New Jersey · Pheasant · 2026–27 Edition
New Jersey Pheasant Season 2026–27: Dates, Zones & Bag Limits
01 — Seasons
| Season | Zone | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Pheasant (roosters, projected 2026-27 dates) | 23 stocked Wildlife Management Areas statewide — Assunpink, Black River, Clinton, Colliers Mills, Delaware Water Gap NRA, Flatbrook, Manasquan, Millville, Pequest, Stafford Forge, Tuckahoe, Whittingham, Winslow and others — plus limited access at Fort Dix | Nov 7 – Feb 15 |
| Bobwhite quail (stocked, projected 2026-27 dates) | Greenwood Forest WMA and Peaslee WMA only | Nov 7 – Jan 30 |
02 — Bag limits
| Pheasant — daily | 2 (roosters) |
|---|---|
| Quail — daily (Greenwood Forest/Peaslee only) | 4 |
03 — Shooting hours
Legal light on opening day (November 7, 2026) 06:35 — 17:19
Rule: SUNRISE to half an hour after sunset — an unusual pairing: New Jersey gives pheasant no margin at the start of the day but half an hour at the end. Opening day is different again, starting at 8 a.m. Youth pheasant days run sunrise to half an hour after sunset, and the guided/open youth hunts start at 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. respectively. Read from the 2025-26 digest segment; re-check once the 2026-27 digest is published. Sunrise/sunset shift daily — the times above are computed for opening day; use your local New Jersey sun times for any other date.
04 — License
Pheasant hunters in New Jersey need a New Jersey hunting license — a $2 Pheasant and Quail Stamp, required for anyone 16 or older hunting or possessing pheasant or quail on designated WMAs (valid the calendar year, Jan.–Dec.; several youth/mentored license types are exempt), plus the standard $2 HIP Certificate
New Jersey hunting license cost →
Where to hunt public land in New Jersey — WMAs by county & access rules →
05 — FAQ
When does pheasant season open in New Jersey?
The earliest 2026–27 opener is November 7, 2026. See the table above for each segment and zone.
When does pheasant season end in New Jersey?
The latest 2026–27 closing date is February 15, 2027. Individual segments and zones can close earlier — see the table above.
Can I shoot hen pheasants in New Jersey?
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 New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife before you hunt.
How many pheasants can you shoot in New Jersey per day?
2026–27 bag limits: Pheasant — daily — 2 (roosters). Quail — daily (Greenwood Forest/Peaslee only) — 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 New Jersey?
On opening day (November 7, 2026) legal light runs 06:35 to 17:19. The rule is: SUNRISE to half an hour after sunset — an unusual pairing: New Jersey gives pheasant no margin at the start of the day but half an hour at the end. Opening day is different again, starting at 8 a.m. Youth pheasant days run sunrise to half an hour after sunset, and the guided/open youth hunts start at 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. respectively. Read from the 2025-26 digest segment; re-check once the 2026-27 digest is published. Sunrise and sunset shift daily, so work the offset against your local New Jersey sun times for any other date.
Can I hunt pheasant on my own land in New Jersey without a license?
A New Jersey farm occupant who actually lives on a qualifying farm (5 or more acres, at least $500 gross farm income, assessed as farmland) — plus immediate family living there too — may hunt, trap, and fish it without a license. They still need a free Conservation ID for harvest reporting, and the exemption doesn't extend to tenants, employees, or other non-family residents.
Verified · New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Fish & Wildlife · Last verified 2026-08-14
Publisher's note. dep.nj.gov blocks automated fetchers directly (Incapsula/WAF), so every NJDEP page and PDF here was read through the r.jina.ai text-extraction proxy. As of the verification date, NJDEP had not yet published a 2026-27 Hunting & Trapping Digest or updated upland-game-bird-regulations.pdf — the 2026-27 digest URL (digest-hunting-and-trapping-2026-2027-complete.pdf) 404s, the hunting hub page (last updated July 27, 2026) still links only the 2025-26 digest, and the 'current' upland-game-bird-regulations.pdf and stocking page both still describe the 2025-26 cycle (opener Nov. 8, 2025 at 8 a.m.; pheasant closed Feb. 16, 2026; quail closed Jan. 31, 2026; closed Dec. 8-13 & 17, 2025 during firearm deer season; 47,100 pheasants stocked across 23 WMAs — Northern region Black River 2,610/Clinton 3,010/Delaware Water Gap NRA 2,960/Flatbrook 3,170/Pequest 2,610/Whittingham 2,460, Central region Assunpink 4,860/Colliers Mills 2,990/Manasquan 1,690/Stafford Forge 2,430, Southern region Millville 5,090/Tuckahoe 1,650/Winslow 2,040 — plus limited releases at Fort Dix; 4,510 quail each at Greenwood Forest and Peaslee WMAs; $2 Pheasant and Quail Stamp; $2 HIP Certificate). No NJDEP text found states the rule by which the annual opener is set, but three verified NJDEP-announced openers (Nov. 10, 2018; Nov. 9, 2019; Nov. 8, 2025) all fall exactly on 'the first Saturday on or after November 7,' and the 2025-26 pheasant closing date (Feb. 16, 2026) falls exactly on Presidents Day (3rd Monday of February). Applying that same pattern projects a 2026-27 opener of Sat., Nov. 7, 2026 and a pheasant close of Mon., Feb. 15, 2027 (Presidents Day 2027); the quail close is projected the same way from its one known data point (last Saturday of January: Jan. 31, 2026 -> Jan. 30, 2027). These three 2026-27 dates are a pattern-based projection, NOT an NJDEP-confirmed date, and should be re-verified once the 2026-27 digest publishes. A third-party aggregator (huntinglocator.com) independently lists a Nov. 7, 2026 pheasant opener but cites no NJDEP source, was published Feb. 12, 2026 (before NJ's Game Code reorganization proposal of April 6, 2026), and gives an implausibly short Jan. 14, 2027 close inconsistent with every confirmed prior year — it was treated as noise, not corroboration. Cocks-only is standard NJ practice per secondary sources (hunterpassport.com) but was not found stated verbatim in the digest excerpt reviewed.