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Where to hunt ring-necked pheasant in North Carolina
Last updated 2026-09-24 · from NCWRC data · 2026–27 season year
In North Carolina, ring-necked pheasant is barely present. A naturalised population on the barrier islands of Carteret, Dare and Hyde — Hatteras and Ocracoke — hunted as a wild bird, males only. On the mainland the long either-sex season is a released-bird season. 140 of North Carolina's 140 huntable public units name ring-necked pheasant among their species — 1,913,995 acres in all. The best-supported of them is Croatan National Forest: 101,246 of its 161,851 acres lie in cells where the bird is recorded. Units here are ordered by how much of each one lies in subbasins where ring-necked pheasant is recorded at regular strength or better, not by how big the unit is. NCWRC zones this season and this app does not carry the zone boundary, so the units below are not narrowed to it — check the boundary before you go.
Where the bird is
barely present An editorial summary of the bird's status in this state — not a population estimate and not a survey.
A naturalised population on the barrier islands of Carteret, Dare and Hyde — Hatteras and Ocracoke — hunted as a wild bird, males only. On the mainland the long either-sex season is a released-bird season.
The public units with the most recorded ground
Public units that name ring-necked pheasant among their species.
Ordered by recorded acres — how much of each unit lies inside subbasins where ring-necked pheasant is recorded at regular strength or better — rather than by how big the unit is. The biggest block in a state is often not in the half of it the bird is in. PAD-US splits a forest into many parcels, so acreage is summed over the unit's name, and the share is measured against the unit's drawn boundary rather than a centroid: a national forest can be two polygons across half a peninsula.
Season boundary not carried
NCWRC zones this season and this app does not hold the boundary, so
these units are not narrowed to it. Nothing here says the season is
open on any of them — read the boundary with NCWRC before you go.
Season geography here is read off a
dates table rather than the rule itself, and a dates table carries no boundary.
| Unit | Class | Recorded acres | Acres | Where the records are |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Croatan National Forest | National forest | 101,246 | 161,851 | 63% stronghold, 37% occasional |
| Pisgah National Forest | National forest | 59,241 | 510,983 | 12% regular, 52% present, 37% no records |
| Sandhills Game Land | State game land | 36,900 | 108,804 | 34% regular, 66% no records |
| Gull Rock Game Land | State game land | 26,276 | 28,606 | 92% stronghold, 8% no records |
| North River Game Land | State game land | 26,238 | 26,238 | 100% regular |
| Juniper Creek Game Land | State game land | 20,523 | 20,541 | 100% regular |
| Uwharrie National Forest | National forest | 17,697 | 51,867 | 34% regular, 65% present, 1% no records |
| Alligator River Game Land | State game land | 15,734 | 15,734 | 100% regular |
| Columbus County Game Land | State game land | 10,445 | 10,445 | 100% regular |
| Pee Dee River Game Land | State game land | 3,978 | 3,978 | 100% regular |
The whole public estate, by land class
Every huntable unit in North Carolina, not the ranked ten above and not narrowed to where ring-necked pheasant is recorded or where the season is open. It is here as the denominator the table above was drawn from.
| Class | Units | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| National forest | 11 | 1,258,837 |
| State game land | 129 | 655,158 |
PAD-US says who manages a parcel, not where its boundary runs on the ground and not whether a unit carries a local closure. Context, not permission — check the unit with NCWRC before you park.
Within a drive of a town
The same ground read from where a reader starts rather than from the state line: the public units within forty miles of one town, ordered the same way. A town is on this list only where at least three units reach that far and hold ten thousand recorded acres between them.
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The other questions
- How to hunt ring-necked pheasant in North Carolina
- When does North Carolina's 2026–27 ring-necked pheasant season open?
- North Carolina ring-necked pheasant regulations, 2026–27
- North Carolina ring-necked pheasant hunting report
- Ring-necked pheasant hunting in North Carolina — the whole picture
- Ring-necked pheasant — biology, range and how it is hunted