As upland game season wraps up on Nov. 30, many local hunters worry that a longstanding tradition of pheasant hunting will soon be ending.

Following a 2002 court challenge by animal rights groups, the National Park Service is expected to begin phasing out the state’s practice of pheasant stocking, in which non-native ring-necked pheasants are released for sport shooting each fall. The court challenge triggered the Park Service to issue a 200-page environmental impact statement in 2007 that suggests pheasant stocking will be phased out sometime between 2021 and 2024.