Thursday, October 6, 2016

2016 Wisconsin Pheasant Season Dates & Stocking

The 2016 WI pheasant season is slated to open Saturday October 15th at 9 a.m. This is a change from the traditional noon opening time seen in past pheasant seasons.

The 2016 Wisconsin pheasant season looks promising, at least on stocked public lands. For 2016 the Wisconsin DNR plans to stock around 75,000 pheasants throughout the lower half of the state. This pheasant stocking level is on par with last year.

2016 WI pheasant Season DatesThe majority of stocked birds for the 2016 pheasant season are raised on the Poynette Game Farm which recently saw improvements and upgrades to enhance it's ability to incubate and raise pheasants.

As for wild pheasant hunting in Wisconsin, your best bet will be in the south eastern and south western portions of the state. The number of wild pheasants in Wisconsin continues to dwindle due primarily to habitat loss. The ethanol boom prompted many WI farmers to slash and burn existing hedge rows in an effort to shoe horn corn into every square inch of available land.

Cover for pheasants went up in smoke in addition to many buffer areas around streams and rivers. Coupled with the booming population of raccoons, skunks, coyotes and other predators and the wild pheasant population is dismal at best.

The good news is the 2016 WI pheasant hunting season is looking good on DNR stocked public hunting areas.  Here are some resources to check out:

2016 Wisconsin Pheasant Hunting Stocking Map

2016 Small Game Regulations

2016 Pheasant Stocking Information

Hen pheasants cannot be harvested in most areas, however some Wisconsin public hunting grounds stocked with pheasants in 2016 are open to hen hunting with tags.

2016 Wisconsin Pheasant Season Dates & Stocking was originally published on: HuntinglandWI


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