GREEN RIVER — Limited quota sandhill crane, mourning dove, and early Canada goose seasons will open Sept. 1 in the Pacific Flyway and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department is reminding bird hunters to get ready now. The Pacific Flyway means that portion of Wyoming west of the Continental Divide, including the Great Divide Basin.

The sandhill crane hunt is only open to valid limited quota permit holders.
Sandhill crane hunt areas within the Green River Region include hunt area 1 (Bear River and Ham’s Fork Drainages in Lincoln County), hunt area 3 (Bureau of Reclamation Eden Project in Sweetwater County), and hunt area 5 (all of Uinta County). The season opens Sunday, Sept. 1, and ends officially at sunset on Saturday, Sept. 8. The season bag limit is one crane.

The early Canada goose season in the Pacific Flyway opens Sept. 1 and ends officially at sunset on Sept. 8. The daily bag limit on any Canada or Cackling Goose is two, and the possession limit is six; except in Teton County where the daily limit is three and possession limit is nine.
Hunting seasons for mourning doves, rails, and snipe also opens Sept. 1. The daily bag limit for doves is 15 and 45 in possession.

Hunters are urged to read the 2015 Early Migratory Game Bird Hunting Regulations before going hunting.

All migratory bird hunters must have a Wyoming game bird license, Conservation stamp, and a Federal Harvest Information Program (HIP) stamp. During the early migratory bird season the Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp (“Duck Stamp”) is required only if you are 16 years of age or older and plan to hunt geese. Anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 1966 who hunts wildlife with a firearm must also have a hunter education certificate.

All licensed migratory bird hunters must complete a HIP validation and must obtain a Wyoming HIP validation permit before they can legally hunt migratory game birds in Wyoming. HIP applies to anyone who hunts doves, ducks, geese, mergansers, coots, sandhill cranes, snipe, or rails. HIP is a federal program that improves the ability to estimate harvest for management of migratory game species. HIP validation permits are free of charge and only available from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department website [email protected]

In order to obtain a HIP validation permit you will be asked to identify the species you hunted the previous year and the approximate number you harvested. Some hunters will be randomly surveyed after the hunting season. Only one HIP permit is needed to hunt all species for the entire migratory game bird season. HIP permits are only valid in the state in which they are issued.

In an effort to protect migratory birds, federal and state law requires that no person shall hunt cranes, ducks, geese, mergansers and or coots with shot shells loaded with shot other than nontoxic shot.

Bird hunters can refer to the 2015 Early Migratory Game Bird Hunting Seasons on pages 14-15 for detailed information about shotgun loads, distance estimation, and steel shot lethality. For more information, call the Green River Game and Fish Office at (307) 875-3223 or (800) 843-8096 (in-state).