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Where to hunt ring-necked pheasant near Grand Rapids, Michigan

Last updated 2026-09-24 · seasons from MDNR · 2025–26 licence year

There are 12 public units within 40 miles of Grand Rapids, Michigan that hold ground where ring-necked pheasant is recorded — 38,520 acres of it. The most of it is in Barry State Game Area, 20.5 miles out, with 14,587 recorded acres. The closest is Middleville State Game Area at 18.2 miles. The season runs October 10, 2025 to January 1, 2026 — on dates that depend on the zone, bag 2 per day, 4 in possession, read against the 2025–26 licence year from MDNR. Public-land boundaries here are PAD-US, which records who manages a parcel rather than where the line runs or whether a unit carries a local closure — check with MDNR before you park.

Public land within 40 miles of Grand Rapids

Distance is measured to the nearest edge of a unit rather than to its middle, in a straight line — this app carries no road network and will not print a drive time it cannot compute. A unit whose ground reaches inside the circle is listed for the acreage that is inside it, never for its statewide total.

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 drawn Narrowed to ground MDNR opens a season on (Zone 1 pheasant unit, Zone 1 unit — partly open, Zone 2 — northern Lower Peninsula, Zone 3 — southern Lower Peninsula), which leaves 12 eligible units. That boundary is wider than the rule: the order bounds this unit with roads and section corners inside those counties, and the counties are the smallest ground this app can say it is somewhere inside. Being on this list is not the same as being in the unit.
Boundary: county lines (Census TIGER)
Season geography read against the published rule on 2026-08-23.

UnitClassMilesRecorded acresAcres in rangeWhere the records are
Barry State Game Area part of the unit State game area 20.5 14,587 16,562 88% regular, 12% present
Allegan State Game Area State game area 23.2 12,259 50,591 24% regular, 76% present
Middleville State Game Area State game area 18.2 4,426 4,426 100% regular
Stanton State Game Area part of the unit State game area 34.3 4,212 4,212 100% stronghold
Portland State Game Area part of the unit State game area 37 1,635 1,635 100% regular
Natural Area Crooked Lake Marsh State game area 34.7 549 549 100% regular
Olive Township State Game Area State game area 20.3 247 247 100% regular
Tamarack Lake State Game Area State game area 34.1 240 240 100% regular

12 units clear the circle in all and the 8 holding the most recorded ground are named. The rest are ground a reader would drive past something better to reach.

A unit marked part of the unit has ground outside the circle as well, and the acreage here is only what is inside it. PAD-US records who manages a parcel, not where its line runs on the ground and not whether it carries a local closure: context, not permission. Check the unit with MDNR before you park.

Season and limits

MDNR's dates for the 2025–26 licence year, read from MDNR. Michigan lists this season as Ring-necked pheasant. It is zoned, and a circle drawn round a town is not a zone — check which zone a unit falls in before you go.

ZoneOpensClosesDays
Zone 1 pheasant unitOctober 10, 2025October 31, 202522
Zone 1 unit — partly openOctober 10, 2025October 31, 202522
Zone 1 — closed to pheasantClosed season
Zone 2 — northern Lower PeninsulaOctober 20, 2025November 14, 202526
Zone 3 — southern Lower PeninsulaOctober 20, 2025November 14, 202526
December 1, 2025January 1, 202632
Open today
Shut
Bag limit
2 per day, 4 in possession
Hunter orange
requiredSmall game hunters must wear a hunter-orange cap, hat, vest, jacket or rain gear as the outermost garment, visible from all sides. Camouflage counts if it is at least 50% orange.
Shooting hours
One half-hour before sunrise until sunset.
Sundays
No statewide Sunday closure for small game. A few counties restrict firearm hunting on private land under PA 319 of 1994 — not mapped here.

What to walk when you get there

The seam between grass nesting cover and grain: switchgrass and CRP-style fields, cattail sloughs, weedy fencelines and picked corn. A pheasant runs before it flies, so the cover that matters is the cover it can run through.

Work fields toward a hard edge — a road, a ditch, a corner — so running birds run out of ground rather than out the far end. Blocking a corner is worth more than another pass through the middle.

Written for this app rather than read off an agency page — the cover a bird uses does not change at a state line. Everything above that is a date, a limit or an acreage names the source it came from.

Read next

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