Twenty ptarmigan a day, most of the year, across the Interior

Ptarmigan hunters in the Interior are getting a generous season. In Game Management Units 12, 20 and 25C, the daily limit is 20 birds, with 40 in possession, from Aug. 10 all the way through Feb. 28, before dropping to five a day once spring arrives. The limits cover rock, willow and white-tailed ptarmigan, and they're the same for residents and nonresidents alike.

Part of what makes it a good hunt is how much country goes barely touched. Fish and Game expects the limited access into ptarmigan habitat across these three units to leave "large areas of refugia from hunting pressure," while the birds nearer the road corridors take most of what pressure there is. That's a lot of Interior ground where the birds are hunted lightly, if at all.

The generous limit runs through most of the season for a reason: the department has found late-season hunting there is sustainable. The numbers tighten in spring, from 20 birds to five starting March 1, because seasons that run into the breeding period start targeting resident birds, as males defend territory and females return as early as late March. "Some late season hunting appears to be sustainable for ptarmigan in Units 12, 20, and 25C," wrote Jason Caikoski, the department's management coordinator.

The order takes effect Aug. 10 and runs through the season. The same numbers already appear in the 2026-27 hunting regulations book.