Phinding Pheasants

Hillcrest Wildlife Management Area is a go-to destination for those looking to bag the elusive ring-necked pheasant.

This story was originally published in the November 2024 issue of Wonderful West Virginia. To subscribe, visit wonderfulwv.com.

Written by Taylor Maple

The wooded hills of West Virginia are a hunter’s haven. From deer and turkeys to bears and wild boar, adventure can be found along every stream, chased down every holler, and spotted across every waterway. It is all the better that the state’s game management staff and the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources ensure that the practice continues safely and sustainably, that hunters pursue their targets responsibly, and that populations of animals continue to thrive. Once you leave the state’s forested areas and make your way to the grasslands, there is even more to explore—and some of what you find may surprise you.

A prime example is the ring-necked pheasant, a humble creature that has long been one of the nation’s most popular game birds. As a species, it was introduced to the United States from Asia in the 1880s, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and it can be found scurrying around the U.S. and southern Canada to this day. If you are hunting them, you will have to have a keen eye and quick reflexes. These birds can fly at nearly 40 miles per hour to escape danger, and while they don’t typically cover more than 600 feet at once, they can ride the wind to soar even farther.

The ring-necked pheasant loves eating seeds and insects during the colder months and prospers primarily on agricultural land and old fields. Male pheasants show off with their copper and gold feathers, red faces, long tails, black and white spots, and white collars, while the females’ covert brown and black aesthetic is more low-key, blending in with the tall grass where the birds typically gravitate to make their home.

That grassy habitat not only makes females hard to spot, but it is also a hint to the bigger reason why ring-necked pheasants are not more commonly found in the Mountain State’s wilder corners. “West Virginia is 80% forested, and ring-necked pheasants are a grassland species. So the hunting of them has been restricted in the past to the Ohio River Basin counties and areas like that where there were lots of grasslands,” says Steven Rauch, assistant chief of game management for the WVDNR. “It hasn’t really been statewide.”

Although ring-necked pheasants may have been easier to find in West Virginia and neighboring counties years ago, Rauch says, as industrial activities began booming in the early 1900s, they started to edge out the agricultural areas and the pheasants that made their natural homes there. “There’s been a decline in the ring-necked pheasant because of the succession of grasslands into forests from the decline in active farming with the Industrial Age after World War II,” he says.

But Hillcrest Wildlife Management Area, a 2,212-acre hunting region in Hancock County, is making sure these birds have a place to flourish.The land used to be a cattle farm, making it a natural choice for birds that love that type of environment, says Josh Allison, a state wildlife specialist. And with a little help from the state, the area remains primed for the birds to flourish. “There’s a lot of ground where we’re planting corn, sorghum, wheat, stuff like that,” Allison says, noting that the birds enjoy living in spots where these kinds of plants sprout from the ground. “We plant a lot of crops, a lot of warm season grasses and native grasses.”

Those tall grasses mean that, while the birds are thriving in their natural habitat—and even reproducing and populating the area without additional interference—they can be difficult to spot, even if they are gathered in large numbers. Fall and winter, as vegetation falls away, may be the ideal seasons for finding them, and that fits perfectly with Hillcrest Wildlife Management Area’s ring-necked pheasant season, which is shorter than for other parts of the state. Folks can hunt them—males only—from November 9 through December 7 in this specific area. Those who wish to partake should note that the daily bag limit in this area is just one, as opposed to the limit of two for pheasants found elsewhere in the state.

“At Hillcrest, we have a shortened season for pheasants and a reduced bag limit. That helps in not over-harvesting annually.” Rauch notes that statewide pheasant hunting season in West Virginia at large, outside of Hillcrest Wildlife Management Area, extends to January 4. He also says that use of a bird dog is permitted to help folks locate where their birds fall.

Allison echoes the sentiment that the Hillcrest Wildlife Management area is a somewhat more exclusive zone. If folks want to hunt these birds in the wild, he says, this is the place to go—they just need to be prepared for the lower bag limit for the sake of conservation. “There’s a small population. It’s really about the only place left, possibly throughout the state, where there’s any wild birds.”

And if you make the trek out to New Cumberland, pheasants are not all you have to look forward to. Allison says there is plenty more to find. “We usually have a lot of dove hunters during dove season,” he says. “Deer hunting is very popular, and turkey hunting in the spring.”

So if you are itching for a weekend away, or even just a day trip, check out Hillcrest Wildlife Management Area and get your own glimpse of the elusive bird that continues to be a thrill for hunters across the country.