| Window | Dates | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Season | 17 OCT 2026 – 28 FEB 2027 | 135d |
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, bag 2/day) on Nov 18 & 25, Dec 2 & 16, 2026, and Jan 6, 2027.
Rhode Island's ring-necked pheasant population is entirely put-and-take, and RI DEM's stocking pattern and locations are named exactly: pre-season stocking followed by twice-weekly releases through December (none in January/February) at 11 named Wildlife Management Areas: Arcadia, Black Hut, Big River, Buck Hill, Carolina, Durfee Hill, Eight Rod Farm, Great Swamp, Nicholas Farm, Sapowet Marsh, and Simmons Mill Pond. A separate Youth Pheasant season stocks a narrower subset (Great Swamp, Durfee Hill, Eight Rod Farm) specifically for the youth hunt. A further distinct, geographically separate program exists on Block Island (New Shoreham): a special hunt requiring written landowner permission, restricted to roosters/male birds and non-toxic shot, on five specific dates through the season. It is a genuinely separate huntable population/access arrangement from the mainland WMA stocking network, not just an administrative variant.
Rhode Island's mainland pheasant population is entirely stocked, not wild. RIDEM releases birds specifically for hunting rather than a population that reproduces and sustains itself naturally. RIDEM's 2025-2026 Pheasant Program Summary confirms 2026-27 stocking plans: 6,000 birds released across 11 WMAs statewide (Oct-Dec 2026), the same total for a fifth consecutive year, drawing an estimated 1,500 hunters. Hunter satisfaction and average harvest both ticked down slightly from the prior year, per the same report, worth knowing if you're weighing this against a wilder destination. Rhode Island's only wild, self-sustaining pheasant population is on Block Island; no standalone population count is published for it.
RIDEM holding its stocking commitment steady at 6,000 birds for a fifth consecutive year — a program-level decision, not a population or weather finding.
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