(KPEL News) — Louisiana’s 2026-2027 deer season opens under a new legal framework for tracking Chronic Wasting Disease, plus a restructured possession limit for hunters in Deer Area 1 and a handful of other rule changes. Area 10 shares the same archery and primitive firearms calendar, but its firearms season has no dog-hunting stage at all this year. Other Rule Changes Worth Knowing Before the OpenerBeyond the CWD overhaul, LDWF made a handful of other changes that affect deer hunters directly this season. LDWF also added a special archery season inside the CWD zones in Deer Areas 1, 2 and 6, giving hunters in those zones extra opportunity to harvest deer for surveillance sampling. Get our free mobile appWhere Acadiana Fits on the MapLafayette Parish itself straddles two deer areas.