The Game Commission limits the number of geese that waterfowlers may take per day inside the Middle Creek project and on SGL 46. The daily bag limit in December has been three geese in all of the Atlantic Population Zone for the past few years, but it's one goose per day inside Middle Creek and on SGL 46. Check the regulations this year to see if that rule has changed.

Most of the property surrounding SGL 46 is privately owned farmland. While a select few hunters lease some of it, some farm-game cooperative properties are nearby in Lebanon County to the north and in Lancaster County to the south. In Lebanon County, a large band of farm-game properties stretches from east to west, north of Middle Creek. The area between Schaefferstown and Iona on Route 897 is worth investigating, as are the farms on Route 419 between Cornwall and Buffalo Springs, and along Route 501 and Reitsville Road outside of Reitsville, north of Schaefferstown.

Marsh Creek State Park in Chester County is another good bet for December goose hunters in the Atlantic Population Zone. The 1,700-acre park north of Downingtown offers about 900 huntable acres, including much of the 535-acre Marsh Creek Lake.

One of my favorite goose hunts at Marsh Creek involves launching my boat at the 24-hour-access ramp at the end of Lyndell Road on the west side of the lake. From the ramp, I head south toward the dam, stopping in the shallow cove east of the dam.

The water here is the perfect depth for Canadas to loaf and feed on submerged plants. I'll pitch a few decoys and then tuck my boat back into some leafy vegetation.

For information on Marsh Creek Wildlife Area, contact the park office at (610) 458-5119.

Nockamixon State Park
Another place worth checking out in the Atlantic Population Zone is Nockamixon State Park in Bucks County. The 5,238-acre park east of Quakertown features the 1,450-acre Lake Nockamixon.

About 3,500 acres of the park are open to hunting, including roughly half of the lake, although the huntable lake area is not contiguous.

Hunting is not permitted in the westernmost end of the lake, or in the central portion near the park office. Hunters must stick to the central portion of the lake, between the two "no-hunting" areas and the easternmost end of the lake.

For a good hunt, launch a boat at the Haycock Ramp in the east arm of the lake and head north under Route 563 toward Church Road. A few little coves along the shoreline in this area are perfect places for waterfowlers to pitch their Canada decoys.

For more information on Nockamixon State Park, call the park office at (215) 529-7300.

For general information on hunting the Atlantic Population Zone, contact the Pennsylvania Game Commission's Southeast Region office at (610) 926-3136.

SOUTHERN JAMES BAY & PYMATUNING ZONES
Pymatuning
Wildlife Management Area
Pymatuning Wildlife Management Area and the surrounding SGL 214, which border Pymatuning State Park in Crawford County, are the Northwest Region's equivalent of Middle Creek and SGL 46, except the area is much larger. Pymatuning Reservoir alone covers 17,000 acres. Hunting in the management area on SGL 214 is allowed only on certain days and only by hunters who win access to the area through a lottery drawing.

For information on hunting this area, call the Pymatuning office at (814) 683-5545.

General public hunting is allowed on the state park land and SGL 214 land that lies outside Pymatuning's controlled-access areas. In the park, check out the Black Jack Swamp Natural Area between Route 6 and the Ohio state line.