Choose a Quail or Pheasant Hunting Preserve

Excellent quail, pheasant hunting and upland bird hunting opportunities exist all across the United States. Please click on the map to the left to find a hunting preserve, game farm or guide near you or select a state from the list below.

Canada Has some of the best upland and pheasant hunting opportunities in the world. Please click on the links at the bottom of the page to look for a hunting area near you:

Learn More About Wild Pheasants

Pheasants are Asian natives that were first successfully introduced into the U.S. in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The cock (male) pheasant is a large, chicken-like bird with a bluish green head, a red cheek patch, and usually a white neck ring. The adult male has reddish brown back feathers that fade to bluish green on the lower back, and copper or maroon feathers on the breast. Wing feathers are reddish brown at the base of the wing, and lighter brown toward the tip. The adult hen is smaller than the cock. Feathers on the female are generally tan with brown and cream markings. The ringneck is a bird of agricultural edges, favoring soils rich in nutrients and organic matter. Pheasants thrive where farming is intensive if two major habitat requirements are met: adequate undisturbed cover for nesting, and sufficient food and cover for the critical winter period. During winter, pheasants usually concentrate near standing corn, brushy woodlots, dense field borders, and wetland edges. In spring, groups of birds disperse into more open, grassy and old field habitats adjacent to crop fields for breeding and summer brood rearing. Hens with broods move into fields with flowering plants, which attract protein-rich insects - an important food source for growing chicks. Adult pheasants also consume insects in late summer and fall to prepare for the winter ahead.

Male pheasants are polygamous, that is, they mate with more than one female. In the spring, cocks attract hens and warn other cocks to stay out of their territory by crowning a hoarse, two syllable “Erk-erk”. In his courtship display the cock Pheasant will strut, spread his tail, and fluff out his feathers. The size of a cock’s harem (group of females) varies with the number of hens in the vicinity.The hen builds her nest on the ground in grass, alfalfa, and other low vegetation. Hay fields and pastures are favorite nesting areas. The hen lays her clutch of about 12 eggs in a period of two weeks. After an incubation period of about 23 days chicks hatch and are ready to leave the nest as soon as their feathers dry off. They stay near the hen for the next several weeks. Young pheasants grow quickly, resembling adults by 15 weeks of age.

The ring-necked pheasant, though widely associated with North America's farmland regions and great plains, is actually an exotic species native to China that was first introduced in the United States in the Early 1900s. Wild Pheasants populations in the US are heavly concentrated to the Midwest and great plains but Pheasants can be hunted in every state in the country and across Canada at the great hunting preserves listed on the following pages.

The Ring Neck Rooster (male) pheasants are brightly colored birds that have a bright red eye patch surrounded by iridescent violet and green feathers on their head. A bright white feather necklace gives the bird its name. Roosters, which weigh roughly 2.5 to 3 pounds, also have a long tail, which can be over 2 feet long.

Hen pheasants weigh roughly 2 to 2.5 pounds. They have a shorter tail and are drab-colored compared to the rooster. The hen's tan plumage provides perfectly colored camouflage when she is nesting and helps her escape the probing eyes of foxes, hawks, and other predators.