Oklahoma · UplandRing-necked pheasant

Ring-necked pheasant in Oklahoma is confined to the intensively farmed western and northwestern counties and the Panhandle, at the southern fringe of the species' overall North American range. ODWC's own November 2025 Pheasant Season Update (primary source, Tell Judkins, Upland Game Biologist) gives exact county-level detail: the five traditional highest-density counties monitored by spring crow counts since 1973 and brood surveys since 1980 are Alfalfa, Beaver, Cimarron, Grant, and Texas, and ODWC expanded its survey coverage to 13 counties in 1998 by adding Ellis, Garfield, Harper, Kay, Major, Noble, Woods, and Woodward. The current legal open-hunting area, per the same document, covers Alfalfa, Beaver, Cimarron, Garfield, Grant, Harper, Kay, Major, Noble, Osage, Texas, Woods, and Woodward counties in full, plus the portions of Blaine, Dewey, Ellis, Kingfisher, and Logan counties lying north of State Highway 51 — a footprint essentially identical to the survey-monitored area. Habitat is cultivated farmland mixed with weedy fencerows, ditches, and field corners, with CRP land also favored; 2025 survey indices remained below the long-term average despite a modest year-over-year uptick tied to improved spring/early-summer moisture.