Rising flood waters in the Maurepas Swamp Wildlife Management Area (WMA) have triggered an automatic deer hunting season closure. The benchmark closure, enacted by the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, closes deer hunting in the WMA when the flood gauge reaches 3.0 feet.
It will remain closed until the gauge falls below 2.5 feet. Deer hunting season is currently limited to archery only in the WMA and only bucks may be harvested.
Maurepas Swamp WMA, which consists of two tracts totaling 122,098 acres in Ascension, Livingston, St. John the Baptist, St. James and Tangipahoa parishes, is located approximately 25 miles west of New Orleans along the south shore of Lake Maurepas west of Sorrento. For more information, go to http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/wma/2791 .