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The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) has received a large volume of calls regarding the future of their lifetime licenses in the wake of the recent legislative session.

Act 356-HB 691, recently signed by Gov John Bel Edwards, does not eliminate all lifetime licenses from the agency.  Rather, it consolidates lifetime licenses into three:

1. Lifetime Sportsman’s Paradise License – Resident ($500 price is unchanged)
2. Senior Sportsman’s Paradise License (65 and older) – Resident ($100)
3. Lifetime Sportsman’s Paradise License – Non-Resident ($4,000)

These new licenses which include hunting and fishing privileges will go on sale June 1, 2022.  The new lifetime licenses will streamline and consolidate the old lifetime license structure.  The existing individual lifetime licenses (e.g. Resident Lifetime Fishing Only ($300) and Resident Lifetime Hunting Only ($300)) will be combined into the Lifetime Sportsman’s Paradise Hunting/Fishing licenses above.

All existing lifetime license holders will continue to have their existing privileges grandfathered into perpetuity.

To help explain the new license structures for hunters, anglers and our commercial fishermen, LDWF has created a webpage with several handouts and facts at: https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/page/understanding-our-license-fee-changes.