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Ringneck Pheasant Habitat
Ringneck pheasants are birds of the farm country. Ideal habitat consists of 55 to 70 percent crop fields, preferably corn, soybeans or small grains, with the remainder wetlands, undisturbed grasslands, small woodlots, thickets and brushy or grassy fencelines or ditches. Any of the following habitat types are likely to hold ringnecks.

 

         

STREAM CORRIDORS furnish permanent pheasant cover. Because the low-lying ground adjacent to the stream does not make good cropland, it is rarely plowed.

 		 CATTAIL MARSHES provide excellent escape cover and winter cover. Pheasants can easily hear predators moving through the dense cover, and they can burrow under it during a severe blizzard.

 

DRAINAGE DITCHES may offer the only grassy cover in intensively farmed areas. Pheasants find loafing or roosting spots that are out of the wind along the slopes of the ditches.

 		 WETLAND FRINGES make good nesting and roosting areas. Tall grasses grow there, because the ground is generally too wet to plow.

 

ROADSIDE DITCHES that are not routinely mowed or burned provide loafing and roosting cover. Ditches with standing water often have a growth of cattails that make good winter cover.

 		 RAILROAD RIGHTS-OF-WAY are usually allowed to grow into brushy cover that makes excellent pheasant habitat. Abandoned rights-of-way are best of all.

 

BRUSHY FENCELINES, especially wide strips with plenty of tall bushes or trees, make prime year-round pheasant cover.

 		 ABANDONED FARMSTEADS offer good escape cover and winter cover. Groves and buildings break the wind, and grasses and brush that develop in open areas furnish ground cover to protect the birds from predators.

 

GRASSY TERRACES, intended to reduce erosion of cropland, make good loafing and roosting sites close to feeding areas.

 		 SHELTERBELTS provide tall, dense escape cover and prevent windblown snow from clogging the birds’ nostrils and suffocating them.

 

RETIRED CROP FIELDS that grow up to grassy cover are prime nesting areas. Unlike hayfields, they will not be mown during the nesting season.
 		 GRASSY FRINGES of crop fields make good midday loafing sites and, if the grass is tall enough, the birds may roost there as well.
 

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Visit the links below for great information on Pheasant Habitat Management

Managing Farm Habitat For Pheasants by Montana Guide (pdf format)

How to Design a Pheasant Management Area by SD Game, Fish & Parks (pdf format)

Farming & Wildlife - Ringneck Pheasant

Pheasant Management

 

Updated January 27, 2004