Ongoing research using social networks shows that these hen flocks are more complex than previously believed. One, some of the hens that are caught together that are assumed to be members of the same flock end up actually being members of a totally separate flock. Two, within a flock, hens that are more closely related associate more than do hens that are unrelated – this is termed kin structuring. Three, how hens within flocks associate with one another varies from flock to flock, and from population to population, suggesting that social structure is complex. The take home is the flocks of hens we see during fall and winter are comprised of individuals with varying degrees of sociality that appear to be influenced by relatedness and other factors that vary across the landscapes that wild turkeys inhabit. Pic by Danny Knutson #wildturkey #wildturkeys #gobblegobble #bird #science

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This past week Responsible Anglers United released over 20,000 Florida Bass in our local waters. That totals up to over 57,000 bass released in two years thanks to this organization. @wlfla will also donate around 8,000 fingerling bass as well to help out!
Us locals really appreciate everything that RAU and WLF have been doing to help us get our sportsman’s paradise back!

#louisiana #bassfishing #lawlf #sportsmanparadise #rau

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Louisiana Limits- Black Bellied Whistling Duck Season ‘26

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Deep in the Louisiana swamps, where still waters hide beneath a carpet of green, a mysterious light breaks through the darkness.
Silence, shadows, and a little mystery… as if the bayou is keeping a secret.
📍 Gum Bayou | Tickfaw State Park, Louisiana

#louisiana #bayou #mysterious #natgeoyourshot #light

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FINN GOT HIS FIRST BUCK!

It might be a spike, but to this young man, it’s a trophy he’ll never forget!

After spending the last five days in Disney, Finn wanted nothing more than to come home, relax, and spend the evening sitting in the Millennium ground blind. Well, I’d say that was a pretty good decision!

Earlier this year, he passed his hunter safety course, bought his own hunting license, and couldn’t wait to tag his first Louisiana deer. On just his second hunt sitting by himself, he made it happen!

As a dad, I’ve always believed in raising kids who can survive, not just get by. Teaching them independence, responsibility, patience, and respect for the outdoors.

It’s never been about the size of the antlers. It’s about the lessons learned, the confidence gained, and the memories made along the way.

Proud of you, Finn!

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“Got a band y’all!”

#duckhunting #waterfowlhunting #bandedduck #whistlingduck #duckseason

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Looking Over My Shoulder - Louisiana Duck Season is quickly sneaking up on us. Only a little over a month to go.

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This Turkey Tuesday is about gobbling, which is an activity toms do all year long – including during fall. The other day, I was scrolling through cell camera images and saw a series that included several toms, and one image clearly showed a tom gobbling. That took me back decades to when I was deer hunting as a child and had a tom gobbling his head off most of the afternoon while I sat hoping (fruitlessly) to see a deer. So, what prompts a tom to gobble, sometimes quite a bit, during the fall? Well, ebbs and flows in testosterone result in some toms getting fired up enough in fall to start gobbling, particularly when around other toms. Unlike during spring when testosterone levels get high enough for toms to gobble daily, during fall you typically see one bird in a flock gobble whereas others do not. You’ll also see certain toms in a flock gobble at times but there may be no consistency to who gobbles and when. Regardless, gobbling around other toms in the same flock during fall is primarily a way to assert dominance and challenge other flock members. We think of spring as a time when toms focus on dominance, but the battles to establish dominance occur throughout fall and winter in the flocks we’re seeing. The take home is gobbling during the fall is a behavior that gets the ball rolling on seeing who will stand at the top of the dominance ladder come spring. Anyone been seeing or hearing toms gobble? Pic by @tommartineauimages #wildturkey #wildturkeys #fall #gobblegobble #gobble

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Lacassine pool closes October 15th so I had to make one last trip. This place is loaded with beautiful largemouth bass. Had a great season and can’t wait to go back next year! #fishing #fishingdaily #fishingtrip #bassfishing #louisiana

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Shoutout to the State Parks, Sportsman’s Paradise and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries!

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The Kisatchie National Forest Wild Turkey research project started in 2013 in west central Louisiana to better understand drivers of long term variation in wild turkey population dynamics. Along the way we GPS tagged over 1400 individuals and collected data every hour all year long, VHF tagged another 300 jakes and watched them grow, we tracked over 1200 females and identified over 1700 nests, we manipulated prescribed fire, timber management, forest restoration and even evaluated the impacts hurricane damage had on wild turkeys. The typical wild turkey research project is a few years, this one ran for over a decade, trained a myriad of wild turkey graduate students and field biologists and will continue to provide science useful for management for years to come. 2026 was our final field season, it has been a hell of a lot of fun for me to have directed this project.

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This Turkey Tuesday is about the feathers on a wild turkey’s head. Although toms have little feathering on their head and neck, hens have pronounced feathers in these areas that have important functions. Wild turkeys, like many birds, have bristle and specialized filoplume feathers that provide protection, sensory functions, communication, and camouflage. These feathers around the eyes help block debris, and coupled with multiple eyelids, keep the eyes clear – and vision is critical to a hen’s survival. Filoplumes also act as sensors of sort, helping the bird detect movement, changes in air flow, and vibrations – corpuscles at the base of the feathers basically allow the bird to “feel” changes in the environment around the head. It’s also believed that wild turkeys recognize each other at least partially from the appearance of their head, so differences in feather patterns serve as a form of communication and individual recognition. Lastly, feathering on the head of a hen helps her blend into the environment which is particularly important when she’s incubating. The take home is the feathers on a hen’s head serve important functions that influence many aspects of her life. Pic by Dale Kauzlaric #wildturkey #wildturkeys #feather #turkey #feathers

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