What are the 2026–27 ring-necked pheasant hunting regulations in Virginia?

Virginia ring-necked pheasant regulations, 2026–27

Last updated 2026-09-24 · from VDWR data · 2026–27 licence year

Virginia's 2026–27 ring-necked pheasant season runs November 7, 2026 to January 31, 2027 — 86 days afield. No single bag limit is shown for it here — read the notes below and check the current VDWR regulations before you go. Hunter orange is required. Read against the 2026–27 licence year, from VDWR.

Season and limits

Season: Ring-necked pheasant — November 7, 2026 to January 31, 2027
Bag limit: not shown No single bag limit is shown for it here. Where VDWR publishes one that changes by zone or partway through the season, the figures are in the notes below and this page will not pick one of them; where it publishes none at all, this page leaves it empty rather than guess — a wrong limit is worse than a missing one, because it looks researched. Check the Virginia Hunting & Trapping Regulations.
Hunter orange: required Every hunter, and anyone accompanying one, must wear a solid blaze orange or blaze pink hat, or solid blaze upper-body clothing visible from 360 degrees, or display at least 100 square inches of solid blaze material at shoulder level, visible from 360 degrees.
Sundays: Virginia allows Sunday hunting, with two exceptions: not within 200 yards of a house of worship, and not for deer or bear with dogs.

Virginia requires solid blaze orange or blaze pink — a hat, 360-degree upper-body clothing, or 100 square inches at shoulder level. Waterfowl and dove hunters are exempt; upland bird hunters are not.
VDWR publishes no daily or seasonal bag limit for pheasant. The null here is that, not an unread digest.
Virginia holds no self-sustaining wild pheasant population. What is hunted is released birds on a handful of stocked and licensed shooting preserves, and the season above is the wild-bird season that barely applies.

Licences

Hunting licence
Everyone, resident or not — Bought through Go Outdoors Virginia, and what every other permit is added to.
Hunter education certificate
Anyone born on or after 1 January 1961, and every hunter under 16 — Or an apprentice licence, which lets an uncertified hunter hunt under supervision.
Federal HIP registration
Woodcock and every other migratory bird — Free, and it lapses every July 1 — last season's registration is not this season's.
Public land permits
Hunters on national forest and some WMAs — Virginia sells a separate access permit for national forest and DWR land. Check which your ground needs before you park.

The other questions

Open the hunting map →Public land and bird cover, drawn for the bird you are after.