U.S. waterfowl season
- Thread starter JustinC
- Start date
Anthony A
Well-known member
Hello Justin,
Back home in Quebec we hunted from opener in September up until deer hunting season in November; after that, all the ponds were frozen... we never had any boats to hit open water. Now that I'm here in Jersey, where a lot of ducks come to winter, it gets a little bit more complicated. It can get really complicated in some states still to the south of us, where they have these split seasons you mentioned. I would assume they have them to have a go at the local ducks for a bit, then a break before the migrating ducks show up.
Looking at the seasons I have printed out here by my desk, it says NJ has 60 day duck season, split over three zones (north, south and coastal); not all of them have the same dates and they are particular in that the north zone starts first, followed by the south zone, followed by the coastal, but at which time both the north and south zones are closed! That coastal zone is only open for a week in early-Nov, after which there is a one week break there, but it opens up again in the north and south zones. The north and south zones close early Jan, but the coastal zone goes until end-Jan. No hunting on Sundays statewide.
Season dates by zone are yet again all different for Brant, Canada Geese, Sea Ducks and Snow Geese. Confused yet?
I had a chance to peruse through the Ontario hunting stuff while I was up at a lodge on the French River canoeing with my wife this past summer, specifically the moose hunting regulations. Those seemed quite complicated to me as well it took a while before I found out that non-residents had to go through an outfitter, or hunt with an immediate family member who has a license. Don't get me started on deer hunting zones and dates here in NJ
Sometimes, going through these rules and regulations are enough to make a sane man go crazy...
Back home in Quebec we hunted from opener in September up until deer hunting season in November; after that, all the ponds were frozen... we never had any boats to hit open water. Now that I'm here in Jersey, where a lot of ducks come to winter, it gets a little bit more complicated. It can get really complicated in some states still to the south of us, where they have these split seasons you mentioned. I would assume they have them to have a go at the local ducks for a bit, then a break before the migrating ducks show up.
Looking at the seasons I have printed out here by my desk, it says NJ has 60 day duck season, split over three zones (north, south and coastal); not all of them have the same dates and they are particular in that the north zone starts first, followed by the south zone, followed by the coastal, but at which time both the north and south zones are closed! That coastal zone is only open for a week in early-Nov, after which there is a one week break there, but it opens up again in the north and south zones. The north and south zones close early Jan, but the coastal zone goes until end-Jan. No hunting on Sundays statewide.
Season dates by zone are yet again all different for Brant, Canada Geese, Sea Ducks and Snow Geese. Confused yet?
I had a chance to peruse through the Ontario hunting stuff while I was up at a lodge on the French River canoeing with my wife this past summer, specifically the moose hunting regulations. Those seemed quite complicated to me as well
it took a while before I found out that non-residents had to go through an outfitter, or hunt with an immediate family member who has a license. Don't get me started on deer hunting zones and dates here in NJ Sometimes, going through these rules and regulations are enough to make a sane man go crazy...
They have non-residents go through an outfitter so that they are not included in the draw and potentially taking tags from residents. Just through other conversations and posts through US hunters it seems things are quite complex down there. I looked at the NJ regs and man it was like trying to read through somebody's research notes on rocket science. Makes me glad that things are LESS complex up here, however the govt has us jumping through a few hoops as well.
Ray
Well-known member
It depends on where you are. Some western states just have a single 100 to 107 day season through the fall and into January with a liberal bag limit that may only restrict the taking of one species such as canvas backs.
In the Central and Eastern flyways they split the seasons to allow for an early teal season since that species may be gone from the region when the fall season opens up. If I recall correctly you can only shoot teal or wood ducks during this time.
Some areas split the season into three parts to take advantage of the migration lag between the species.
We will not talk about all the goose seasons for resident golf course geese, duskies, snows, and Aleuts.
In the Central and Eastern flyways they split the seasons to allow for an early teal season since that species may be gone from the region when the fall season opens up. If I recall correctly you can only shoot teal or wood ducks during this time.
Some areas split the season into three parts to take advantage of the migration lag between the species.
We will not talk about all the goose seasons for resident golf course geese, duskies, snows, and Aleuts.
Nicholas Lee
New member
We get 60 days overall in North Carolina. They split it into three "splits", Oct 6th - 9th, Nov 13th - Dec 4th, and Dec 18th - Jan 29th.
Pat M
Active member
We get a 60 day season. In order for us to get a chance at the wood ducks and teal before they migrate off we open late Spet/Early Oct. Wisconsin is also divided into a north and south zones which have different start dates. The north starts earlier doesn't have the split so it ends earlier. The split gives time off so that way we don't run out of days to hunt before the migrating ducks come down. Some years the migrators don't make it down until the last week or so of the season. Its a real pain on Lake Michigan because alot of the divers don't make it down until und of Nov early december and you don't even get a chance at them. People are trying to get a great lakes zone too with a longer split in the middle to give a chance for the divers to come down.
I forgot to mention that Ontario is also split into various districts. You could potentially hunt from Sept 1st to Jan 9th for ducks. However the the southern district has the most days starting late sept. ending in early jan. Pat, what do you mean when you say "run out of days".
Pat M
Active member
Our season can only be a total of 60 days. So if you start September and go 60 straight days, our season would end mid Nov, our 60 days would be up ("run out of" hunting days). We can't hunt some days in the middle of the season (the split) so they do not count towards our 60 days. This way we can hunt later in the year.
Last edited:
Justin
Under the liberal option of the Adaptive Harvest Management Program currently in place in the US, states in the Atlantic and Mississippi Flyways get 6 ducks/day for 60 days, the Central Flyway gets 74 days and 6 ducks, while the Pacific Flyway has 107 day season with 7 bird/bag limit. The states have the ability to zone (split the state into different geographic units) and split the season (break the season into up to three shorter periods of hunting spread out over the open period. I won't try to explain the whole system and its history but its available at http://www.flyways.us/.
Under the liberal option of the Adaptive Harvest Management Program currently in place in the US, states in the Atlantic and Mississippi Flyways get 6 ducks/day for 60 days, the Central Flyway gets 74 days and 6 ducks, while the Pacific Flyway has 107 day season with 7 bird/bag limit. The states have the ability to zone (split the state into different geographic units) and split the season (break the season into up to three shorter periods of hunting spread out over the open period. I won't try to explain the whole system and its history but its available at http://www.flyways.us/.
Dwight Harley
Well-known member
For the Central Flyway side of Montana we go from October 2-January 14 (scaup closes on December 26 I think) The Pacific flyway side of the state closes a week earlier.
John L
Well-known member
Split season in NY works out pretty good in my opinion. We are broken down into 5 areas. With an early Canada goose season opening up Sept 1st in the north and season close on March 10 in the southern region. If you don't mind doing a few road trips north to south, that's alot of time you can spend out in the field or on the water.