***NY- Game Species***
***NY- Introduced***

    Ring-necked Pheasants are one of two well established exotic game birds in New York State, the second being the Gray Partridge.  Pheasants are popular with hunters and are bred and stocked in suitable areas by the NYSDEC.  They do best in overgrown pastures and agricultural lands, as the state's wildlands revert to forest they will probably become less common, but they reproduce quite well in farmland and unfarmed fields.  All Pheasants require is a hedgerow, thick weeds, or a bush in which to hide.  Their nest is made of grasses and is concealed in thick weeds or dense brush.  Females look strikingly different from males, they lack the bright colors on the head and have a shorter tail.  Ring-necked Pheasants have a high reproductive potential laying between 6 and 15 eggs at a time.  During winter large groups of both sexes or a single sex can often be found associating, but by spring the males set up territories to attract mates.  Their hoarse, trumpeting call is one of the best ways to ascertain the presence of these birds.