When a banded goose is harvested, the hunter calls the toll-free number on the bird's band and reports the band number. Biologists can gather data from the banded birds to track survival and movement of our state's nesting geese. This data, in turn, can be used to set the various goose zones and regulations within those zones.

Unfortunately, this year's data may point to a down year for our local geese.

"The hatch looks fair," said Pritchert. "It's down from the good hatches that we've had over the last few years."

He attributes the lower number of broods and smaller number of birds per brood to the late freeze that we experienced last April: "That freeze occurred late in the nesting season," the biologist stated. "The birds would have been just beginning to hatch."

Despite a less-than-desirable hatch, Kentucky hunters should still have plenty of opportunities for successful goose hunts this season.

So where should you set your sights for the best opportunity to put a few geese in the game bag? Let's look at Kentucky's five goose zones and the opportunities that exist in each for some great wingshooting action.

WESTERN GOOSE ZONE
The Western Goose Zone consists of several counties and portions of counties in the state's extreme northwestern part. It starts at Henderson County in the east and includes all of the Ohio River border counties west to Fulton County, along with the northern tips of Graves, Marshall, and Lyon counties. In terms of season length, the western zone is the most liberal, typically opening for goose hunting in early December and running through the end of January.

For public goose-hunting opportunities in this zone, it's hard to ignore Ballard and Boatwright WMAs.

These public hunting areas rely heavily on migrating geese from the north, but the KDFWR has sought to improve hunting opportunities by bringing in several thousand giant Canadas over the last two years -- last year, approximately 3,000 geese were released at Ballard WMA and another 3,200 this year.

Hunting at Ballard WMA is very restricted, and most is done by advance application. But many drawn hunters do not show up, and those blinds may become available to standby hunters who check in before 5 a.m.

Boatwright WMA, on the other hand, has gone to a daily draw system. Interested hunters can show up at the Ballard WMA lodge on the morning they wish to hunt and put their party in for a blind.

In addition to the drawing process, both Ballard and Boatwright WMAs have numerous restrictions in place to ensure continued hunting opportunities. For example, blinds are limited to four people, and each person is limited to 25 shotgun shells per day.

Hunting is allowed only from Wednesday through Sunday, and all hunters and their equipment must be off of the area by 2 p.m., Central Standard Time.

For more rules and information on goose hunting these WMAs, pick up a copy of the 2007-2008 Kentucky Waterfowl Hunting Guide.

PENNYROYAL/COALFIELD GOOSE ZONE
Moving slightly east, the Pennyroyal/Coalfield Goose Zone includes an area from the Western Goose Zone east to -- and including -- the counties of Simpson, Warren, Butler, Ohio and Daviess counties, but excluding those portions of Hopkins, Muhlenberg, Ohio and Butler counties that fall in the West-Central Goose Zone.

Much of the goose hunting in this area occurs on the private ponds and lakes that dot the region. There's plenty of public hunting opportunity -- nearly 200,000 acres of it -- in the form of Kentucky and Barkley Lakes.