The refuge is open from sunrise to sunset all year and is free to the public. For folks legally fishing and hunting, those hours of use may be expanded in select areas. There are more details about what you need to legally hunt and fish at the refuge in the tabs below.

Restrooms

We haven’t seen any restrooms at the Upper Ouachita NWR.

Trail Accessibility

We didn’t find any well-marked hiking trails in the area we were at. The ground seemed uneven, so we didn’t test the accessibility of this NWR.

Learn More

Learn more about the Upper Ouachita NWR at the refuge’s official website.

The Upper Ouachita NWR is a good place to watch raccoons, deer, sparrows, kinglets, turtles, snakes, and butterflies. The Upper Ouachita NWR is the first place we ever met a bear. You can find lists of birds sighted at the refuge with eBird’s “Upper Ouachita Mollicy Unit”  and “Upper Ouachita NWR” Trail Tracker sighting lists and more information about general animals that have been reported at the refuge. For more info about the refuge, check out the Upper Ouachita NWR page.

You can fish along the river or in many of the lakes throughout the refuge. Learn about the rules and regulations for what types of poles and bait you can use to catch certain fish at the Upper Ouachita “Fishing” page. You can find information on getting and maintaining your fishing license and what species you can keep, check out the Wildlife and Fisheries “Recreational Freshwater Finfish and Crawfish” page. You can also learn about the crawfishing licenses there.

Duck hunting is the most popular pastime at the Upper Ouachita NWR, and squirrel and deer hunting are also popular on the refuge. To legally hunt there, you’ll need a valid Louisiana hunting license and a Migratory Bird Stamp for hunting waterfowl.  Learn more about federal hunting laws enforced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Upper Ouachita NWR “Hunting” page and the Louisiana Wildlife Management “WMA/Refuge/Conservation Area Licenses and Permits pages.