New rules for hunting Canada geese in northwest Oregon will be in effect when the northwest permit goose zone opens to hunting on Saturday.

Gone are the requirements to check in geese at a check station, which was inconvenient for hunters. The check-in requirement was to screen for dusky Canada geese, a subspecies of Canada goose with a small population size.

Now, the dusky Canada goose season is simply closed. It is a wildlife violation to shoot one.

Legal shooting hours have also been changed to 15 minutes after sunrise to 15 minutes before sunset.

“It is more important than ever for hunters to hold their fire unless they are sure the target is not a dusky Canada goose,” Brandon Reishus, of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, said in a statement. “Hunters are advised to focus efforts on cackling Canada geese, which are very abundant and easy to identify.”

Goose hunters are still required to pass the Northwest Oregon Goose Identification Test (http://bit.ly/1OOpOsG) to hunt. Also, the northwest permit and northwest general goose zones are combined and now the northwest permit zone includes all of Benton, Clackamas, Clatsop, Columbia, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Multnomah, Polk, Tillamook, Washington and Yamhill counties.

The northwest permit zone goose season will be open Saturday — Nov. 1, Nov. 21 — Jan. 12 and Feb. 6 — March 10. See page 22 of the Oregon Game Bird Regulations at http://bit.ly/1ODGTad for details.