This state's classification carries no date range for the species.
Legal game bird under HAR §13-122-6, referred to in DOFAW announcements as 'Nepal Kalij Pheasant' (Lophura leucomelana). Present at least on Oahu (Kuaokala GMA, Makua Kea'au PHA) where it counts against the Ring-neck/Other Pheasant daily bag. 2026-27 dates not yet published as of 2026-08-29; 2025-26 reference: Nov 1, 2025 - Jan 25, 2026. DOFAW's last 5 years of announcements all came out in October, so this isn't overdue yet.
Kalij Pheasant, per the Bishop Museum's Pyle & Pyle "Birds of the Hawaiian Islands" reference monograph, traces its entire Hawaii population to a single release of 67 birds at Pu'u Wa'awa'a Ranch, Hawai'i Island in 1962 -- unlike most of Hawaii's other introduced game birds, it was not part of a multi-island propagation program. It was not considered established through the 1960s-70s, then expanded rapidly (about 8km/year) starting in the late 1960s, reaching most of the island's forested elevation band (300-2500m) by the late 1980s and becoming one of the island's most common forest birds in the 1990s, though Christmas Bird Count data show a decline in abundance since. A real, separate O'ahu population has been building since the early 2000s in the Wai'anae Range -- not from any deliberate release, but from birds presumed descended from captive escapes -- and unconfirmed reports of a possible Maui population surfaced as recently as 2016.
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