Photo by Andy Martin.

Check the calendar of any Pennsylvania waterfowler and you'll probably find a huge circle around the entire month of December. This is the most anticipated month of the year for Keystone State honker hunters. There are plenty of hunting opportunities from Erie to Philadelphia.

When it comes to goose hunting in Pennsylvania, the state is divided into four units. There's the Southern James Bay Population Zone and the Pymatuning Zone, which together encompass Erie, Mercer and Crawford counties in the Northwest Region. The Atlantic Population Zone covers the southeast corner of the state. And then finally there's the Resident Population Zone, which encompasses the rest of the state.

Each zone offers some hunting in December, with varying bag limits. The dates for the 2007 season in each zone, as well as the daily bag limits, were not set as of the writing of this article. When you buy your federal duck stamp, be sure to check the Pennsylvania 2007-08 Guide to Migratory Bird Hunting that's distributed along with the stamp for dates and bag limits for this season.

Hunters may also view the state's waterfowl regulations online at the Pennsylvania Game Commission's Web site, .

Waterfowl biologists with the Pennsylvania Game Commission expect a banner year for Canada goose hunters, based on population statistics for the various flocks of geese found in the state. About 300,000 resident geese call Pennsylvania home. That figure is statistically similar to prior years.

The Atlantic population of the Canadas that migrate through the eastern third of the state was estimated at 1.4 million in 2006 -- the most recent population data available.

That's similar to the 2005 estimate, but much higher than figures from a decade ago. The southern James Bay population of Canadas, which migrates through the northwestern corner of the state, was estimated at 160,400 birds in the spring of 2006, which was up 3.5 times over the 2005 estimate and the highest on record since surveys began in 1990.

Simply put, there's no shortage of geese out there, no matter where you live in Pennsylvania.

It's up to you to find the flocks in your area and determine where they like to feed and roost for the night. Find out where they're going and set up a spread of decoys ahead of the flock, and you'll be bagging your own Christmas goose.

Following are our top picks for places to hunt Keystone State honkers in December:

ATLANTIC POPULATION ZONE
Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area
One of the most popular resting places for migratory and resident Canada geese in December in this zone is Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area on the Lancaster-Lebanon county line. Owned and maintained by the Pennsylvania Game Commission, Middle Creek is managed primarily for waterfowl.

The heart of this 6,000-acre property is a mixture of ponds, wetlands and farmland that's ideal habitat for Canada geese.

Much of this portion of the property is dedicated as a propagation area, which means it's generally off-limits to hunters. Hunter access to parts of this restricted area is allowed by a lottery drawing on certain days during December.

The Game Commission maintains pit blinds in these areas, which hunters may utilize through a lottery drawing. Contact the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area's office at (717) 733-1512 for information on hunting these restricted areas.

Surrounding the propagation area is State Game Lands (SGL) No. 46, where public hunting is permitted.

For geese, plan on hunting the fields east of Middle Creek along Girl Scout Road and northwest of Middle Creek along Sunnyside Road.