Illinois Department of Natural Resources announces waterfowl hunting season dates

SPRINGFIELD (Heartland Newsfeed) — The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) announced Monday waterfowl season dates and bag limits for the upcoming hunting season.

These seasons include a 60-day duck season, as well as a 87 to 107 day season for Canadian geese in all four of the state’s hunting zones. In the northern and central zones, there will be 107 days of Canadian goose hunting, which involves 15 hunting days in September, a two-day youth hunt and the regular 90-day hunting season. There will be fewer days in the south central and southern regions — 99 days in the south central region and 87 days in the southern zone, as they run concurrent with the duck season dates to match hunter preferences.

The released dates kicks off the second year in a five-year plan developed in 2015:

The early hunting season dates in September will be September 1-15 for Canadian goose and September 9-24 for the statewide season. These times are different than the regular season, as it begins at sunrise (30 minutes later than regular season) until sunset.

[table id=13 /]

The Illinois waterfowl hunting zone maps and anticipated seasons dates for the 2016-2020 seasons are available on the IDNR website at https://www.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/waterfowl/Documents/WaterfowlZonesDatesFinal20162020.pdf.

The application period for Public Duck and Goose Hunting Area Permits will be open Aug. 16-31 for the first lottery, Sept. 1-14 for the second lottery, and Sept. 15-28 for the third lottery. Permits remaining after the third lottery will be available on a first-come, first-served basis online starting Oct. 1. More information, including online applications, instructions and a list of participating sites is available on the IDNR website at https://www.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/waterfowl/Pages/OnlinePermitApplication.aspx.

Additional details on the duck, goose, and other migratory bird hunting seasons will be available on the IDNR website at www.dnr.illinois.gov and in the 2017-2018 Illinois Digest of Waterfowl Hunting Regulations (available later this year) and the Illinois Digest of Hunting and Trapping Regulations 2017-2018, available on the IDNR website at https://www.dnr.illinois.gov/hunting/Documents/HuntTrapDigest.pdf.