| Window | Dates | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Season | 31 OCT 2026 – 31 JAN 2027 | 93d |
As publishedOct. 31, 2026-Jan. 31, 2027
Roosters (cocks) only.Regulated jointly with quail and partridge under one 'pheasant, quail and partridge' season window. Youth-only season Oct. 24-25, 2026 (ages 15 and under, 2 daily/4 possession rooster pheasants).
Birds of Nebraska Online (BONO), the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission's own ornithological reference, states plainly that pheasant densities are highest in three named areas of the state and lowest in intensively farmed eastern Nebraska and the Sandhills interior, which lacks agricultural cover. NGPC's public-access acreage data and its own crow-count survey results corroborate the southwest as the strongest single area.
Nebraska's pheasant season (regulated jointly with quail and partridge under one season window) runs Oct. 31, 2026-Jan. 31, 2027, roosters only, 3 daily/12 possession, with a youth-only weekend Oct. 24-25. NGPC's own 2026-27 Upland Game Bird Hunting Outlook shows a genuinely strong year: the April Rural Mail Carrier Survey came in up 11% statewide vs. 2025 with increases in 5 of the state's 6 regions, and the July survey came in up 36% statewide with increases in every region except Central. Statewide indices are running above both the 5- and 10-year averages, just short of the 20-year average. Northeast Nebraska posted the sharpest regional gain (July RMCS +84% vs. 2025), and along with the Panhandle and Southwest carries the state's higher pheasant densities this fall. The one real catch NGPC flags: drought conditions could thin out hunting cover, with the greatest impact expected in the Panhandle specifically. That's notable because the Panhandle's own bird numbers are up, so the constraint there is cover to hunt, not bird abundance.
Statewide pheasant counts up in both the April (+11%) and July (+36%) Rural Mail Carrier Surveys vs. 2025, with increases in 5 of Nebraska's 6 regions, per NGPC's own 2026-27 Upland Outlook.
Join the waitlist and tell us what you’re working on — the planner reads it first once your access opens.
Free, invite-gated, unsubscribe anytime. See what it returns