Becoming Swamp People

So you're now ready to dig your heels in the muck and mud of the Louisiana swamps and catch some alligators and make some quick cash. Well, it may not be as quick as what you're thinking. To become swamp people you must think like swamp people. How to do this you ask, let me fill you in on the necessary steps to becoming one of the swamp folk.

• Hunting and fishing for commerce and recreation are longstanding traditions in Louisiana, particularly in the Atchafalaya Basin. Not like your families traditions, I am sure.
• The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries heavily regulates the state's hunting and fishing seasons. So get ready to jump through some hoops.
• There are regulated hunting seasons for deer, turkey, quail, rabbit, alligator, squirrel, raccoons, opossum, migratory birds and waterfowl. Swamp people leave no meat untouched or uncooked. I wonder if there is also a regulation for turtles, I guess I may have to research that later. Because it is a delicacy in these parts. Never tried it myself and probably never will.
• There are regulated fishing seasons for crawfish, shrimp, oysters and seawater and freshwater fish ranging from shark to grouper. Pretty normal for anywhere right?
• Nutria, a rodent species that is considered a nuisance because it destroys Louisiana coastal wetlands, is hunted for population control and used as a food source by subsistence hunters. They can be a pain in the butt so this is something to be thankful for.
• An estimated 75 to 105 million crawfish–some for export and some for local consumption–are caught during the crawfishing season, which lasts throughout the year.
• Shrimping season usually begins in April and is regulated by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries, which monitors catch and population sizes in order to determine season length.
• Hunting season for alligator begins the first Wednesday in September and last for 30 days.The time is coming up for the season so go get your mud boots and rotting chicken and hit prepare for the swamps.
• Alligator hunting is intensely managed by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries, which only allows licensed hunters to participate and restricts the activity to defined wetland habitats of the Atchafalaya swamp and coastal waters. What government agency isn't heavily regulated though?
• Alligator hunters must obtain a license and a limited number of tags from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries. so if you kill a little gator that won't be worth much, you can't just throw back in the water, you have to tag them.
• Alligator hunters must either own or lease land that is classified as wetland habitat in order to qualify for tags. So go get a real estate booklet and become part of the swamp people society.
• The Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries only distributes tags for property containing sufficient alligator habitat that it has determined capable of sustaining an alligator harvest. Shouldn't be hard to do in these parts.
• The goal of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries' alligator program is to manage and conserve Louisiana's alligators as part of the state's wetland ecosystem while providing benefits to the species, its habitat and other species associated with alligators as well as economic benefits to landowners, alligator farmers and alligator hunters.
• The Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries' alligator management program is one of the world's most recognizable examples of a wildlife conservation success story, and has been used as a model for managing various crocodilian species around the world.
• Louisiana's wild alligator population is estimated at roughly 1.5 million animals; another 500,000 live on alligator farms. There are plenty to go around for all the aspiring swamp people out there.