The Mt. Rushmore State's bird flushes loud from the shelterbelt
South Dakota adopted the Ring-necked Pheasant in 1943. The bird is technically an immigrant — introduced from China to Spink County in 1908 — and proceeded to thrive across the Plains so completely that no one in SD remembers it as anything but native. Adoption story for the state and the bird both.
Where it fits
South Dakota's state bird, alone. Ring-necked Pheasants thrive across the Plains and the Mountain West, but only SD claims them as state bird.
Why a Ring-necked Pheasant
- The male's coloring is unmistakable. Iridescent green head, white collar, copper body, long banded tail. The most ornamental upland game bird in North America.
- It flushes explosive. Sits tight in cover until pressure forces a launch — wingbeats loud as a stone hitting metal.
- It made South Dakota its home. Adopted state, adopted by state.
What "rebel" adds in South Dakota
South Dakota is Mt. Rushmore State — Black Hills to the prairie, Sioux history and homesteader history both, and a Plains character that takes care of the next farm down without making a thing of it. The Rebel Pheasant is for the version of you that walks the shelterbelt at sunup, that knows the gravel road home, that helps the neighbor pull the combine out. Mt. Rushmore State character: place-rooted, weather-tested, neighbor-first by reflex.
Coming soon
The Rebel Pheasant Collection is in design. Same premium blanks as the Loon and Meadowlark lines, same DTF print quality, same Upper-Midwest design / USA print pipeline.
Want first crack at the launch?
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- Vote for the Rebel Pheasant as the next drop