Wild Times in New Orleans
By Sr. Agent Kris Bourgeois

Many people in the state believe that New Orleans is just a party town with good food, but local outlaws know that there is an abundance of wild game within minutes of downtown New Orleans.

The area known as New Orleans East is only 10 minutes away from downtown New Orleans and has thousands of acres of swamp and marsh that are prime habitat for wild game which outlaws can’t resist. This area of Orleans Parish has been closed to hunting for many years because it is within city limits and also there is an 80,000 acre Federal Wildlife Refuge, the largest urban refuge in the U.S.A.

Agents were very busy working hunters in Orleans Parish and issued numerous citations to subjects who were caught hunting on both private land and the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge. The equipment agents seized was a total of 6 rifles, 8 shotguns, 1 muzzle loader, 1 bow and arrow, 1 pirogue, and two deer stands. The agents also seized 15 rabbits , 3 robins, and 3 whitetail deer.

Many people would wonder why some people keep coming to Orleans Parish to illegally hunt deer and other game when they live as far away as Mississippi. The answer is that people traveling through New Orleans East see all of the deer standing on the sides of the roads in this area during the day and night. This area has been closed for so long to hunting that it is running out of room for the continuing expansion of the game population that there are literally deer all over the road. So if you ever come visit New Orleans and want to see a wild time, you don’t have to be on Bourbon Street!