The 2026-2027 Louisiana hunting regulations add a section that was not there before: Use of Drones for the Recovery of Wounded Deer or Bear. LDWF lists it as one of the major changes for this season. For the first time, a drone can legally be used in Louisiana to find a deer or bear that a hunter has mortally wounded and cannot recover by tracking.

Louisiana already allowed leashed tracking dogs for recovering wounded deer. The drone rule adds a second option, with specific conditions. Here is what the rule says.

When a recovery flight is allowed

All of these have to be true before a recovery flight is legal:

• The animal was shot by a licensed hunter using legal hunting methods, and it can be reasonably concluded it is mortally wounded.
• Traditional tracking has already been tried and failed.
• The flight happens outside legal hunting hours. Deer hours run a half hour before sunrise to a half hour after sunset, so recovery flights happen at night.
• The property is private, and both the hunter and the drone pilot have permission to be on it. Drones are prohibited on WMAs.
• Neither the hunter nor the pilot possesses a firearm or any weapon that could be used to hunt deer or bear during the recovery.

Drone requirements

• Registered with the FAA.
• Capable of thermal imaging.
• Equipped with a light source strong enough to visibly confirm whether the animal is alive, mortally wounded, or dead. The light may only be used to verify status.
• No animal calls or noise mechanisms, no mounted weapons, no onboard netting.

Pilot requirements

The pilot must hold an FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate. Recreational flyers do not qualify. The pilot is responsible for property access being legal and for all federal and state flight compliance. And in no event may the drone be used to hunt, harass, chase, drive, flush, attract, pursue, worry, or follow deer, bear, or any other wildlife during a recovery.

If the animal is found alive

If the drone finds the animal and it is not immediately apparent that it is mortally wounded, the pilot may not give the hunter any location assistance, and the recovery session must end immediately. Using a drone to help locate a deer that is alive, or not reasonably believed to be mortally wounded, is hunting under the law, and it is illegal. If the animal is found dead or clearly mortally wounded, the pilot may give the hunter its coordinates.

In practice this means a recovery flight can legally end with no information handed over. The rule is written that way, and it is worth understanding before a flight begins.

How it fits with dog tracking

The drone section sits directly alongside the existing dog-tracking rule, which allows a licensed hunter or tracker to pursue a mortally wounded deer with a leashed tracking dog on private land after legal hours, and addresses dispatch of a mortally wounded deer found alive. The drone rule handles that situation differently: the session ends, because no one in the recovery party can be armed while the drone is up. Hunters should read both sections together, on page 25 of the regulations.

What to have ready

Before calling for a recovery, have your hunting license, the time and details of the shot, what tracking you already tried, and the landowner’s permission for both you and the pilot. Firearms and bows get stowed for the duration of the flight.

We offer thermal drone recovery under this rule. The details of how a call works are on the deer recovery page.