MDWFP Sets Duck Seasons For 2017-2018

May 2, 2017

PRESS RELEASE

JACKSON – The Commission on Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks considered dates for the 2017-2018 waterfowl hunting seasons during their April meeting in Jackson, Mississippi.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service releases all migratory game bird frameworks in early spring each year, providing a “window” of dates from which states may select specific season dates. “Waterfowl breeding populations in 2016 remained high, which will again provide states the opportunity to select a liberal hunting season of 60 days with a six-duck daily bag limit,” said Houston Havens, Waterfowl Program Coordinator for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks. Waterfowl hunting season dates for 2017-18 are listed in the table below.

SPECIES	SEASON DATES	DAILY BAG LIMIT	POSSESSION
Ducks, Mergansers, and Coots	Nov. 24, 2017- Nov. 26, 2017 AND Dec. 1, 2017- Dec. 3, 2017 AND Dec. 6, 2017- Jan. 28, 2018	See Below	See Below
Geese: Canada, White-fronted, Snow, Blue, Ross’s, and Brant	Nov. 10, 2017- Nov. 26, 2017 AND Dec. 1, 2017- Dec. 3, 2017 AND Dec. 6, 2017- Jan. 28, 2018	Canada Geese: 3 Snow, Blue, and Ross’s: 20 White-fronted: 3 Brant: 1	Canada Geese: 9 Snow, Blue, and Ross’s: No Limit White-fronted: 9 Brant: 3
Youth Waterfowl	Nov. 18, 2017- Feb. 3, 2018	Same as Regular Season	Same as Regular Season
Light Goose Conservation Order	Oct. 1, 2017- Nov. 9, 2017 AND Jan. 29, 2018- Feb. 2, 2018 AND Feb. 4, 2018- Mar. 31, 2018	No Limit	No Limit

The duck daily bag limit will a total of six ducks, including no more than four mallards (no more than two of which may be females), three wood ducks, three scaup, two redheads, two canvasbacks, two black ducks, one pintail, and one mottled duck. The merganser daily bag limit will be a total of five mergansers, only two of which may be hooded mergansers. Coots will have a 15 bird daily bag limit. The possession limit is three times the daily bag limit for ducks, mergansers, and coots.

For more information regarding waterfowl in Mississippi, visit our website atwww.mdwfp.com/waterfowl or call us at (601) 432-2199. Follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mdwfp or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MDWFPonline.