Pheasant hunters will have more birds and more places to hunt them in 2020, thanks to the Fish and Game Commission recently expanding the department’s pheasant stocking program by more than doubling the number of stocking locations, adding at least one in each of Fish and Game’s seven regions.
Starting in October, pheasants will be stocked at 22 locations, including 15 Fish and Game properties, two Bureau of Reclamation properties, one Bureau of Land Management property, and four privately owned sites that are enrolled in Fish and Game’s Access Yes! program. A complete list of stocking locations is available on Fish and Game’s pheasant stocking webpage.
In addition to more release sites around the state, Fish and Game will stock about 34,000 pheasants this year, up from about 21,000 in 2019.
“Pheasants are the most popular game bird species for upland game hunters in the state,” said Jeff Knetter, Upland Game and Migratory Game Bird Coordinator. “Hunters and supporters of pheasant hunting asked us to expand the pheasant stocking program to include additional properties, and we now provide that opportunity.”
Prior to 2020, Fish and Game pheasant stocking was limited mostly to Wildlife Management Areas in southern and eastern Idaho. Changes in rule and law in 2019 expanded the requirement that hunters age 18 or older must have a valid Upland Game Bird Permit to hunt all properties where Fish and Game stocks pheasants so the commission could expand pheasant stocking locations outside of Wildlife Management Areas this year. This opened the door for new opportunities in the central and northern parts of the state, and expanded opportunity in southern and eastern Idaho.
The new permit replaces the WMA Pheasant Permit that was previously required to hunt pheasants stocked on Wildlife Management Areas. The permit is only required if a person hunts pheasants on properties where pheasants are stocked. Each property where a permit is required will be clearly marked with signs designating it as an Upland Game Bird Permit release area, like the one below.
New and existing pheasant stocking areas will fall under the same rules as WMAs where pheasants have been stocked in the past, which include:
- Each Upland Game Bird Permit allows the take of six pheasants, and multiple permits may be purchased.
- The two pheasant daily bag limit, and six pheasant possession limit apply
- When a pheasant is reduced to possession, the hunter must immediately validate the permit by entering the harvest date and location in non-erasable ink, and remove a notch from the permit for each pheasant taken. Hunters can find locations codes for each Upland Game Bird Permit Release Area in the table at the end of this article, or on Fish and Game’s upland game bird permit webpage.
- Shooting hours are from 10 a.m. to one half hour after sunset, during the pheasant season, with the exception of the Clearwater Region, where shooting time is 8 a.m. and online sign-up is required.
- All upland game bird hunters are required to wear at least 36 squares inches of visible hunter orange above the waist during pheasant season (a hunter orange hat meets this requirement). This includes all upland game bird hunters on Upland Game Bird Permit Release Areas, not just those pursuing pheasants. This is not a requirement for upland game hunters who are hunting other sites.
- The permit is not required to hunt any other upland game bird species in Idaho, including in Upland Game Bird Permit Release Areas.
- The Upland Game Bird Permit is not required for pheasant hunting outside of Upland Game Bird Permit Release Areas.
New location codes required
These locations codes are required to validate a permit after a pheasant is harvested, but they are NOT in the 2020-21 Upland Game, Turkey and Furbearer rules booklet. Please consider printing and carrying it with you if you plan to hunt on Upland Game Bird Permit Release Areas. You can double click and download it to your desktop.
