Table (1).
Kind of Animal | Locality | Season Dates |
(c) Teal species. | Entire State | September 1 – September 9 |
(d) All species of wild duck, coot and merganser. | 1. Northern zone as established in s. NR 10.32. | Beginning on the first Saturday in October and continuing for 30 consecutive days. |
| 2. Southern zone as established in s. NR 10.32. | Beginning on the first Saturday in October and continuing for 9 days, followed by a 5-day closure and then reopening for the remainder of the 30-day season. |
| 3. Open Water zone as established in s. NR 10.32. | Beginning on the Saturday nearest October 15 and continuing for 9 days, followed by a 5-day closure and then reopening for the remainder of the 30-day season. |
(e) All species of wild duck, coot and merganser. | 1. Northern zone as established in s. NR 10.32. | Beginning on the Saturday nearest September 24 and continuing for 9 days, followed by a 5-day closure and then reopening for the remainder of the 45-day season. |
| 2. Southern zone as established in s. NR 10.32. | Beginning on the first Saturday in October and continuing for 9 days, followed by a 5-day closure and then reopens for the remainder of the 45-day season. |
| 3. Open Water zone as established in s. NR 10.32. | Beginning on the Saturday nearest October 15 and continuing for 9 days, followed by a 5-day closure and then reopening for remainder of the 45-day season. |
(f) All species of wild duck, coot and merganser. | 1. Northern zone as established in s. NR 10.32. | Beginning on the Saturday nearest September 24 and continuing for 60 consecutive days. |
| 2. Southern zone as established in s. NR 10.32. | Beginning on the Saturday nearest October 1 and continuing for 9 days, followed by a 5-day closure and then reopening for 51 consecutive days. |
| 3. Open Water zone as established in s. NR 10.32. | Beginning on the Saturday nearest October 15 and continuing for 60 consecutive days. |
(g) Canada geese and its subspecies, Snow, or blue and Ross’ geese. | Entire state | September 1-15 |
(h) All species of wild geese. | 1. Northern zone as established in s. NR 10.32. | Beginning September 16 and continuing for 92 consecutive days. |
| 2. Southern zone as established in s. NR 10.32. | Beginning on September 16 and continuing until the 5−day closure in the southern duck zone hunting season in par. (b), then reopening at the end of the 5 day closure and continuing until the closure of the southern duck zone hunting season in par. (b), and then reopening on the third Saturday in December and continuing for a season total of 92 days. |
| 3. Mississippi River zone as established in s. NR 10.32. | Beginning on September 16 and continuing until the 5−day closure in the southern duck zone hunting season in par. (b), then reopening at the end of the 5 day closure and continuing until the closure of the southern duck zone hunting season in par. (b), and then reopening on third Saturday in December and continuing for a season total of 92 days. |
(i) Mourning dove | Entire State | September 1 – November 29 |
(j) Woodcock | Entire State | Beginning on the Saturday nearest September 22 and continuing for 45 days. |
(k) Sora and Virginia Rail and Snipe | Entire State | September 1 – November 9. |
(L) Migratory Bird Daily Bag Limit and Possession Limit:
1. The possession limit is three times the daily bag limit through the entire season except opening day when it is the same as the daily bag limit and the second day when it is twice the daily bag limit.
2. Daily Bag Limits. The bag limit for migratory birds is zero for all species. Following the procedures established in subd. (a), the secretary may annually select a bag limit for each species of migratory bird that is equal to the maximum allowable bag limit established by the U.S. fish and wildlife service, except that for the following species the bag limit shall be selected as provided below:
a. Canada Geese and its subspecies: 5 during the season established in s. NR 10.01 (1) (g), 3 during the seasons established in s. NR 10.01 (1) (h), except the bag limit is 5 in the Southern and Mississippi River zones beginning on December 16th until the close of the season. (m) Falconry special season. Any person possessing a valid falconry permit and hunting license shall be restricted to the following migratory game bird seasons and bag limits:
Kind of Animal | Locality | Open season (all dates inclusive) | Daily Bag Limit |
1. All species of wild ducks, mergansers, and coots. | Northern zone as established in s. NR 10.32. | Concurrent with the open youth waterfowl hunt in par. (n) and open northern zone regular duck season in pars. (d), (e), or (f). Reopening on the second Friday in January and continuing to not exceed 45 days. | 3 in aggregate with those species listed under subd. 2. |
| Southern zone as established in s. NR 10.32. | Concurrent with the open youth waterfowl hunt in par. (n) and open northern zone regular duck season in par. (d), (e), or (f). Reopening on the second Friday in January and continuing to not exceed 45 days. | 3 in aggregate with those species listed under subd. 2. |
| Mississippi River zone as established in s. NR 10.32. | Concurrent with the open youth waterfowl hunt in par. (n) and open northern zone regular duck season in par. (d), (e), or (f). Reopening on the first or second Friday in January and continuing to not exceed 45 days. | 3 in aggregate with those species listed under subd. 2. |
2. Gallinules, Sora rail, Virginia rail, common snipe, and woodcock. | Entire state. | Sept. 1 – Dec. 16 | 3 in aggregate with those species listed under subd. 1. |
3. Geese | Within the zones and subzones established in s. NR 10.31. | Concurrent with the open season for geese established in par. (h) for each zone or subzone. | As established in par. (L). |
4. The possession limit is three times the daily bag limit through the entire season except opening day when it is the same as the daily bag limit and the second day when it is twice the daily bag limit.
