New Year's Day was overcast and chilly — perfect conditions for hunting waterfowl.

Some buddies and I woke before dawn, and headed out in southern Chester County to deploy our rig of 150-some Canada goose decoys in a winter wheat field.

Only recently has the goose activity picked up in our hunting area — including visits the previous few days by flocks to the very field where we set up.

And so we were excited for the day's hunt.

Flock after flock winged over the field.

Some gave us hard looks.

Others sailed right by.

None offered a shot.

When you're on a goose hunt, your ears are every bit as important as your eyes.

Due to peaks and valleys in the rolling countryside, you often hear flocks long before you ever see them.

Lots of things sound like a flock of honkers — crows, seagulls, barking dogs — yet, when you hear an actual flock of geese, there's no mistaking it for anything else.

So it was understandable Jan. 1, when someone in the group said, "Hey, I think I hear a flock," at one point during the hunt.

That perked up everyone's ears.

A high-pitched drone drifted to us on the west wind, and someone else reported, "Those are snow geese."

Within a minute, a tell-tale undulating line of snows appeared over the trees to our right, amid a chorus of barks and squeaks.

We had nothing but dark dekes in our spread, so we didn't expect the flock to work our field.

But it was a thrill to watch the white geese sail directly overhead.

"Look, there's a blue goose," someone called out, pointing toward a dark bird in the middle of the flock.

A few more flocks of snows crossed our line of sight through the morning, letting us know for certain that winter is officially here.

• • •

Local snow goose hunters can certainly head out now in pursuit of these wily birds in Pennsylvania.

Those who want to chase them during the state's upcoming conservation season are reminded they will need a special permit, besides their hunting license, waterfowl stamp and migratory game bird license, to do so.

Lancaster, Chester, Berks and Lebanon counties unquestionably are the heart of Pennsylvania's snow-goose hunting area.

We hold the greatest concentrations of these birds in the state during their winter respite from their breeding grounds in the high Arctic.

Accompanied by relaxed rules to allow hunters a greater chance at bagging snows, the conservation season is scheduled after all other waterfowl seasons have ended.

So here in the Atlantic Population Canada Goose Zone, the snow-goose conservation season will run from Jan. 28-April 26.

In the Resident Population Zone, the season is March 1-April 26, and in the Southern James Bay Zone, it's Jan. 19-April 26.

You can get the free conservation season permit by visiting the Pennsylvania Game Commission's website, pgc.state.pa.us.

For those with no Internet access, permits can be obtained by calling the PGC headquarters at 787-4250, and asking for the Bureau of Wildlife Management.

However, this process will require mailing the permit and report cards to an applicant, so allow a minimum of one week for processing and mail delivery.

With the permit, hunters are required to log the days they hunt, the equipment they use and the number of geese they bag, so wildlife managers can track the success of the special season.

Here in Pennsylvania, the special concessions waterfowl hunters are afforded in the conservation season that they cannot employ at any other time are the use of electronic calls and decoys and hunting to a half-hour after sunset.

A study of harvest reports from all seven Atlantic Flyway states that schedule the conservation season indicated the electronic calls are worth the investment.

The Snow Goose, Brant, and Swan Committee of the Atlantic Flyway Council found in its study that "the most useful of the special [conservation season] measures was the use of electronic calls, which accounted for approximately 54 percent of the total kill in 2012.

"This percentage has increased each year of the [conservation season]. In 2009, only 29 percent of the harvest was achieved using electronic calls.

"The percentage of the kill attributed to the use of both unplugged guns and extended shooting hours has fluctuated somewhat over the four years of the [conservation season]."

We're not allowed to use unplugged shotguns in Pennsylvania.

Last year's conservation season in Pennsylvania was a tough one.

If you recall, midwinter was mild, and then late winter was downright unseasonably warm.

The snow geese motored through Pennsylvania, offering only brief windows of opportunity for waterfowl hunters.

For the season, the PGC issued 2,649 permits. That's the fewest ever issued.

Despite the reporting requirement — which applies whether a hunter hunts or not — only 915 reports were submitted to the PGC.

Of those 915 hunters, only 568 actually hunted.

They hunted a combined 2,123 days, which is the lowest total charted over the past four years.

Hunters reported taking 3,420 snow geese here, with 1,356 shot over electronic calls and 1,091 taken over electronic decoys.

Pennsylvania's harvest total was fifth best among the seven states in the flyway that held conservation seasons last year.

Maryland was tops, with 13,647 snows bagged, followed by New York, with 9,081; Delaware, with 6,416; and New Jersey, with 3,760.

Only Virginia and Vermont posted lower kills than Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania's best year was in 2009 — the first year a conservation season was held here.

That year, hunters bagged 5,903 snow geese.

But it's not fair to compare the 2009 data to 2012, since hunters in 2009 were sent a reminder to submit their report cards.

As a result of that reminder from the PGC, the reporting rate was 89 percent, as compared to last year's 35 percent.

P.J. Reilly is a Sunday News outdoors writer. Email him at preilly@lnpnews.com.