HARRISBURG, PA – With birds bursting out of cover, turkeys crowing and fast-paced hunts demanding focus, Pennsylvania’s ring-necked pheasant season is always full of excitement.
And this year, she collects more birds, too.
The statewide pheasant season opens Saturday, Oct. 22, and the Game Commission will harvest about 235,000 pheasants — up from about 221,000 in the 2021-22 license year, said Ian Gregg, chief of the commission’s Division of Wildlife Operations. of the Games.
“Most of this year’s growth will be down to the final season of small games, including the two post-Christmas releases which proved hugely popular when they launched last year,” Gregg said.
All adult hunters and some senior pheasant hunters must purchase a pheasant permit in addition to a general hunting license. The permit costs $26.97 and must be signed and carried while pheasant hunting. Lifetime resident license holders who obtained their licenses prior to May 13, 2017, are exempt from the need for a pheasant permit. Youth hunters and mentored permit holders under 17 need a free permit.
Although pheasant permit revenues are not specifically earmarked for the breeding program and do not fully offset the costs of raising and stocking pheasants, they are important to ensure the program’s financial sustainability. Permit revenue for the 2021-2022 license year exceeded $1.4 million.
“The popularity of pheasant hunting in Pennsylvania is reflected in the number of permits issued to both adult and junior hunters, both showing increasing trends since 2018,” Gregg said.
With the exception of the Central Susquehanna and Franklin County Wild Pheasant Recovery Areas, both male and female pheasants are legal to harvest statewide. Although hen protection is an important aspect of wild pheasant management, survival of breeding pheasants is too low to support sustainable populations, even without hunting mortality. While the Game Commission breeds and releases pheasants at a ratio of about three males to every female, harvesting all pheasants is legal and encouraged.
“With the contributions of many Game Commission team members, the goals of increased pheasant production and additional releases in the agency’s 2020-2023 strategic plan have been met,” Gregg said. “As a result, the stage is set for pheasant hunters across the Commonwealth to experience an unforgettable season.”
Handling of harvested birds
Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is in the general landscape of Pennsylvania, so hunters are advised to practice precautions.
If hunters properly treat the wild birds they harvest, they not only protect themselves, but help reduce the risk of this highly contagious disease spreading to other birds.
Bird hunters must:
- Collect only healthy looking wild birds.
- Wear gloves when handling any wild birds.
- Wash your hands with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer immediately after handling wild birds.
- Dress the wild birds harvested in the field.
- Change the clothing as needed, especially if it is visibly soiled or if any wild birds have come into contact with the clothing.
- Change clothing, including shoes, before coming into contact with any poultry or 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.
HPAI can infect humans, although only one human HPAI case has been reported in the United States during this outbreak.
Any sick or dead poultry 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 breeding birds, hunters are wise to focus their efforts on the times and locations where the Game Commission collects birds. To increase awareness of where and when pheasants will be stocked, the agency publishes a distribution chart and an interactive map of stocking locations at www.pgc.pa.gov.
Click on “Hunt & Trap” in the top banner, then “Hunting,” then “Small Game,” then “Ring-necked Pheasant,” then “Stockings.” A table shows 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 scheduled for collection in each county for each release, as well as the range of dates for each release and a list of each property to be collected.
Click on the interactive map of pheasant stock locations to see more than 200 properties that were planned to be stocked. Click on an individual pheasant icon to see the property name, number of releases, and number of birds released last year to get an idea of large vs. small release areas. Users can also zoom in to see the pink highlighted areas that represent areas of prime pheasant hunting habitat where the birds are most likely to be found.
The Game Commission will announce significant changes to stock information through the agency’s Twitter feed, which can also be found on the website’s “Hunting” tab for those who do not have a Twitter account. The agency will make every effort to provide timely updates, but as with everything hunting, we cannot guarantee that pheasants will be found in specific areas at specific times.
Pheasant season runs from October 22 to November. 25, including Sundays November 13 and November 20; Dec. 12-23 and then Dec. 26-Feb. 27. The limit is two birds per day with six in possession.
Learn to shoot
For those new to pheasant hunting, 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 website http://bit.ly/pgclearntohunt and YouTube channel.
MEDIA CONTACT: Travis Lau – 717-705-6541
# # #