(n) Special youth waterfowl hunt event. Persons under the age of 16 may hunt all species of wild duck, mergansers, geese, coots, common gallinules, Sora and Virginia rails, and snipe statewide for 2 consecutive days starting on the Saturday before the beginning of the open season established for the north duck zone by par. (1) Approvals under ch. 29, Stats., are not required pursuant to s. 29.197 (2), Stats. Registration in the harvest information program under s. NR 10.12 (11) is required. Daily bag limits are those selected by the secretary under par. (L) and all other waterfowl hunting regulations apply. Hunters shall be accompanied by an adult 18 years of age or older and be in compliance with ss. 29.592 or 29.593, Stats. One adult may not accompany more than 2 hunters and pursuant to s. 29.592, Stats., not more than one of the 2 hunters may be age 10 or 11 or be a person who does not possess a certificate of accomplishment under s. 29.591, Stats., or its equivalent from another state, country, or province. Section 3 NR 10.01 (2) (g) 1. and (4) (c) 4. are amended to read:
Kind of Animal and locality | Open season (all dates inclusive) | Limit |
(g) Crow 1. Statewide except in the parks listed in subd par.. 2. b. | Beginning on the Saturday nearest September 15 and continuing through the Thursday immediately preceding the gun deer season for Zone A. in sub. (3) (e) and reopening in January and continuing through March 20. The date of reopening in January shall be established each year by the department to allow for a 124−day crow season. Beginning on the Saturday before Thanksgiving and continuing for 124 days. | Daily bag 15; possession 45 |
4. Zone D as described in s. NR 10.35 | Beginning on the day following the close of the open season for ducks as established under sub. (1) (b) 2. (1) par. (d) 2., (e) 2., or (f) 2. and continuing through March 15. | None |
Section 4. NR 10.06 (5) is amended to read:
(5) SHOOTING HOURS. Shooting hours for bear, bow deer, deer with firearms, elk and small game are 30 minutes before sunrise through 20 minutes after sunset. Shooting hours for migratory game birds are 30 minutes before sunrise to sunset except for teal during a season for hunting teal species only. The hours for shooting teal during the season established in s. NR 10.01 (1) (a) s. NR 10.01 (1) (c) shall be sunrise through sunset. Shooting hours for the first day of the pheasant hunting season established in s. NR 10.01 (2) (c) begin at 9:00 a.m. The department shall establish the specific opening and closing times annually in the hunting regulations pamphlets. Opening and closing times for zone A southern and northern areas shall be based on astronomical data collected by the U.S. naval observatory, Washington D.C., 20392−5420 for Sheboygan, Wisconsin and Powers, Michigan, respectively. The shooting hours for the other zones shall be obtained by adding minutes to the Zone A a.m. and p.m. columns as follows: Section 5. NR 10.12 (3) (b) is repealed.
Section 6. NR 10.12 (3) (c) is amended to read:
(c) Large Lakes and Great Lakes. Blinds in open waters of the following lakes if more than 1,000 500 feet from any shoreline including islands provided that, blinds are securely anchored: Beaver Dam Lake in Dodge County (excluding Rakes and Trestle Works Bays), Big Green Lake in Green Lake County, Castle Rock Lake in Adams and Juneau counties (south of railroad bridge and county road G), Fence Lake in Vilas County, Green Bay, Grindstone Lake in Sawyer County, North Twin Lake in Vilas County, Petenwell flowage in Adams, Juneau and Wood counties (north of state highway 21 and south of state highway 73), Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, Lake Puckaway in Marquette and Green Lake counties (the waters west of the west end of the dredge bank, excluding the waters east of the west end of the dredge bank), Shawano Lake in Shawano County, Trout Lake in Vilas County, Lake Winnebago, Lake Wisconsin in Sauk and Columbia counties (north of railroad bridge), and Lake Wissota in Chippewa County (south of county road S and north of county road X). All blinds must be securely anchored, except those in the open waters of Big Green Lake, Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and Green Bay.
Section 7. NR 10.125 (1), (5) (a) and (6) are amended to read:
(1) PERMIT REQUIREMENTS. (a) Permit possession required. No person may hunt Canada geese in any area of the state without having on his or her person a valid Canada goose hunting permit except for hunters 15 and under during the youth waterfowl season established in s. NR 10.01 (1) (n). (5)
(a) Bag limit. The aggregate daily bag limit for persons hunting in both the exterior zone and a subzone within the exterior zone in the same day during the regular Canada goose season is equal to the larger of the respective daily bag limits established in s. NR 10.01 (1) (g) s. NR 10.01 (1) (L). (6) Season closure. The secretary of the department may close a portion or all of any Canada goose season established in s. NR 10.01 (1) (g) NR 10.01 (1) (h) upon a finding by the department that the harvest for that season will exceed the level authorized by U.S. fish and wildlife service. Closure shall become effective upon issuance of an order and publication in the official state newspaper.
Section 8. Effective Date. This rule takes effect on the first day of the month following publication in the Wisconsin Administrative Register as provided in s. 227.22 (2) (intro.), Stats. Section 9. Board adoption. This rule was approved and adopted by the State of Wisconsin Natural Resources Board on October 25, 2023.
