Improving Habitats for Ring-Necked Pheasants in Missouri

By Linda Geist

Missouri landowners can take practical steps to improve habitat for ring-necked pheasants, whose populations have declined across the Midwest due to habitat loss and changing land use.

“Providing the right types of habitat for nesting, brood-rearing and winter cover is essential for pheasant survival and reproduction,” says Robert Pierce, University of Missouri Extension state wildlife and fisheries specialist.

A new MU Extension publication, developed in partnership with Missouri Pheasants and Quail Forever, outlines science-based strategies to support pheasant populations. Ecology and Management of Ring-Necked Pheasants in Missouri is available for free download.

“The sight of pheasants in grasslands and crop fields in northern Missouri is becoming less common,” says MU Extension horticulture specialist Todd Higgins. “The decline in the pheasant population is not just a Missouri problem. It is a problem across their range throughout the Midwest.”

Pheasants range in Missouri

Ring-necked pheasants range throughout at least 32 Missouri counties, mostly north of the Missouri River and near the Iowa border, Pierce says.