The Idaho Fish and Game Commission approved the 2022-23 migratory game bird seasons during their April 14 conference call. Waterfowl hunters can expect to see later duck seasons across most of the state, and similar season dates for Canada geese. Bag limits for ducks will remain the same as last year, but will increase from four to five for Canada geese.
Ducks
The Fish and Game Commission approved the following seasons for ducks, mergansers, snipe and coots.
Zone 1
- October 1, 2022 – January 13, 2023
- Scaup: October 1, 2022 – December 25, 2022
Zone 2
- October 1, 2022 – January 13, 2023
- Scaup: October 20, 2022 – January 13, 2023
Zone 3
- October 19, 2022 – January 31, 2023
- Scaup: November 7, 2022 – January 31, 2023
Zone 4
- October 1, 2022 – January 13, 2023
- Scaup: October 1, 2022 – December 25, 2022
Geese
The daily bag limit for Canada goose increased from 4 to 5 for the 2022-2023 season.
The seasons for geese will look nearly identical to those above for duck, thanks to a majority of waterfowl hunters asking for duck and Canada goose seasons to mirror one another. With the exceptions of Canada goose zones 2 and 4 (Bonneville and Caribou/Bear Lake counties) waterfowl hunters can expect the Canada goose season to align with duck, mergansers, snipe and coot in 2022-2023.
Sandhill Crane
The final notable change coming in the 2022-2023 migratory game bird season is an increase in tags for sandhill cranes. The increase applies to all but one hunt area (Area 1 - Bear Lake).
Sandhill crane harvest allocation is determined every year by the federal Flyway Management Plan. Idaho’s sandhill crane harvest allocation increase from 278 (in 2021) to 290 cranes in 2022.
The daily limit is still 2 cranes, and the seasons limit is also 2 cranes.
Updated migratory game bird seasons and rules booklet
These changes go into effect immediately. The printed 2022-2023 migratory game bird seasons and rules booklets will be available at Fish and Game’s headquarters office, as well as all regional offices and license vendors, sometime in mid-June.
Digital booklets will be available to download from the Idaho Migratory Game Bird webpage by early May.