Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has confirmed the state’s first stand-alone black-bellied whistling-duck season, a nine-day, statewide hunt running Oct. 3 through Oct. 11, 2026, with a daily bag of four ducks and a possession limit of 12.
The season is experimental and requires a free black-bellied whistling-duck permit issued by LDWF in addition to a Louisiana basic and waterfowl license, the federal duck stamp, and Harvest Information Program registration. Shooting hours run sunrise to sunset. Only black-bellied whistling ducks are legal quarry during the nine days; hunters who take any other species are subject to standard federal migratory-bird penalties.
The nine-day window slots between the September teal opener and the state’s regular November duck opener, and LDWF built the framework around a growing resident and short-migrant population of black-bellied whistling ducks across Louisiana’s rice country, coastal wetlands, and stock ponds. The season was approved through the Mississippi Flyway Council and the USFWS Service Regulations Committee before LDWF finalized dates.
Reporting is not optional. Every permit holder must record hunting effort and harvest through LDWF’s online reporting system between Oct. 12 and Oct. 26 — the 15-day window that closes two weeks after the hunt. Skipping the report blocks a hunter from drawing a permit in any subsequent October BBWD season the state runs, according to the agency’s regulations page for the hunt.
The federal context around waterfowl remains cautious. The most recent U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Waterfowl Population Status report put the traditional-survey-area breeding-duck estimate at 34.0 million birds, a 5% year-over-year gain but still 4% below the long-term average. Whistling ducks are not part of that traditional survey because they nest largely south of the corridor; LDWF has argued for years that the growing in-state abundance justifies a dedicated harvest. This October is the first test of that argument, and how many birds hunters take — and, just as important, how thoroughly they report — will shape whether the season returns in 2027.
