Alaska Fish & Wildlife News
April 2025
Changes for Fall Waterfowl Hunting Season
Emperor geese, Canada geese and brant affected
Duck and goose hunters planning fall hunts should be aware of some regulation changes. Waterfowl hunting season over much of Alaska opens in September and there are a few federal framework regulations changes hunters should anticipate: a closed season for emperor geese and new restrictions for Canada/cackling geese and brant. The federal regulation changes will be effective September 1, 2025
Emperor goose season closed
The emperor goose season will be closed statewide; and therefore, registration permits will not be available. The aerial survey index used to monitor the population dropped below a prescribed management threshold in 2024 and that triggers a season closure. The hunting season will reopen when the population increases to a harvestable level.
The bag and possession limits for Canada and cackling geese will be reduced to 3 per day and 9 in possession in Game Management Units 9, 17, and 18. Bag limit changes in Alaska, as well as in Washington and Oregon, are intended to reduce harvest on minima cackling geese to help reverse the current negative population trend. Breeding bird surveys in western Alaska indicated that the minima cackling goose population has continued to decline and is now at the lowest level since 1994, the year hunting reopened after a decade of closure.
The season length for brant in all hunt zones will be shortened to 51 days, and the bag limit will remain at 2 per day. Brant seasons will run September 1 – October 21 in the Northern and Southeast zones, October 1 – November 20 in the Gulf Coast zone, and October 8 – November 27 in the Kodiak and Aleutians zones. Aerial survey indices indicated the brant population declined below the management plan threshold specifying a change from moderate to restrictive harvest regulations across the Pacific Flyway. Restrictive regulations were last implemented for brant in 1987.
These were changes to the federal framework regulations and will later be codified in Alaska state regulations prior to the start of the hunting season. Please refer to the 2025-2026 Alaska Migratory Game Bird Regulations booklet for specific details of these changes. For more information, contact Jason Schamber, Statewide Waterfowl Program Coordinator, at 907-267-2206, jason.schamber@alaska.gov
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