As publishedOctober 17, 2026 - February 28, 2027 (general season); Youth season Oct 10-12, 2026; Block Island special hunt Nov 18 & 25, Dec 2 & 16, 2026, Jan 6, 2027
Game Bird Permit required (state permit, not federal HIP) to hunt ring-necked pheasant and bobwhite quail; no physical tag required. Bag is 2 either-sex birds daily. RI DEM stocks pheasants pre-season then twice weekly through December (no stocking Jan/Feb) at Arcadia, Black Hut, Big River, Buck Hill, Carolina, Durfee Hill, Eight Rod Farm, Great Swamp, Nicholas Farm, Sapowet Marsh, and Simmons Mill Pond WMAs. Separate Youth Pheasant season Oct 10-12, 2026 (ages 12-17, bag 2, birds stocked at Great Swamp, Durfee Hill, Eight Rod Farm WMAs). Separate special Block Island hunt (written landowner permission required, roosters/male birds only, steel or other approved non-toxic shot only, bag 2/day) on Nov 18 & 25, Dec 2 & 16, 2026, and Jan 6, 2027.
RIDEM's 2025-2026 Pheasant Program Summary (published June 2026, authored by Upland Game Bird Biologist Lizzi Bonczek, directly read in full this pass) confirms 2026-27 stocking plans: 6,000 pheasants across 11 WMAs statewide (Oct-Dec 2026), the same total for a fifth consecutive year. 2025-26 hunter survey (460 responses): 1,645 Game Bird Permits sold (a slight increase from 1,512 in 2024-25 per the report's own framing; a separately-cited 20% figure in the same report spans 2019-2025, not year-over-year), an estimated 1,255 pheasant hunters, average harvest of 5 birds/hunter (down from 6 the prior year), and satisfaction down to 50% 'very satisfied/satisfied' from the previous year (28% dissatisfied). Rhode Island's only wild (non-stocked) pheasant population remains on Block Island; no standalone Block Island population count was found in this report or elsewhere.