part of its activities. These studies indicate the best regulations for 

 each year. During the period of this report, data collected shows that 

 certain concepts of the department's pheasant program should be 

 altered. A state wide banding program in 1947 resulted in only 3.5 

 per cent of the bands placed on game farm cock birds being returned 

 to the department office by hunters. It is realized that perhaps many 

 individuals failed to turn in the bands. However, even accounting for 

 this, the survival rate is not satisfactoi-y enough to be considered a 

 highly efficient program. Hunter-take analysis shows that even where 

 game farm birds are released in heavy concentrations, the bulk of the 

 birds brought to bag are those raised in the wild, especially young of 

 the current year's birds. Improvement of releasing methods and care- 

 ful selection of releasing sites seems necessary in view of study, and 

 concentrated effort is being planned to increase the survival rate and 

 determine the best possible use of game farm released birds. 



At the Fort Peck farm large covered holding pens for brood stock 

 have been constructed. Authorization has been given for the develop- 

 ment of land on the Fort Peck area so that the open pen type method 

 of rearing birds may be followed. This includes an irrigation system 

 which will provide alfalfa, corn aind wheat for the birds. Starting with 

 the 1948 season, pheasants will be free to roam in a semi-wild condition 

 on 110 acres. After acclimation to wild conditions, the birds will be 

 trapped, transported and released. 



The Billings farm has seen considerable improvement and enlarge- 

 ment. Foui' new brooder houses have been completed. New equipment 

 includes incubators, hovers and hatching machines. A well has been 

 drilled on the property, and a new water-supply system is now in 

 operation. 



The game farm at Warm Springs has been fully modernized, and 

 now^has a single-i'un capacity of 14,200 birds. Nine new brooder houses 

 are in operation as well as additional battery brooders and humidaire 

 hatching machines. A six-acre open-topped holding pen has been con- 

 structed, and most of the wire on all the pens has been replaced with 

 new material. During the winter of 1947, three thousand hens were 

 held over at the farm and released into the wild prior to the nesting 

 season. 



Because regular game farm methods are producing birds with a 

 low survival ability, the state property located near Moiese has not 

 been developed into a regular game farm. The farm is to become an 

 experimental site where worthwhile information on the raising and 

 management of pheasants can be collected. In 1947 valuable informa- 

 tion obtained here showed some of the weaknesses of game farm birds 

 released into the wild. Two brooder houses under construction will be 

 used to rear birds by methods designed to overcome some of the factors 

 which contribute to their unsatisfactory survival rate. A project now 

 under development at Broadview, north of Billings, seeks to provide 

 requirements for game birds by fencing small areas and encouraging 

 thereon the growth of cover plants. The Billings Rod and Gun Club is 

 cooperating on this promising proj^t. This area has a huge acraege 

 of strip-covered wheat lands. Because suitable permanent cover is 

 lacking, pheasants cannot use the area. With development of needed 

 cover, the fields of wheat stubble may produce the combination of fac- 

 tors needed to support a population of game birds. 



Establishing permanent pheasant cover where present sources are 

 too scanty or none exists may Offer opportunities to expand the pheasant 



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