Illinois · UplandRing-necked pheasant

IDNR's own species page states pheasant is “a common, permanent resident in northern and central Illinois and a rare resident in the southern portion of the state” — the same north/central-vs-south split reflected in the state's hard regulatory zone line (the season's North Zone runs the length of the state north of the US-36/IL-29/IL-9 boundary line, with a later South Zone close date). That range description is independently corroborated by a USDA/IDNR habitat-investment program: the Illinois Pheasant Initiative SAFE (a targeted CRP grassland-restoration program naming Ring-necked Pheasant as its target species) is drawn to enroll land in exactly 46 counties across central, north, and northwestern Illinois — an agency-drawn geographic line matching the species' own stated range, not a hunting or density claim by itself, but a real, funded confirmation of where the state is investing in pheasant habitat. IDNR's own 2025 Ring-necked Pheasant Status Report gives no further sub-region breakdown within that range (survey routes are run statewide, not organized into named regions), and its 2025-26 outlook advises hunters to “focus on areas with relatively new CRP plantings” generally rather than naming specific counties.