V- 7 
AA.O , / 
MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
Glen Co Sanderson and Helen C. Schultz, Editors 
Urbana, Illinois 
January, 1964 
Vo 1. 7 , No. 1 
1. Pheasant Popu1 at ions and Land Use 
J. E. Warnock 
It was estimated that 10,391 pheasants (4,281 cocks; 6,110 hens), or an aver¬ 
age of 281 per section, were present on the 37-square-mile Sibley Study Area just 
prior to the 19^3 hunting season. The estimated number of pheasants on the study 
area immediately prior to the 1962 hunting season was 15*224 or 428 per section. 
For )963* as for 1962, the estimate was obtained by use of the following 
ratios: 
(1) Number of Tagged Cocks Shot by 
Hunters Interviewed (41) 
Number of Cocks Tagged during 
Prehunt Period (398) 
Number of Cocks Shot by 
Hunters Interviewed (441) 
Number of Cocks Present during 
Prehunt Period (X) 
where X = 4,281 cocks, and 
Number of Hens Tagged during 
Prehunt Period (568)_ 
Number of Hens Present during 
Prehunt Period (X 1 ) 
where X 1 = 6,110 hens. 
(2) Number of Cocks Tagged during 
Prehunt Period (398) _ 
Number of Cocks Present during 
Prehunt Period (4,281) 
The above estimates and information obtained about age ratios, numbers of 
broods, numbers of nests established, and proportions of established nests that 
were successful in 1962 and 1 963 (see Monthly Wildlife Research Letters for 
August, September, and November, 1 963 ) indicate that the production of pheasant: 
on the Sibley Area in 1 963 was 25-35 percent lower than production in 1 962 . 
NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY 
FEB 1 0 1964 
IIBhARY 
