"First fish I ever caught, I was 13. Mr. Charles took me out on the Amite. He showed me how to bait it, how to feel the bite. I've taken my own kids out a hundred times since. That's what this is."
— A WLRNL mentor, Livingston Parish
South Louisiana · Hunting · Fishing · Youth
A community program teaching south Louisiana youth to read the water, work the land, and feed themselves and their family from what's around them. Across St. James, Ascension, East Baton Rouge, Livingston, Orleans, and Assumption parishes.
Meet the Founder
Roots: Lutcher · St. James Parish
Garland Bujol grew up on the muddy banks and cypress-lined waters of Lutcher, Louisiana. Fishing pole in his hand before he could tie his own boots. His childhood ran on the rhythm of the tides — the strike at dawn, the quiet drift of an afternoon, the trip back to the cleaning table with something for the family to eat.
For Garland, the outdoors was never about the trophy on the wall or the limit in the cooler. It was the quiet mornings in the blind. The shared laughter on the boat. The Sportsman's Paradise legacy that gets passed down — when somebody takes the time.
He started WildLife or No Life because that bridge had gotten thin. His mission is direct: use the traditions of hunting and fishing to bring families together, and make sure the kids who didn't grow up with it get the same shot he did. The strongest communities are built on shared ground. There's no ground more shared than the water and the woods.
Whether he's mentoring a kid through their first cast or organizing a community gathering on the bayou, Garland operates by one rule: the next generation deserves the same legacy he was handed. WLRNL is how he hands it down.
Our Mission
"Every kid in south Louisiana should know how to fish, set a trotline, gut a redfish, build a fire, and feed themselves and their family from the land and water around them. That's not a hobby. That's a foundation."
WLRNL exists for the kids who don't have a grandfather or an uncle to take them out — kids whose families don't have the gear, the boat, the time, or the connection to the land that used to come standard around here. We close that gap. One trip, one skill, one kid at a time.
What We Do
Every program runs year-round. Trips are scheduled around school, weather, and seasons. Kids come back as often as they want.
Bayou, lake, river, and gulf. Bass, catfish, sac-a-lait, redfish, drum. Kids learn rigging, reading the water, casting, cleaning, and cooking what they catch. We provide every rod, every hook, every bit of bait.
Duck blinds. Deer stands. Squirrel woods. Kids ride along with mentors and learn the discipline of the hunt — patience, safety, respect for the animal, and what to do with what you take. Plus fire-starting, knife work, foraging, and reading the woods.
Every kid gets matched with a mentor — a veteran, a fisherman, a hunter, a tradesman. Mentors stay with their kid through the program. Trust isn't built in a day, and we don't pretend it is.
You can't take from the land if you don't take care of it. Every trip ends with cleanup — bayou cleanups, bank patrols, native planting. Kids learn limits, seasons, regulations, and why they exist.
Common Catch
Six fish you'll meet on a WLRNL trip. By the end of the season, every kid can name them, clean them, and cook them.
Where We Operate
From the Mississippi River bottoms to the Atchafalaya Basin to the marshes south of New Orleans — one connected piece of country, with kids in every part of it who've never wet a line.
Faces of WLRNL
Every child wears a life jacket on the water. Every hunting trip is supervised by trained adult mentors. Safety first — always.
Bayou bank, Ascension Parish
Marsh edge, Orleans Parish
Sunset on Lake Maurepas, Livingston Parish
Duck blind sunrise, Assumption Parish
Bayou paddle, St. James Parish
Cabin table, East Baton Rouge Parish
Why It Matters
South Louisiana raised generations of kids who could feed themselves before they could drive. They knew where the bream were bedding. They knew when to set a trotline and when to pull it. They knew the difference between a sac-a-lait and a white perch — and they knew how to cook either one.
That knowledge wasn't in a book. It came from a grandfather, an uncle, a neighbor — somebody who took the time. For a lot of kids around here today, that person isn't around. The water is still here. The fish are still here. But the bridge to the land that used to come standard issue — that bridge has gotten thin.
WLRNL is that bridge. We don't run camps. We don't run programs that end. We take kids out, teach them what we know, and let the land do the rest of the work.
Get Involved
Whether you have a kid who needs this, time to give, or resources to share — there's a place for you.
Free for any youth in our six-parish service area, ages 8 to 17. No experience needed. We provide everything.
Get StartedIf you can fish, hunt, work the land, or just show up reliably — we need you. Background check required. We train.
ApplyRods, reels, tackle, boats, fuel, life jackets, food. If it gets a kid on the water, we need it. Cash donations buy what gear can't cover.
GiveContact information coming soon.