WRD Seeks Public Comment For 2023-25 Hunt Regulations

By GON Staff

In January, WRD Game Management will be seeking public comment from hunters as they begin the process of drafting up hunting regulation packages for the 2023-25 hunting seasons. During this process—which happens every other year—WRD usually comes to the table with changes they’d like to present for discussion to those who engage in the process. 

Two years ago was when WRD presented changes to the turkey hunting regulations. This resulted in a two-gobbler limit and a shorter season. With the number of turkey hunters in the state, this caused much discussion from interested hunters. However, the upcoming public meetings for the 2023-25 hunt reg cycle doesn’t appear to have any hot-button, statewide issues at the moment.

Anyone attending the Facebook Live meeting or one of the six in-person public meetings can expect to hear information on the below possible changes by WRD.

Alligator: Add 100 tags to current statewide quota.

Bears: Consider additional day of hunting, if the harvest on Day 1 is not excessive (Central Zone Only).

Deer: Consider changes to season regulations for southwest Georgia counties where biological data demonstrate a very late peak in the rut.

Sea Ducks: Limit sea duck bag—of the four bird total limit, only three can be scoters, long-tailed ducks or eiders (only 1 female eider).

Mergansers: Remove two-bird limit on hooded mergansers; total merganser limit will still be five.

Turkeys, other small game: No statewide changes under consideration at this time.

“The duck bag changes don’t affect most Georgia duck hunters and the bear and deer changes are very geographically limited,” said Tina Johannsen, assistant chief of Game Management.

As is always the case, public-land hunters can expect tweaks to individual WMA hunts (e.g. calendar shifts, add or subtract quota and sign-in hunts for a species). However, Tina said there are no plans for changes that will impact WMAs overall. 

“The main thing in January is the time for hunters to communicate to us on any and all changes they’d like to see, whether it’s a fairly minor thing on their favorite WMA, or a statewide major change to a season. If they can’t make a meeting (or even if they do go to a meeting), I strongly urge all hunters to consider emailing us their input to [email protected],” said Tina.

Tina said she reads every single email that is sent, which includes about 750 to 1,500 total comments.

“The presentation from the virtual meeting will be recorded and posted on our website, so that those who cannot attend any meetings can hear the same info we’ll be sharing at the in-person meetings,” said Tina.

At the conclusion of all the public meetings, WRD will compile comments and present them, along with their proposed changes, to the DNR Board in March. In April, WRD will host three public hearings, and those meetings are intended for comments on what is actually proposed in the March DNR board meeting. Comments on proposed regs are then summarized for the DNR Board meeting in May. The changes approved by the Board in May are what will go into the popular hunting guide that comes out in late July.