Maryland · Pheasant · 2026–27 Edition
Maryland Pheasant Season 2026–27: Dates, Zones & Bag Limits
01 — Seasons
| Season | Zone | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| General season (licensed hunters locate birds on their own) | Statewide, all counties | Nov 7 – Feb 28 |
| DNR-stocked "do-it-yourself" mentored hunt (lottery-drawn apprentice, junior, first-time, and lapsed license holders only) | Selected public WMAs statewide — 2025 event used sites including Wye Island, McKee-Beshers WMA, Indian Springs WMA, and Fair Hill; 2026 site list posted after the lottery closes | Nov 21 – Nov 22 |
02 — Bag limits
| Daily | 2 (either sex) |
|---|---|
| Possession | 4 |
03 — Shooting hours
Legal light on opening day (November 7, 2026) 06:11 — 17:29
Rule: One half hour before sunrise to one half hour after sunset — the daily small-game hours, matching COMAR 08.03.01.01's definition of 'daytime'. SUNDAYS DIFFER BY COUNTY: in most Sunday-hunting counties small game closes at 10:30 a.m. instead, while some counties run the same hours as Monday-Saturday. Check your county's Sunday chart. Sunrise/sunset shift daily — the times above are computed for opening day; use your local Maryland sun times for any other date.
04 — License
Pheasant hunters in Maryland need a Maryland hunting license — a valid Maryland hunting license (apprentice or junior license accepted for the mentored stocked hunt); the Nov. 21-22 DNR stocked hunt itself carries no separate fee beyond the license, but requires winning DNR's lottery — apply via a free MD Outdoors account between July 1 and Oct. 2, 2026
Maryland hunting license cost →
Where to hunt public land in Maryland — WMAs by county & access rules →
05 — FAQ
When does pheasant season open in Maryland?
The earliest 2026–27 opener is November 7, 2026. See the table above for each segment and zone.
When does pheasant season end in Maryland?
The latest 2026–27 closing date is February 28, 2027. Individual segments and zones can close earlier — see the table above.
Can I shoot hen pheasants in Maryland?
See the bag limit table above — most states restrict the daily bag to roosters only, but rules vary and this is worth double-checking against Maryland Department of Natural Resources before you hunt.
How many pheasants can you shoot in Maryland per day?
2026–27 bag limits: Daily — 2 (either sex). Possession — 4. Limits are set per zone and per permit — check the agency's own regulations before you hunt.
What time can you start shooting pheasant in Maryland?
On opening day (November 7, 2026) legal light runs 06:11 to 17:29. The rule is: One half hour before sunrise to one half hour after sunset — the daily small-game hours, matching COMAR 08.03.01.01's definition of 'daytime'. SUNDAYS DIFFER BY COUNTY: in most Sunday-hunting counties small game closes at 10:30 a.m. instead, while some counties run the same hours as Monday-Saturday. Check your county's Sunday chart. Sunrise and sunset shift daily, so work the offset against your local Maryland sun times for any other date.
Can I hunt pheasant on my own land in Maryland without a license?
A Maryland resident landowner — plus their spouse, child, and child's spouse — doesn't need a license on land they hold title to; the same goes for a tenant and their family. Deer and turkey still need a free DNRid and Big Game Harvest Record, and nonresident owners generally don't qualify.
Verified · Maryland Department of Natural Resources · Last verified 2026-08-15
Publisher's note. dnr.maryland.gov blocks direct WebFetch (403) on every page and PDF tried, so all pages below were read through the r.jina.ai text-extraction proxy. The Nov. 21-22, 2026 lottery-based 'do-it-yourself' stocked pheasant hunt — eligibility (apprentice, junior, first-time full-season, and lapsed license holders), lottery window (apply July 1-Oct. 2, 2026 via an MD Outdoors account, results posted by Oct. 23, 2026) — is read directly from DNR's own Mentored Hunt Program page. The general statewide pheasant season (Nov. 7, 2026-Feb. 28, 2027, cock and hen, 2/day, 4 possession) is read from DNR's own '2026-2028 Hunting and Trapping Regulation Proposals' PDF, and is independently corroborated by statehunting.org's separate read of the same regulation (though that site gives Nov. 7 while one AI-search synthesis of an older secondary source claimed Nov. 2 — Nov. 7 is used here since it comes from the DNR proposal document and a second independent source, not the single unconfirmed Nov. 2 claim). DNR's own Hunting Seasons Calendar PDF was also checked but its compact visual grid extracted through the proxy as an apparently mis-parsed 'Oct. 26-31' range inconsistent with every other source and was discarded rather than used. WMA example names (Wye Island, McKee-Beshers, Indian Springs, Fair Hill) are the 2025 stocked-hunt site list surfaced via search — DNR states the confirmed 2026 site list is posted only after the lottery window closes, so treat these as illustrative, not final. DNR's own statement that pheasants persist only in very low numbers in Carroll, Baltimore, Frederick, and Washington Counties (no self-sustaining wild population statewide) was found via a secondary aggregator quoting DNR material, not read verbatim on a DNR page directly this round.