Pheasant
Season Information
Season Dates: 2012 Season Pending -
Open Area: All of South Dakota except the following:
- Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge in Brown County, Renziehausen Game Production Area and Game Bird Refuge in Brown and Marshall Counties, Gerken Game Bird Refuge in Faulk County and White Lake Game Bird Refuge in Marshall County are open Dec. 12-Jan. 1
- Lacreek National Wildlife Refuge, Bennett County, is open Oct. 15-Jan 1. You must check in at the refuge headquarters to obtain a free permit before hunting. Permits are available at either entrance kiosk, or online at www.fws.gov
Daily Limit: 3 rooster pheasants
Possession Limit: 15 rooster pheasants, taken according to the daily limit. The limit accrues at the rate of 3 birds a day, and 15 birds may not be possessed until after the fifth day of hunting.
Shooting Hours: 12 Noon, Central Time, to sunset Oct. 15-21; 10 a.m., Central Time, to sunset the rest of the season. NOTE: Central Time is used for opening shooting hours statewide.
Future Opening Dates: The pheasant season traditionally opens on the third Saturday in October. The tentative date for 2012 will be October 20.
Pheasant Outlook
To gauge how good pheasant hunting can be in South Dakota, you need to consider a bad year.
The last time hunters harvested fewer than 1 million roosters during a South Dakota season was in 1992, and that was almost 970,000. Since 1926 the state's harvest total has been under 1 million birds only 21 times, and only four times under a half-million.
It is no coincidence that almost all of those occurred in a stretch from 1965 through 1990, the timeframe between the Soil Bank and Conservation Reserve Program agriculture set-aside programs. These government programs resulted in prime pheasant habitat. Prime habitat breeds prime pheasant numbers.
Pheasant Ecology - This 6 part series from the SD Conservation Digest takes a view at the different cycles of a pheasant throughout the year.
2010 Pheasant Hunter and Pheasant Distribution Map
License Requirements:
- Residents = Small Game, or Combination, or Junior Combination, or Youth Small Game; or 1-Day Small Game
- Nonresidents = Nonresident Small Game, or Nonresident Youth Small Game (each valid for two 5-day hunting periods; start dates must be identified before license issued)
- Purchase a license online: Purchase and print off your license from the comfort of your home.
- You may purchase your license by visiting these storefront license agents
Hunting Regulations: A summary of the rules and regulations that guide your hunt.
Public Hunting Areas: We offer over 1 million acres of Walk-In Areas (private land leased for public hunting) to supplement our many other public hunting opportunities. Not only can you access these maps, but we offer options to personalize maps to meet your needs and even download map information to your GPS unit.
Hunter Harvest Survey Reports: A scientific sampling of hunters is taken after many hunting seasons. The information you provide is not only valuable to our biologists, but is good background information for you on the past year.