Hunting

Waterfowl
The Creole Nature Trail habitat — Louisiana's Outback — ranks as one of the top waterfowl hunting environments in the nation. Outstanding variety and sheer quantity (millions!) of birds provide hunters with a unique experience. Throughout the fall and winter, visitors include snows, blues, speckle belly and Canadian geese, as well as mallards, pintails and teal.

Wildlife
There is also hunting for deer, dove, quail, rabbit, squirrel and turkey as well as hunting and trapping beaver, bobcat, coyote, gray fox, mink, muskrat, nutria, opossum, river otter, red fox, raccoon, and skunk. Hunting and trapping licenses are required.

Regulations
The National Wildlife Refuges — Sabine, Cameron-Prairie Gibbstown Unit and Lacassine — follow rules and licensing standards for all NWRs. For more information, consult Southwest Louisiana Refuge Complex website — www.fws.gov/swlarefugecomplex — for details about permissible weapons, seasons and licensing.

Hunting Guides
Hunting guides are available and can arrange for hunting in the marsh or in rice, soybean or plowed fields. For a current list of hunting guides, please contact the Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana Convention & Visitors Bureau at 1-800-456-SWLA, visit www.visitlakecharles.org or view the outdoors brochure under the contact section of this site.

Licensing
You can purchase recreational hunting and fishing licenses through the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries’ toll free number: 888-765-2602. They are payable by Visa, MasterCard or electronic check. You’ll receive an authorization number for your immediate use and the actual license will be mailed. Licenses can also be purchased in state, at most sporting goods stores. For licensing requirements, please visit the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries website.

Louisiana Outback's 14 Furbearers
• Rodents: beaver, common muskrat and nutria
• Carnivores: coyote, red fox, gray fox, northern raccoon, North American mink, spotted skunk, striped skunk, Nearctic river otter, and bobcat
• Pouched mammal: Virginia opossum.

For a list of local hunting guides, click here.