The Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission recommended modest increases in license and permit fees on select non-resident licenses, senior-disabled licenses and resident permits for deer and elk.

Rates for basic hunting and fishing licenses for adult Kentucky residents are not affected by the proposal. The new rates are proposed for the upcoming license year which begins March 1, 2014.

The commission also proposed the 2013-2014 waterfowl seasons at its quarterly meeting, held Aug. 14.

The commission recommends all hunting, fishing and boating regulations for approval by the General Assembly and approves all expenditures by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. All recommendations must be approved by two legislative committees before they become law.

Commission members proposed increasing the fee for 13 non-resident licenses and permits, six resident permits and the senior-disabled license. Commission members also voted to create separate fees for cow and bull elk permits for both residents and non-residents.

Proposals include raising the deer permit for residents from $30 to $35; senior/disabled licenses from $5 to $11; deer permit for non-residents from $60 to $160; quota bull elk permit for residents from $30 to $100; and non-resident quota bull elk permit from $365 to $550; among others.

The commission also proposed the creation of two new licenses for Kentucky residents: a senior lifetime sportsman’s license for $82 and a three-year fishing license for $55. A list of all the proposed changes will be available online at fw.ky.gov, the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife website.

In other action, commission members acted upon waterfowl seasons for 2013-14.

The Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission must place waterfowl seasons within the framework mandated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service because all migratory game birds are under federal control.

Last year, the 2012-13 duck season was split into two segments. The 2013-14 season will run continuously because of the late Thanksgiving date this year and the early closing of the federal framework. The calendar shift from 2012 to 2013 created this situation.

Duck, Coot and Merganser

• Duck season opens Nov. 28, 2013 and closes Jan. 26, 2014.

• Season dates for mergansers and coots are the same as the duck season dates for the 2013-2014 seasons. The daily bag limit for mergansers is five, only two of which may be hooded mergansers. The daily limit for coots is 15.

Canada Goose

• Western Goose Zone: Nov. 28, 2013 – Jan. 31, 2014.

• Pennyrile-Coalfield Goose Zone (including West-Central Canada Goose subzone): Nov. 28, 2013 – Jan. 31, 2014.

• Eastern Goose Zone: Nov. 28, 2013 – Jan. 31, 2014.

• Northeastern Goose Zone: Jan. 1 – 31, 2014.

White-fronted Goose, Brant

• Statewide: Nov. 28, 2013 – Jan. 31, 2014.

Snow Goose

• Regular season: Nov. 28, 2013 – Jan. 31, 2014.

Snow Goose Conservation Order Season

• Eastern Duck Zone: Feb. 1 – March 31, 2014.

• Western Duck Zone: Feb. 3 – March 31, 2014.

Youth Waterfowl Season

Eastern Zone:

• Nov. 2-3, 2013.

Western Zone:

• Feb. 1-2, 2014.

The commission also increased the Canada goose daily bag limit from two to three birds for the 2013-2014 fall waterfowl seasons. Possession limits for all migratory including waterfowl are now three times the daily bag limit.

Commission members also increased to two the number of canvasback ducks that may be part of the six bird daily duck bag limit. They lowered the number of scaup that make up the six bird daily duck bag limit from four to three.