Louisiana CWD Regulations

Due to the regular amending of regulations in Louisiana, it is recommended that before hunting you check these CWD regulations, as well as those of any other states or provinces in which you will be hunting or traveling through while transporting cervid carcasses. The contact information for Louisiana can be seen below:

Last update was October 2021

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[accordion tag=h3][accordion-item title="Agency & Contacts" id=Agency-Contacts]Department of Agriculture & Forestry regulates cervids kept for commercial purposes. LA Dept of AG Animal Health (225) 925-3980. Department of Wildlife & Fisheries regulates white-tailed deer kept for non-commercial purposes. Contact: James M. LaCour DVM State Wildlife Veterinarian, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (225) 765-0823[/accordion-item][accordion-item title="Standard Regulations" id=Standard-Regulations]05/06/02: Wildlife & Fisheries Commission Declaration of Emergency: Banned importation of deer and elk into state, also restricted movements within state. State law now prohibits importation of live cervids with the exception of legally imported captive cervids. Currently, LA Dept of Ag has a moratorium in place banning the importation of white-tailed deer, mule deer, reindeer, moose, and elk. Ck with LA Dept of AG for specs. (225) 925-3980. [/accordion-item][accordion-item title="CWD Regulations for Captive Cervids and Wildlife"]05/06/02: Ban importation of deer and elk into state. Have placed a moratorium on the issuance of new game breeder licenses (LDWF). LA Dept of AG currently has a moratorium in place banning the importation of white-tailed deer, mule deer, reindeer, moose, and elk. Ck with LA Dept of AG for specs. (225) 925-3980.[/accordion-item][accordion-item title="New CWD Regulations in Development"]Yes, LDAF has re-written its laws governing captive cervids including some CWD information. LDWF has instituted carcass importation restrictions. State law passed banning importation of cervids into LA with the exception of LDAF permitted cervids. LDAF moratorium on importation still in place at this time.[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title="CWD Testing Program For Captive Cervids"]LA Dept. of AG has developed regulations requiring any permitted game farm enrolled in their CWD Certification Program to submit samples from any animal that dies for any reason. Pens not enrolled in the CWD Certification Program are not required to test.[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title="CWD Testing Program For Wildlife"]To date just over 12,000 samples from wild white-tailed deer have been tested by the Louisiana Department ofWildlife and Fisheries. No CWD has been detected.. LDWF tests only target animals: 1) road killed deer, 2) emaciated deer, 3) neurological deer, 4) exotic cervid species and 5) deer harvested adjacent to LA Dept. of AG -licensed import pens. Also, deer in parishes adjacent to MS index CWD case.[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title="Baiting Banned?"]No[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title="Feeding Banned?"]No[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title="Ban On Movement of Animal Parts?"]Cervid carcass importation restrictions in place as of March 1, 2017. Allow only importation of deboned meat or quartered meat with spinal column and head removed. Antlers, cleaned skull plates, cleaned elk ivory, capes and finished taxidermy mounts may enter LA. No intact/ non-taxidermied heads allowed. Use or possession of natural deer urine or natural deer tissue lures prohibited unless the product carries the ATA Deer Protection Program/ Responsible Hunting Scent Association seal and states that it has been tested using the RT-QuIC test and CWD prions were not detected.[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title="CWD Found in Captive Cervids?"]No[/accordion-item] [accordion-item title="CWD Found In Free Ranging Cervids?"]No[/accordion-item] [/accordion]

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