Hunter survey shows opinions mixed on changes to Minnesota pheasant season

St. Paul — The Minnesota DNR has released the results of its survey of pheasant hunters for the 2024 season, which includes everything from hunter participation and satisfaction to views on certain regulations, as well as involvement in wildlife conservation activities.

The DNR periodically conducts surveys to better understand hunter attitudes about a range of issues, including preferences on management. The new survey covers a lot of ground, including potential regulation changes to season length, allowing hunting from sunrise to sunset, and changing the date the bag limit increases. The survey also documented conservation behaviors and participation, out-of-state hunting patterns, respondent demographics, and more.

The DNR randomly sampled 4,500 Minnesota pheasant stamp holders (age 18 and over) to “assess their participation and harvest in the 2024 pheasant hunting season, and preferences for pheasant hunting regulations,” according to the survey. All participants received letters in the mail inviting them to visit a website and complete a questionnaire. Non-respondents received follow-up reminder letters two weeks later.

The agency received 1,203 completed questionnaires, a 27% response rate. Ninety-three were returned as undeliverable. Data collection took place after last year’s pheasant-hunting season.

“Thanks to those who responded, because it’s important,” said Nate Huck, Minnesota DNR migratory gamebird consultant, who helped with the survey.  “We’ve heard from some hunters on some regulatory issues and we wanted to let the public weigh in on those issues.”

Huck said the “effective response rate” of 27% is about “middle of the road” for similar hunter surveys in recent years. “I know people are busy, but it’s important to get the highest response rate as possible,” he said. “That ensures we get the highest-quality data.”

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Below are some of the survey’s findings for the 2024 season:

• Participation and hunting satisfaction/dissatisfaction

Eighty percent of survey respondents said they “participated in pheasant hunting in Minnesota in 2024. Twenty percent didn’t. On hunt satisfaction, 59% said they were either slightly, moderately, or very satisfied with pheasant hunting, while 27% were either, slightly, moderately, or very dissatisfied.

Eighteen percent reported dissatisfaction with “the number of other hunters,” while 19% reported dissatisfaction with “access to places to hunt.” Conversely, 38% reported dissatisfaction with “the number of pheasants” and 41% were dissatisfied with “the number of shooting opportunities.”

• Pheasant-hunting regs

The DNR examined hunter preferences for three potential regulation changes, including changing legal shooting hours to sunrise (currently 9 a.m.) until sunset; changing the date the pheasant bag limit increases from Nov. 30 to Nov. 1; and increasing the overall season length.

Regarding shooting hours: Fifty-nine percent of respondents supported maintaining the 9 a.m. daily open/start time for hunting. Thirty-two percent either slightly, moderately, or strongly supported changing legal shooting time to sunrise to sunset; and 50% opposed the change.

Bag limits: Roughly one-third of respondents (34%) supported keeping the current date of bag limit change (from two to three birds) on Nov. 30, and 64% either slightly, moderately, or strongly supported maintaining the current regulation. Thirty-five percent supported allowing hunters to take three roosters beginning Nov. 1, and 46% opposed the change.

Season dates: The survey looked at hunters’ support or opposition to alternative pheasant season lengths. The current season end date is Jan. 1. The survey asked respondents for alternative dates: Jan. 10, Jan. 15, or Jan. 31. The results show that Jan. 1 is most favorably viewed date overall, with the highest combined support (45%) and lowest opposition (21%). Jan. 31, meanwhile, received the same level of total support (45%), but it is more “polarizing” – it has the highest level of strong support (30%) as well as the highest strong opposition (26%).

According to the survey report, “Overall, (Jan. 1) appears to be the least controversial and most widely supported option, while January 31 evokes the strongest opinions on both ends of the spectrum. There is a plurality of support to lengthen the season, but opposition increases beyond January 10.”

Huck said the DNR will likely “maintain the status quo” on shooting hours and bag limits. However, he said the agency will likely dig into the survey’s finding on the season length.

“Increasing the season until Jan. 10 had the most support,” he said, stressing that the DNR had not made any decision to pursue changing the season length.

The survey questioned hunters “regarding their expected 2025 pheasant-hunting activity.” Respondents said they would on average hunt 12 days in 2025. If legal shooting hours ended up changing (from sunrise to sunset, instead of 9 a.m. to sunset), 83% said they would hunt the same number of days.

The survey measured “involvement in pheasant hunting and conservation behaviors.” One finding of several: Sixty-six percent of respondents either slightly, moderately, or strongly agreed with the statement: “Being a pheasant hunter is an important part of who I am.”

In sum, according to the survey, the “findings indicate that pheasant hunting is a deeply meaningful activity for most participants, forming an important part of their identity.”

Lastly, survey respondents were asked if they hunted outside of Minnesota in 2024. Most (76%) did not. Of the 24% who did hunt pheasants outside of Minnesota, 75% hunted in one state, 20% hunted in two other states, and the remaining 5% hunted in five or fewer states.

According to the survey, the state most often frequented by hunters was South Dakota, followed by North Dakota and Iowa. 

To read the full survey report, visit here.