Published: March 25, 2026
By: Avery White, LSU Manship School News Service
BATON ROUGE – Bills creating an annual recreational alligator season from October through December have begun advancing through the state Legislature this week.
Following the passage of Senate Bill 244 on Monday to establish a recreational alligator hunting season, Rep. Neil Riser, R-Columbia, presented a tandem bill creating the licensing and fees associated with the potential hunting season to the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee. The bill passed favorably with amendments, but its sister bill in the Senate is expected to face opposition when it reaches the House committee.
The bills, if passed, would create a recreational alligator hunting season from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, which would dovetail with the booming commercial industry in the state.
The legislation is a response to a resurgence of the alligator population, which has had a large rebound in recent decades after the species was placed on the endangered list and hunting was banned in the 1960s. Since then, the population has made a full recovery, with more than 2 million wild alligators in the state, according to the LSU AgCenter.
Read more at KATC.
LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau 
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