Forecast: Most pheasant hunting in Pennsylvania depends on the put-and-take program of the Pennsylvania Game Commission. An average of 200,000 pheasants are released each year, mostly on public lands, says Tom Keller, wild pheasant recovery area and bobwhite quail focus area coordinator.
The state has established four wild pheasant recovery areas, where pheasant hunting isn’t allowed, in an attempt to re-establish self-sustaining populations. The four recovery areas, ranging from 15,000 to 126,000 acres, are located in Somerset County; Franklin County; Montour, Northumberland and Columbia counties; and Dauphin and Schuylkill counties. Winter flushing surveys and spring crowing counts are conducted within the WPRAs to determine pheasant population density estimates, Keller says. Summer surveys are not conducted in Pennsylvania.
“The research portion of the WPRA program, as well as the Pheasant Management Plan, are coming to a close here next year, and we are currently analyzing data to help determine direction for the program,” says Keller. “Recommendations will be made in the final report concerning each of the four WPRAs and whether hunting of wild pheasants will be re-established within any of these areas.”
Pennsylvania once had a self-sustaining pheasant population. Breeding Bird Survey data from routes run in primary pheasant range counties in southeastern Pennsylvania show that pheasant numbers increased an average 3 percent per year from 1966 to 1974. The population held steady through 1980. But then it plunged. The roadside index fell from 32 birds per route in 1966 to less than a single bird in 2005.
“Loss of farmland habitat and intensification of agricultural practices on remaining cropland acres are the primary causes for these declines,” according to the Northeast Upland Game Bird Technical Committee report for 2015. “In addition, the release of large numbers of game farm pheasants is thought to have greatly reduced the gene pool and survivorship of pheasants in the wild.”
The Pennsylvania Ring-necked Pheasant Management Plan 2008–2017, completed in 2009, laid out a two-pronged approach to pheasant recovery. First is restoring wild birds in designated recovery areas. Second is providing put-and-take hunting.
Season Dates: October 22 through November 26, 2016; December 12 through December 24, 2016; and December 26, 2016 through February 28, 2017
Daily Bag Limit: 2 (whether male only or both varies by region, see season link below)
Possession Limit: 6 (whether male only or both varies by region, see season link below)
Field Notes: There is no open season for the taking of pheasants in any Wild Pheasant Recovery Area.
Helpful Links: