BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Black Bear Hunting Lottery is open to hunters through Aug. 28.

The hunt is administered by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and will be held in all Louisiana Black Bear Management Areas Dec. 5-20.

A total of 42 tags will be issued through the lottery. Bear Management Area 4 will have 19 permits, Area 1 eight permits, areas 2 and 3 four permits each and areas 5, 6 and 7 two each.

There will also be an LDWF Secretary's permit to be auctioned. Population estimates and vital rate data specific to each Bear Area were used to determine the number of harvest permits to be issued.

Successful applicants will be required to attend an LDWF bear hunter training course prior to hunting on either Oct. 16, 17, 22 or 23. Individuals not attending one of these courses may be disqualified and forfeit their bear hunting permit.

Lottery applications are available only on the LDWF licensing website. Applicants should update or create their customer details similar to purchasing a license and then submit an application.

A valid black bear hunting license is required prior to applying for the Wildlife Management Area and the general Black Bear Lotteries. A $50 non-refundable application fee will be charged to each applicant.

All applicants will be notified of their results via email and at the licensing website. Bear harvest permits will consist of three types: Wildlife Management Area, Private Landowner and General.

For more information on the lottery application process, contact David Hayden at dhayden@wlf.la.gov.