MADISON – Wisconsin youth and their mentors will have a special opportunity to spend time together in the field during the Sept. 15-16 Youth Waterfowl Hunt.
This special hunt aims to recruit new hunters in Wisconsin, and also encourages mentors to help youth refine their waterfowl hunting skills. In recent years, about 2,500 youth have taken advantage of this opportunity and harvested almost 9,000 ducks and about 250 geese. During this hunt the daily bag for ducks is the same as the regular season.
This year, the youth hunt season straddles the early and the regular goose seasons. The daily bag for geese on Sept. 15 is the same for the early season (five) and the daily bag on Sept. 16 is the same for the regular season (two geese, regardless of zone).
For early season goose hunting on Sept. 15, a youth must purchase and possess an early season goose permit. In the Exterior zone on Sept. 16, a youth must purchase and possess an Exterior goose permit. In the Horicon and Collins zones on Sept. 16, a youth possessing a valid tag for any time period within that zone may hunt geese within the zone where the tag is valid.
Other requirements to participate include: Youth must be age 12-15, they must be HIP registered and have successfully completed a hunter education course, and they must be accompanied by an adult chaperone during the hunt. All license and stamp requirements are waived, except the Canada goose permits.
For more information, please see the 2007 Migratory Game Bird Regulations and the 2007 Early Goose Season Regulations available on the hunting and trapping regulations page of the DNR Web site.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Kimberlee Benton - (608) 261-6458
