PointsAfieldSeason2026–27
South Dakota · Upland

Ring-necked pheasant

Opens in 36 days
Season 2026-27
3 windows on one classification

Season windows

  1. Window 126 SEP – 04 OCT 20269d
  2. Window 210 OCT – 12 OCT 20263d
  3. Window 317 OCT 2026 – 31 JAN 2027107d

As publishedYouth: Sept 26-Oct 4, 2026; Resident-only: Oct 10-12, 2026; Regular: Oct 17, 2026-Jan 31, 2027

What you may take, and when

Take and hours

Bag limit3 roosters daily; 15 possession (regular & youth, accrues 3/day, not fully available until day 5); 9 possession (resident-only, accrues 3/day, not fully available until day 3)

Licence and outlook

HIP requiredNot required
Exceptions posted at the boundary

Roosters only.Three sub-seasons: Youth-only (Sept 26-Oct 4), Resident-only on public land (Oct 10-12, 9-bird possession cap), and the Regular season (Oct 17-Jan 31). Shooting hours 10 a.m. Central Time to sunset (regular & youth). A handful of game-bird refuges (Renziehausen, Gerken, White Lake GPAs; Sand Lake NWR) have delayed openers of Dec 1 or Dec 14 through Jan 31.

Population outlook

South Dakota 2026

Awaiting survey — South Dakota 2026

SD GFP's pheasant program is narrative-only (no quantitative pre-season survey since the roadside brood count was discontinued in 2019); the governing document is the Upland Outlook PDF, published late August annually. The 2026 edition (gfp.sd.gov/userdocs/docs/uplandoutlook_2026.pdf) returned a 404 on direct fetch 2026-08-19; expected within the next 1-2 weeks.

Issuing agencySouth Dakota Game, Fish and Parksgfp.sd.govRecord year 2026