Keith Lusher 03.19.26
Montana waterfowl hunters have an opportunity to weigh in on subsequent 12 months’s duck and goose seasons as Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks opens the general public remark interval for its proposed 2026 migratory chicken rules.
Feedback will likely be accepted by March 29, with the Montana Fish and Wildlife Fee scheduled to overview the proposals throughout its April 16 assembly in Helena.
For many hunters, the proposed rules will look acquainted. Apart from regular calendar changes, FWP is recommending that almost all waterfowl guidelines stay the identical as they had been throughout the 2025-26 season.
Beneath the proposal, day by day and possession limits for geese, coots and geese would stay unchanged. Meaning hunters can count on a construction similar to what they skilled final fall except adjustments are made throughout the last overview course of.
The state can be planning to proceed its particular youth waterfowl hunt on Sept. 26-27, 2026. That early weekend offers youthful hunters a possibility to get into the marsh earlier than the common season begins and has develop into an essential recruiting instrument for introducing new hunters to waterfowling.
One other season anticipated to stay in place is the Central Flyway spring mild goose conservation season. If accepted, the hunt would run from March 1 by Could 15, 2027 and would once more enable hunters to reap snow and Ross’s geese with no day by day bag restrict as a part of ongoing efforts to regulate overabundant populations.
Whereas duck and goose rules are anticipated to remain largely the identical, a lot of the dialogue on this 12 months’s proposal facilities on sandhill cranes. FWP officers are reviewing searching districts and allow numbers for crane seasons, which might see changes relying on fee suggestions and public enter.
Main adjustments to waterfowl zones should not a part of this 12 months’s overview. Montana beforehand accepted its present zone boundaries and season constructions for the 2026 by 2030 seasons, which means this 12 months’s course of focuses totally on setting particular dates inside these established frameworks.
These frameworks are guided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which units nationwide limits on season lengths, opening dates and day by day bag limits for migratory birds. States should work inside these federal pointers when establishing their very own rules.
Federal regulators are already analyzing inhabitants surveys and harvest information that may form the 2026-27 searching season. Latest modeling suggests pintail limits might proceed at three birds per day, whereas scaup rules stay extra conservative as a result of inhabitants issues.
As soon as federal frameworks are finalized later this 12 months, states like Montana will lock of their actual season dates inside these limits.
FWP officers say hunter suggestions performs an essential position in that course of, particularly in a state the place migration timing and chicken numbers can range considerably from one area to a different.
Hunters who wish to touch upon the proposed rules can submit suggestions by the FWP public remark portal or attend the April 16 Fish and Wildlife Fee assembly.
Extra details about the proposals is on the market on the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks web site.
