Beginning June 1, Louisiana migratory bird hunters, including waterfowl hunters, will be required to complete the Harvest Information Program (HIP) certification process either online or in person at Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) headquarters in Baton Rouge.
HIP certification along with an appropriate hunting license is required to hunt waterfowl, doves, woodcock and other migratory birds in Louisiana. A $2 fee will be assessed by the LDWF license vendor for online HIP certification.
Retail license vendors will no longer be able to provide the HIP certification service beginning June 1, necessitating the change. Therefore, hunters that purchase licenses from retail license vendors will be reminded to go on-line to complete HIP certification for hunting migratory birds. Hunters who purchase LDWF licenses online will see no change.
The change is to make sure that the most complete information is available to state and federal biologists as they manage the migratory bird resource.
“The primary intent of HIP is to provide the names, addresses, species hunted and past harvest to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service so they can randomly select migratory bird hunters to receive annual harvest surveys,’’ said Larry Reynolds, LDWF’s Waterfowl Program Manager. “In this way, more complete information can be obtained from all migratory bird hunters so that harvest estimates will be based on representative sampling and thus be more accurate than in the past.’’
For more information on purchasing a hunting or fishing license, go to https://louisianaoutdoors.com/licenses-and-permits.
For more information on HIP certification, contact Larry Reynolds at lreynolds@wlf.la.gov.