If you are new to pheasant hunting at Norco, here are a few details to plan and enjoy your safe outing.
- Norco trap & skeet, rifle & pistol, archery and 3D archery ranges are closed all day Saturday … if you notice anyone using these ranges, please advise them to leave for their safety. Road should be blocked off with orange cones. No vehicles go beyond the clubhouse parking lot
- hunter safety is top priority – take time to ask questions and ask program leaders
- volunteers set out pheasants in the fields between 6:30am-7:15 am. Open to anyone, just show up at 6:30 am ; earn volunteer work credit hours
- anyone hunting with dogs should be parked off to the left of the club-house and dogs do their business in the area around the grassy areas between the service road/parking area/dumpster and the edge of the woods. If a dog does relieve themselves on the club lawn in-front of the club or near the archery area entrance, be kind to pickup. Trash cans near club entrance and or the parking lot dumpster.
- hot breakfast served between 7:00am-8:00am ; nominal charge of a few bucks per person; all you can eat
- some discussion over breakfast as to who is heading to which fields first
- hunting starts at 8:00am, with everyone meeting on the lawn with their hunting parties and dogs
- no shooting at birds running on the ground; dog safety is equally important as hunter safety; birds should be above adult head-height
- potluck lunch is available 12 noon – 1:00pm; volunteers sought to prep a meal, contact Bill Whiting pheasant@norco.club or see the sign-up sheet
- afternoon hunting from 1PM until dusk
- pheasant wings from dressed birds can left around the dumpster; dog owners are welcome to take some for dog training
- anything not covered here, ask anyone over breakfast and lunch
- based on how one may count a field and rock wall dividers, Norco has 10 pheasant fields to work.
- Special stocking and hunting protocols for November 28,29,30 as follows: stocked birds for 1/2 day on the 28th and 29th. No stocked birds on 30th. Hunters can hunt all day. Continental breakfast only and no lunch program.
- State requires a Pheasant Hunting stamp to be purchased in addition to a valid MA hunting license, to hunt pheasant
- https://www.mass.gov/doc/2024-hunting-season-summary/download
- https://www.mass.gov/info-details/pheasant-hunting-regulations
- https://www.mass.gov/info-details/find-a-pheasant-stocked-area
- buy your license and stamp – https://massfishhunt.mass.gov/
Saturday pheasant hunting at Norco aligns with the state season, October 19th to November 30th .And there is an extended pheasant hunting across the state from Dec 16th to Dec 31st. There are no birds stocked at Norco or on state WMAs during the extended season. If you are interested in a preserve hunt in the January-February timeframe with other Norco members, please give your name to wayne@norco.club. An organized program will be setup at Nimrod; hunting program will be for a fee to cover cost of birds and food, estimated cost is $150 per person.