Great News For Renewing Louisiana Hunting/Fishing Licenses

Over the last few years Louisiana's huge population of hunters and fishermen have gone through a number of changes in regards to hunting and fishing licenses.

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As the Bayou State made the transition to a more digital platform, there were a few issues that weren't thought out very well.

One of those was immediately discovered when Louisiana's hunters found they were unable to get the mandatory Harvest Information Program or HIP certification at any retailer location. They were only available online, and while the certification is actually free, there was a charge from the online vendor for the service of obtaining it.

Once hunters became extremely vocal about the infraction, LDWF worked a deal with the online vendor to provide the certification at no charge.

The next stumbling block in the digital transition took a little longer to discover but was no less painful. Hunters and fishermen discovered that they were only allowed to renew their license once the old license had expired.

For example, if a person's license expired on June 1, a new license could not be issued until June 2 of the following year. This meant that for a person to legally hunt or fish, sometime between midnight and when their hunting/fishing trip began the next day, they would have to renew that license.

This understandably caused major angst amongst the hunting and fishing crowd of Louisiana, and once again they became extremely vocal.

LDWF has recently announced that they have addressed this issue and have updated the licensing system to allow individuals to renew their licenses before expiration. Once you renew your license, the expiration resets to 365 days after your renewal.

License holders may also sign up for license auto-renew through the LDWF licensing website. This feature will automatically renew your license the moment it expires without any additional action on your part.

Auto-renew is available for most hunting and fishing licenses. This feature allows you to store payment information in the system and elect to have your license(s) renewed automatically every year. LDWF reminds users of a $3.50 convenience fee with any online transaction, including auto-renew.

In your LouisianaOutdoors.com account, you can select which annual licenses you’d like to auto-renew. LDWF will automatically renew your licenses at the purchase price plus the convenience fee using your stored credit card information. You will receive a reminder email 30 days and 7 days before the renewal date.