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Last updated on Wednesday, December 11, 2013
(UNDATED) - The Indiana Department of Natural Resources is again offering a late season for hunting Canada geese.
The season runs Feb. 1-15 in 30 counties: Steuben, LaGrange, Elkhart, St. Joseph, La Porte, Starke, Marshall, Kosciusko, Noble, DeKalb, Allen, Whitley, Huntington, Wells, Adams, Boone, Hamilton, Madison, Hendricks, Marion, Hancock, Morgan, Johnson, Shelby, Vermillion, Parke, Vigo, Clay, Sullivan and Greene.
The late season helps control the population of the breeding "giant" subspecies of Canada geese around urban areas, a common issue in Indiana and surrounding states. Indiana has offered hunters a late Canada goose season in select counties every February since 2008.
A valid hunting license, Indiana waterfowl stamp privilege, signed federal duck stamp and a HIP (Harvest Information Program) number are required to hunt during this season.
No special permit is needed for the late Canada goose season, and birds no longer need to be checked.
Indiana hunters harvested 8,100 Canada geese during the 2013 late season, the same number as in 2012, according to estimates from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The total late-season harvest for Indiana across all six years is estimated at 41,600 geese.
The season may be closed or the bag limit reduced in future years if local Canada goose populations are sufficiently reduced. Based on the population reductions Indiana has seen, the bag limit is likely to be reduced to three for the 2015 late season, DNR waterfowl biologist Adam Phelps said. However, the bag limit will remain five for the upcoming February 2014 season.
More information is at dnr.IN.gov/fishwild/3570.htm.
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