Andy Close
HARRISBURG, PA – Pennsylvania’s 2023-24 migratory game bird seasons have been set.
Annual migratory game bird seasons are selected by states from frameworks established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The Pennsylvania Game Commission’s selections were made after reviewing last year’s hunter harvests, population survey data, and public input.
There are two significant changes to Pennsylvania waterfowl seasons this year, said Wildlife Operations Division Chief Ian Gregg for the Game Commission. The first change increases the season length for Canadian geese in the Atlantic Population Zone from 30 to 45 days and increases the bag limit from one to three per day. “The Atlantic Population of Canada geese had experienced declines as a result of a decade of below-average reproduction including a nearly complete failure in 2018,” said Gregg. “However, gosling production more recently has been relatively good, and the population has increased accordingly.”
The other significant change increases the mallard bag limit from two, to include no more than one hen, to four, which can include no more than two hens. After a few years of the reduced bag limits, the mallard population increased slightly and a new population model was implemented.
“This population model helps us to better understand what is driving the mallard population,” said Nate Huck, Waterfowl Program Specialist for the Game Commission. “We now understand that while the population has declined, those declines were not driven by harvest.” This change will allow additional opportunities to harvest mallards without negatively impacting the population.
In addition to these changes, calendar shifts resulted in small changes to the Resident Population Canada goose seasons and to the Lake Erie Duck Zone season. The Resident Population Canada Goose season saw a week shift from October into January. In the Lake Erie Duck Zone, the season will start roughly one week later than last year and run a week longer into January.
The last change was to Atlantic Brant seasons, which saw a reduction in bag limit from two to one, and a reduction in season length to 30 days because of population declines. However, few brant are harvested in Pennsylvania, most of them on Lake Erie.
Other migratory game bird seasons are similar to last year’s seasons.
