Plenty of stocked pheasants throughout the fall and winter seasons await bird hunters.

With birds exploding from cover, roosters cackling and fast-paced hunts that require focus, Pennsylvania’s ring-necked pheasant season always packs excitement.

And this year, it packs more birds, too.

Except for within the Central Susquehanna and Franklin County Wild Pheasant Recovery Areas, male and female pheasants are legal to harvest statewide. Although protecting hens is an important aspect of wild pheasant management, survival of propagated pheasants is too low to support sustainable populations, even without hunting mortality. While the Game Commission raise and releases pheasants at a ratio of around three males for every one female, the harvest of all pheasants is lawful and encouraged.

The statewide pheasant season opens Saturday, Oct. 22, and the Game Commission will be stocking about 235,000 pheasants – an increase from about 221,000 in the 2021-22 license year, said Ian Gregg, chief of the Game Commission’s Wildlife Operations Division.

“The majority of this year’s increase will be allocated to the late small game season, including the two after-Christmas releases, which proved extremely popular when initiated last year,” Gregg said.

All adult hunters and some senior hunters who pursue pheasants are required to purchase a pheasant permit in addition to a general hunting license. The permit costs $26.97 and must be signed and carried while hunting pheasants. Senior lifetime resident license holders who acquired their licenses prior to May 13, 2017 are exempt from needing a pheasant permit. Junior hunters and mentored permit holders under 17 need a free permit.

Although pheasant permit proceeds are not earmarked specifically for the propagation program, and do not completely offset the costs of raising and stocking pheasants, they are important in ensuring the financial sustainability of the program. Permit revenue for the 2021-22 license year exceeded $1.4 million.

“The popularity of pheasant hunting in Pennsylvania is reflected by the number of permits issued for adult and junior hunters, both showing increasing trends since 2018,” Gregg said.

“With contributions from many members of the Game Commission team, the goals of increased pheasant production and additional releases in the agency’s 2020-23 strategic plan have been achieved,” said Gregg. “As a result, the stage is set for pheasant hunters across the Commonwealth to experience a memorable season.”

Handling harvested birds

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) is on the general Pennsylvania landscape, so hunters are advised to practice precautions.

If hunters properly handle the wild birds they harvest, they not only protect themselves, but help reduce the risk that this extremely contagious disease spreads to other birds.

Bird hunters should:

·         Harvest only healthy-looking wild birds.

·         Wear gloves when handling any wild birds.

·         Wash hands with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer immediately after handling wild birds.

·         Dress harvested wild birds in the field.

·         Change clothing as needed, especially if visibly soiled or if any wild birds came in contact with clothing.

·         Change clothing, including footwear, before coming in contact with any pet birds or domestic poultry.

·         Wash all equipment, tools, and work surfaces with soap and water, then disinfect with a 10% household bleach solution. Allow to air dry or rinse after 10 minutes of contact time.

HPAI can infect humans, though just one human HPAI case has been reported in the United States during this outbreak.

Any sick or dead domestic birds should be reported to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture at 717-772-2852. Sick or dead wild birds should be reported to the Game Commission at 1-833-PGC-WILD or online using the Wildlife Health Survey tool at www.pgcapps.pa.gov/WHS.

Finding pheasants

            Because pheasant hunting in Pennsylvania relies on the release of propagated birds, hunters are wise to focus their efforts on the time periods and locations where the Game Commission stocks birds. To increase awareness of where and when pheasants will be stocked, the agency publishes an allocation table and interactive stocking locations map at www.pgc.pa.gov.

                Click on “Hunt & Trap” on the upper banner, then “Hunting,” then “Small Game,” then “Ring-necked Pheasant,” then “Stockings.” A table displays the number of pheasants to be released in each Game Commission region.

Click on a region to see the number of male and female pheasants planned for stocking in each county for each release, as well as the range of dates for each release, and a listing of each property to be stocked.

                Click on the interactive map of pheasant stocking locations to see the more than 200 properties that planned to be stocked. Click on an individual pheasant icon to see the property name, the number of releases, and number of birds released last year to get an idea of large versus small release areas. Users can also zoom in to see pink highlighted areas representing areas of best pheasant hunting habitat where birds are most likely to be found.

                The Game Commission will announce significant changes to stocking information via the agency’s Twitter feed, which can also be found on the “Hunting” tab of the website for those who don’t have Twitter accounts. The agency will make every effort to provide timely updates, but like anything with hunting, we cannot guarantee pheasants will be found in specific areas at specific times.

                The pheasant season runs from Oct. 22-Nov. 25, including Sundays Nov. 13 and Nov. 20; Dec. 12-23, and then Dec. 26-Feb. 27. The limit is two birds daily with six in possession.

Learn to Hunt

            For those new to hunting pheasants, the Game Commission has created an online resource that provides the information needed to be successful. The “Learn to Hunt: Pheasants” webinar is available on the Game Commission’s Learn to Hunt webpage http://bit.ly/pgclearntohunt and YouTube channel.