Pa. game commission plans to release 23,000 pheasants
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The state game commission plans to release 23,000 pheasants on Dec. 22-23, as part of the seventh and final release of 2020.
Pheasant hunting is open across Pennsylvania. All hunting is closed on Christmas, but the season reopens on Dec. 26 and continues through Feb. 27.
“These pheasant releases just before Christmas provide incentive for hunters to get outdoors at a time of year when they might have an extra day or two off to spend in solitude or safely with friends and family,” said Game Commission Executive Director Bryan Burhans. “On some tracts, the birds to be released will provide hunting opportunity through the end of the season; some pheasants always make it through. It’s part of why small-game hunters look forward to winter so much.”
Except for senior lifetime licensees who bought lifetime hunting or combination licenses prior to May 13, 2017, all hunters pursuing pheasants need a permit in addition to their general license.
For adults and non-exempt senior hunters, the permit costs $26.90. For junior hunters and mentored permit holders under 17, the permit is free.
Both male and female pheasants can be hunted statewide, except for within the state’s two Wild Pheasant Recovery Areas, where pheasant hunting is closed, except as authorized by executive order.
A hunter’s daily limit of pheasants is two and the possession limit is six.
All pheasant hunters must wear at least 250 square inches of fluorescent orange on the head, chest and back combined, with orange visible from all directions. If using a shotgun to hunt pheasants, the weapon must be 10 gauge or less, with a capacity of no more than three shells in the chamber and magazine combined.
Pheasant hunters who encounter game commission pheasant-stocking trucks are reminded that a safety zone is established around the release site. It’s unlawful to discharge a firearm within 150 yards of a game commission vehicle if its occupants are releasing pheasants.
Statewide this year, more than 218,000 pheasants were allocated for release. More information about releases and the tracts on which the birds are stocked can be found at www.pgc.pa.gov.