Colorado light geese season 2026-27: dates, units and bag limits
Light geese is open in Colorado from October 31, 2026 to February 14, 2027, east of the Continental Divide (the part east of I-25). This page has the 2026-27 dates, the daily bag and possession limits, the licences you need and the rules that apply, read from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife brochure.
2026-27 season dates and limits
| Season | Dates | Where | Daily bag | Possession |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Flyway, east of I-25 | October 31, 2026 to February 14, 2027 | east of the Continental Divide (the part east of I-25) | 50 | No limit |
Shooting hours: Half an hour before sunrise to sunset. Non-toxic shot is required.
Units we can plan for light geese
The legal area is as the brochure words it in the table above. These are the units inside it that our maps cover: a unit missing from a list may still be open, so check the brochure.
Central Flyway, east of I-25: east of the Continental Divide (the part east of I-25)
45 units: 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 95, 96, 97, 98, 100, 101, 102, 103, 106, 107, 109, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 119, 120, 121, 122, 124, 125, 126, 127, 130, 132, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147.
Licences and stamps
- Colorado small game licence
- Colorado Habitat Stamp
- Harvest Information Program (HIP) number for this season
- Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp (duck stamp)
- Colorado waterfowl stamp
Rules for light geese
- Non-toxic shot no larger than size T. You may not carry lead shot while hunting ducks, geese or coots.
- Shotgun holding no more than three shells. Electronic calls are not legal in the regular season.
- At 16 and older you need the federal duck stamp and the Colorado waterfowl stamp as well as the licence and HIP.
- Keep the head or one fully feathered wing on each bird until you are home.
- In the northern Front Range area and in Bent, Crowley, Kiowa, Mesa, Otero and Prowers counties, no waterfowl hunting within 50 yards of the centre line of a public road or within 150 yards of a dwelling without the occupant's permission.
Do not mistake these for light geese
- Whooping crane (protected or closed: never shoot): White with black wing tips like a snow goose, but with a long neck held straight out and long legs trailing behind. Federally endangered.
- Swans (protected or closed: never shoot): All white with no black wing tips, a very long neck and slow wingbeats.
- American white pelican (protected or closed: never shoot): White with black in the wings, but huge, with a long bill, a folded neck and a soaring flight.
- Dark geese (lower limit): Canada, cackling and white-fronted geese have their own limit of 5. A blue goose (dark body, white head) is a snow goose and counts as a light goose.
How to hunt light geese
- Snow geese feed in big flocks and change fields often. Scout the evening before and be on that field at first light.
- A white bird with black wing tips is a snow goose only if it also has a short neck, no trailing legs and a goose call. Check all four.
Where to walk for light geese in your unit
FilledTag finds the patches of the right habitat for your date on public land in the unit you choose, each with legal parking and the walk from the truck.
Check my hunt See a sample planWhat a map cannot tell you
- Nearly all light goose hunting is on private fields. Crop fields are not offered.
- The spring conservation order is not planned by the planner.
- Only the units wholly east of I-25 are mapped. Elsewhere only an owner's draft can be made.
Source
2026 Colorado Small Game & Waterfowl brochure (corrections 21 Aug 2026), pages 6 to 8 and 14; CPW regulations chapter W-5 (03/04/2026): https://cpw.widen.net/s/bklvf2bjmw/colorado-small-game--waterfowl-brochure. Read October 2, 2026. Rules change every year, and corrections are issued during the season: read the current brochure before you hunt.