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Where to hunt ring-necked pheasant near Waukesha, Wisconsin
Last updated 2026-09-24 · seasons from WDNR · 2026 season year
There are 22 public units within 40 miles of Waukesha, Wisconsin that hold ground where ring-necked pheasant is recorded — 32,140 acres of it. The most of it is in Waterloo - Mud Lake Wildlife Area, 32.8 miles out, with 9,261 recorded acres. The closest is Kettle Moraine State Forest-Loew Lake Unit at 13.5 miles. The season runs October 17, 2026 to January 3, 2027 — 79 days afield, read against the 2026 season year from WDNR. 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 WDNR before you park.
Public land within 40 miles of Waukesha
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.
WDNR names no geographic restriction on this season, so no unit is
excluded for being outside one.
Season geography here is read off a
dates table rather than the rule itself, and a dates table carries no boundary.
| Unit | Class | Miles | Recorded acres | Acres in range | Where the records are |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waterloo - Mud Lake Wildlife Area | State wildlife area | 32.8 | 9,261 | 9,261 | 100% regular |
| Horicon Wildlife Area part of the unit | State wildlife area | 35.9 | 8,463 | 8,463 | 100% regular |
| Theresa Wildlife Area | State wildlife area | 29 | 5,333 | 5,333 | 100% regular |
| Jefferson Marsh State Wildlife And Natural Area | State wildlife area | 24.2 | 3,326 | 3,326 | 100% regular |
| Kettle Moraine State Forest-Loew Lake Unit | State forest | 13.5 | 1,236 | 1,236 | 100% regular |
| Lake Mills Wildlife Area | State wildlife area | 33.5 | 1,194 | 2,664 | 45% regular, 55% present |
| Kettle Moraine State Forest-Pike Lake Unit | State forest | 20.6 | 777 | 777 | 100% regular |
| Extensive Wl Habitat - Sd part of the unit | State wildlife area | 15.8 | 556 | 1,704 | 33% regular, 67% present |
22 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 WDNR before you park.
Season and limits
WDNR's dates for the 2026 season year, read from WDNR. Wisconsin lists this season as Ring-necked pheasant.
| Segment | Opens | Closes | Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Statewide | October 17, 2026 | January 3, 2027 | 79 |
- Open today
- Shut — next opening October 17, 2026
- Bag limit
- not shown No single bag limit is shown for this species here — read the notes below and check the current WDNR regulations before you go.
- Hunter orange
- requiredAt least 50% of clothing above the waist, and any head covering, must be blaze orange or fluorescent pink any time a firearm deer season is in progress. This applies to small game and archery hunters, not only to deer hunters. Waterfowl hunters are exempt.
- Shooting hours
- not carried
- Wisconsin requires blaze orange or fluorescent pink only while a firearm deer season is in progress — but then it applies to small game hunters too. This app flags orange as required for the whole season because missing it during gun deer season is the dangerous error. Check the gun deer dates.
- One rooster a day on the opening Saturday and Sunday, then two a day for the rest of the season. Possession is three times the daily bag. The figure is left empty above because it changes partway through the season and a single number would be wrong at one end or the other.
- Opening day starts at 9:00 a.m., not at first light.
- Roosters only. A pheasant stamp is required to hunt on land stocked by WDNR.
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
- Where to hunt ring-necked pheasant in Wisconsin — every unit, ranked
- Ring-necked pheasant hunting in Wisconsin — season, limits and range
- How to hunt ring-necked pheasant in Wisconsin
- Ring-necked pheasant — biology, range and how it is hunted
- Wisconsin hunting regulations