As publishedOct. 10, 2026 - Jan. 3, 2027
Statewide, roosters only.Shooting hours are 9 a.m. to sunset (not the standard 1/2 hour before sunrise used for most other small game). Rifle/handgun restricted to .22 caliber rimfire short/long/long rifle. Blaze orange/pink required above the waist. Pheasant stamp required for residents/nonresidents ages 18-64 in addition to a small game license.
Tracked via MN DNR's August Roadside Survey (167 routes, since 1955). 2026 fieldwork (Aug 1-15, 2026) has just closed; a fresh direct fetch of the stable report URL (files.dnr.state.mn.us/recreation/hunting/pheasant/roadside_survey.pdf) confirms it still hosts the 2025 edition (dated 2 September 2025: statewide pheasant index 75.2 birds/100mi, up nearly 50% from 2024's 51.2, attributed to a mild winter and drier spring) as of 2026-08-19 — a stale-attribution catch: an initial WebSearch pass described these same 2025 figures as “this year's” result without a year label, and was only caught by fetching the stable PDF directly and reading its own dateline. Expected early September 2026 per this precedent.