Current/Upcoming Seasons

• Oct. 10-31 in the Upper Peninsula in Menominee County and portions of Iron, Marquette, Dickinson and Delta counties
• Oct. 20 - Nov. 14 in the Lower Peninsula
• Dec. 1 - Jan. 1 in selected areas of Zone 3

See the Hunting and Trapping Digest for maps of open hunting zones. The bag limit is two male pheasants daily, with four in possession. A base license is required to hunt pheasants.

Pheasant Season Outlook

"A few years ago, Outdoor Life magazine rated Michigan's Thumb in the top 10 places in the country to go wild pheasant hunting, which points to the fact that pheasant hunting is still alive and well in our state," said Al Stewart, Department of Natural Resources upland game bird specialist. "The DNR and our partners are making progress towards creating more quality pheasant hunting opportunities with the Michigan Pheasant Restoration Initiative, a collaborative effort to revitalize Michigan pheasants." 

While pheasant populations have been in decline for several years, pheasants can be found in southern Lower Michigan and in some areas of the Upper Peninsula. The best counties for pheasant hunting are in south-central to mid-Michigan and into the Thumb.

There are some localized concentrations of birds elsewhere based on habitat availability. Stewart advises hunters to look for warm-season grasses, especially idled farm fields. Late-season hunters can have success in cattail and shrub lands adjoining picked agricultural fields.

A Ring-Necked Pheasant Status Report for Michigan has recently been completed and is available for viewing.

Michigan Pheasant Restoration Initiative

Made up of many partners, MPRI is a conservation initiative to restore and enhance Michigan pheasant habitat (grasslands), populations, and hunting opportunities on private and public lands via pheasant cooperatives.

The initiative works by acquiring state and federal resources to assist landowners in the cooperatives to improve wildlife habitat on their properties and by improving grassland habitat on selected state game areas, recreation areas, or other public lands.

“It has been exciting to see what the MPRI coalition of partners has been doing over the last few years to improve pheasant habitat, pheasant numbers and pheasant hunting in southern Michigan,” said Bill Vander Zouwen, Pheasants Forever representative and MPRI Coalition co-chair. “I am really looking forward to seeing what the next five years will bring.”

For example, the DNR bought over 1,200 acres and improved thousands of acres on state game areas, Pheasants Forever provided 90,000 acres of habitat, the U.S. Department of Agriculture farm programs provided over 100,000 acres of habitat, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service helped landowners improve close to 3,500 acres.

A Mid-Point Accomplishments Report, detailing the work the coalition completed in the first five years of the MPRI partnership, is available for review. The 2016 MPRI Annual Report is also available.

Places to Hunt

Mi-HUNT

• No matter where you are in Michigan, you can find public hunting land. This interactive map application, which now works on mobile devices, contains the most up-to-date information to help you plan your next hunting trip. Mi-HUNT includes both public hunting land and private land open to the public for hunting.

HAP - Hunting Access Program

• There are private lands open to public hunting through the Hunting Access Program. HAP is a voluntary land-leasing program that offers hunters access to thousands of private-land acres across the state.

Questions?
Call 517-284-WILD (9453)