Upland Game Bird Hunting

Regulations

• Regulations Booklet (PDF)(opens in new tab)
• Nonlead Ammunition is required when taking any wildlife with a firearm anywhere in California.

2025 - 2026 Seasons and Limits - Pheasant

Season / Area	Season Dates	Daily Bag Limit	Possession Limit
General / Statewide	Nov 8 - Dec 21	2 males per day for first two days of the season; 3 males per day after the first two days of the season.	Triple the daily bag
Archery Only	Oct 11 - Nov 2 Dec 22 - Jan 18	2 pheasants per day for first two days of the season; 3 pheasants per day after the first two days of the season. The daily archery bag may contain not more than 1 female pheasant.	Triple the daily bag
Falconry	Aug 16 - Feb 28	2 pheasants per day for first two days of the season; 3 pheasants per day after the first two days of the season. The daily falconry bag may contain birds of either sex. Hawking hours are Sunrise to Sunset.	Triple the daily bag.

2025 - 2026 Seasons and Limits - Quail

Season / Area (Zone Map (PDF)(opens in new tab))	Season Dates	Daily Bag Limit	Possession Limit
Zone Q1 (Mountain Quail Only)	Sep 13 - Oct 17	10	Triple the daily bag
Zone Q1 (All Quail)	Oct 18 - Jan 25
Zone Q2 (All Quail)	Sep 27 - Jan 25
Zone Q3 (All Quail)	Oct 18 - Jan 25
Early Season for Hunters with Junior Hunting Licenses in Mojave National Preserve	October 4 - 5
Archery Only	Aug 16 - Sep 5
Falconry	Aug 16 - Feb 28

2025 - 2026 Seasons and Limits - Chukar

Season / Area	Season Dates	Daily Bag Limit	Possession Limit
General / Statewide	Oct 18 - Jan 25	6	Triple the daily bag
Archery Only	Aug 16 - Sep 5
Falconry	Aug 16 - Feb 28

2025 - 2026 Seasons and Limits - Greater Sage-grouse

Season / Area	Season Dates	Daily Bag Limit	Possession Limit
General, Archery / North Mono Zone only (hunting by permit only)	Closed	0 permits adopted for all four hunt zones. Sage-grouse hunting for general, archery, and falconry seasons is by permit only. See instructions
Falconry	Closed

2025 - 2026 Seasons and Limits - Sooty (Blue) / Ruffed Grouse

Season / Area (Zone Map (PDF)(opens in new tab))	Season Dates	Daily Bag Limit	Possession Limit
General	Sep 13 - Oct 13	2; All of one species or mixed	Triple the daily bag
Archery Only	Aug 16- Sep 5
Falconry	Aug 16 - Feb 28

2025 - 2026 Seasons and Limits - White-tailed Ptarmigan

Season / Area	Season Dates	Daily Bag Limit	Possession Limit
General & Archery / Statewide	Sep 13 - 21	2 per day	2 per season
Falconry / Statewide	Aug 16 - Feb 28

2025 - 2026 Seasons and Limits - Wild Turkey

Season / Area		Season Dates	Daily Bag Limit	Possession Limit
Fall		Nov 8 - Dec 7	1 either sex	2 per season
Spring	General	Mar 28 - May 3, 2026	1 bearded	3 per season, combined
	Archery Only	May 4 - May 17, 2026
	Additional Junior	Mar 21 - 22, 2026 & May 4 - 17, 2026

2025 - 2026 Seasons and Limits - Dove

Species	Season / Area	Season Dates	Daily Bag Limit	Possession Limit
Mourning Dove and White-winged Dove	Statewide	Sep 1 - 15 & Nov 8 - Dec 22	15, up to 10 of which may be white-winged doves	Triple the daily bag
Spotted Dove, and Ringed Turtle Dove			No limit
Eurasian Collared-dove		All Year	No limit

2025 - 2026 Seasons and Limits - Band-tailed Pigeon

Season / Area (Zone Map (PDF)(opens in new tab))	Season Dates	Daily Bag Limit	Possession Limit
North	Sep 20 - 28	2per day	Triple the daily bag
South	Dec 20 - 28

2025 - 2026 Seasons and Limits - Snipe

Season / Area	Season Dates	Daily Bag Limit	Possession Limit
General / Statewide	Oct 18 - Feb 1	8	Triple the daily bag

Licensing

Requirements for Hunting Upland Game Birds

• Hunting License
• Upland Game Bird Validation, unless hunting under the authority of a Junior Hunting License
• Harvest Information Program (HIP) Validation, if hunting for ducks, dove, gallinules, geese, band-tailed pigeon, black brant, coots, or snipe. A HIP validation can be obtained at no cost wherever a hunting license is purchased - more information about HIP(opens in new tab)

Purchasing Licenses or Validations

• Hunting License Fees
• Purchase a Hunting License or Validation Online
• Collectible Duck and Upland Game Bird Stamps
• Hunting License FAQs

Hunts

• Special Hunts
• SHARE Program
• Private Land Management Program

Maps

• Quail Zone Map (PDF)(opens in new tab)
• Sooty (Blue) / Ruffed Grouse Zone Map (PDF)(opens in new tab)
• Band-tailed Pigeon Zone Map (PDF)(opens in new tab)
• American Crow Zone Map (PDF)(opens in new tab)
• 2024 Imperial Valley Dove Hunt Fields (PDF)(opens in new tab)

Publications

• Mourning Dove Banding Report (PDF)(opens in new tab)
• Dove Identification (PDF)(opens in new tab)
• Guide to Hunting Quail in California (PDF)(opens in new tab)
• Guide to Hunting Wild Turkey in California (PDF)(opens in new tab)
• California Hunting Digest

Game Take Hunter Survey Reports

Reports will be added to this page as they become available.

*The 2009 hunter survey was not performed due to state budget constraints.

**The 2011-2013 hunter surveys were not performed while CDFW developed methods for estimating harvest through the new Automated License Data System (ALDS).

***Beginning in 2015, the Upland Program chose to conduct the survey biennially.

For questions or further information about this data, contact Ian.Dwight@wildlife.ca.gov.

Species Profiles

• Band-tailed Pigeon
• Pheasant
• Sage Grouse

Related Information

• Search for a Licensed Hunting Guide(opens in new tab)
• Upland Game Bird Account Grant Program
• Sage Grouse Hunting