To show our appreciation for veterans and active duty service members, the FWC offers Veterans and Active Military Waterfowl Hunting Days. This special waterfowl hunting weekend, which is part of Florida’s statewide seasons, occurs Feb. 4 - 5. The opportunity allows veterans and members of the Armed Forces on active duty ─ including members of the National Guard and Reserves ─ to hunt ducks, geese, mergansers, coots and common gallinules (moorhens).

Waterfowl hunting is permitted on private property with landowner permission and on any water body with public access, though, some public water bodies may be closed for specific reasons, such as being in a park or area where discharging firearms is prohibited. 

Wildlife management areas that offer duck hunting may have special permit requirements and restrictions on when and where you can hunt. It’s important to carefully review the WMA regulations brochure for the area you want to hunt for information about license and permit requirements, bag limits and other rules. Find more information about this opportunity including a list of WMAs available for hunting during Veterans and Active Military Waterfowl Days.

Witnessing a wetland come to life at first light and watching ducks work a decoy spread are just a few reasons to take a young person duck hunting. You can provide those experiences during the FWC’s second Youth Waterfowl Hunting Day, which is Saturday, Feb. 11.

This opportunity allows youth 15-years-old and younger to hunt ducks, light geese, Canada geese, mergansers, coots and common gallinules (moorhens) while supervised by a nonhunting adult 18 years old or older. 

In addition to hunting on private property with landowner permission and on most waterbodies that have a public boating landing/launch, the FWC also offers youth hunts at the following areas: 

• T.M. Goodwin Public Small Game Hunting Area,
• Stormwater treatment areas (STA-1W, STA 2 and STA 3/4) 
• Guana River - Lake Ponte Vedra PSGHA
• A-1 FEB Impoundment PSGHA

In addition, special events will be held at T.M. Goodwin, STA 1W, and Guana River - Lake Ponte Vedra hunt. These fun, family-oriented events include raffles, free food and great waterfowl hunting. For more information about the T.M. Goodwin PSGHA and STA-1W hunts, call 321-726-2862. For information on the Guana River - Lake Ponte Vedra hunt, call 904-825-6877.

Learn more about Youth Waterfowl Hunting Days.

You can find quail hunting opportunities at wildlife management areas throughout the state. Four WMAs – Apalachicola, Blackwater, Jennings Forest and Three Lakes – include quail enhancement areas, which feature land management activities that benefit bobwhites. Visit MyFWC.com/Quail to find January and February 2023 hunt dates at FWC’s quail enhancement areas.

Despite impacts from Hurricane Ian and Nicole, covey call counts indicate bobwhite populations remained stable (or even increased) on many WMAs in 2022, which supports the importance of land management activities. Favorable spring and summer weather also helped create good nesting and brood rearing conditions. These factors – habitat management and a good hatch – likely reduced the impacts from the hurricanes. Hunters can find success by concentrating on areas managed by prescribed fire, roller chopping or timber harvest.  

On lands outside of the WMA system, quail season runs statewide through March 5. Learn more about quail hunting.  

You have through Jan. 31 to enter the CWD Monitoring Sweepstakes (though don’t forget Zone C’s general gun season runs through Jan. 22). To be eligible to win a prize package, donate the head of a white-tailed deer harvested from Taylor, Dixie, Lafayette, and Gilchrist Counties and that part of DeSoto County in Zone C, to be tested for chronic wasting disease. The fact there are five prize packages and deer heads are being accepted from only eight counties improves the chances of winning! Each prize package is valued at $1,000 and contains a cooler, trail camera, binoculars and a game processing knife kit. If you’re donating antlered deer, you may remove and keep the skull cap and antlers. Learn more and find donation locations.

Share your photos and you might see them in our publications or website! We're looking for photos you’ve taken of your hunting experiences as well as images you’ve captured of live game wildlife such as deer, wild turkey, waterfowl, dove, quail, gray squirrel and furbearers. Learn how to submit photos.

Photo courtesy of Glenn Whittington