Vo 1. 1 , No. 1 
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2- M anipulation of Pheasant Habitat G. B. Joselyn 
The density of pheasant nests in seeded roadside plots during 1962 was 3*4 
nests per acre in fencerows and 0.5 nest per acre in the remaining portions of 
the plots. !n 1963; 0.5 nest per acre was established in fencerows, but there 
were 3»7 nests per acre in the remainder of the seeded-plot acreage. In 1962, 
68.4 percent (13 of 19) of all nests located on seeded plots were established in 
fencerows and 31*6 percent (6 of 19) in the remainder of the plots. In 1 96 3only 
4.5 percent (2 of 44) of the nests on seeded plots were established in fencerows, 
compared with 95-5 percent (42 of 44) in the remainder of the plots. Fencerow 
vegetation comprised only 25 percent of the total cover on the plots. 
During 1962, nesting cover in all portions of the seeded plots, except about 1 
yard on either side of the fencerows, consisted mainly of the nurse crop of oats 
which is not a "preferred" nesting cover for pheasants. The pheasants evidently 
concentrated their nesting in the undisturbed, fencerow portion of the seeded 
plots. !n 1963 * however, when the seeded portions of the plots provided undis¬ 
turbed hayfield-type cover, nesting was concentrated in these areas rather than 
in fencerows. 
3. Factors Inf1uencinq Distribution and Abundance of Pheasants 
W. L. Anderson, S. L. Wunderle 
Forty cocks (37 bagged and 3 crippled) were shot by hunters on the Neoga Study 
Area during the 33^ _ day pheasant season (from noon, November 16, to sunset, Decem¬ 
ber 19) in 1963- This kill represented 43 percent of the prehunt estimated popu¬ 
lation of 93 cocks. In 1962, the 120 cocks shot (106 bagged and 14 crippled), 
represented 44 percent of the estimated prehunt population of 272 cocks. Thus, 
the harvest of cocks in 1 963 declined 67 percent from that in 1962. 
Thirty-five of the 37 cocks bagged in 1 963 > were hatched on the area in 1 963 
or in previous years. One was a Korean cock and one a Japanese Green cock. The 
age ratio among the 26 bagged cocks examined was 12 juveniles per adult. Only 2 
(1.9 percent) of the estimated prehunt population of 107 hens were shot illegally. 
During 1963; 161 hunters in 61 parties expended 507 hours to bag 27 cocks, an 
average of 18.8 gun-hours per cock. In 1962, 353 pheasant hunters in 150 parties 
spent 837 gun-hours to bag 87 cocks, an average of 9*6 gun-hours per cock. In 
I960 and 1961, hunters averaged 6.1 and 11.3 gun-hours per cock, respectively. 
4. Responses of Bobwhites and Prairie Chickens J. A. Ellis, 
to Habitat Manipulation R. J. Ellis 
Attempts to trap and mark prairie chickens during the fall and winter of 1962 
and again during the late summer and fall of 1963 met with moderate success 
(Table 1). Most of the roosting prairie chickens were found in legume and grass 
hayfieids. Fields in which small-grain stubble or weed growths predominated con¬ 
tained no roosting prairie chickens. There was noticeable difference between the 
fields which had roosting prairie chickens and those which did not. Fields with 
no roosting prairie chickens lacked matted vegetation on the soil surface. More 
than 100 roosts were examined; all were formed on mats of vegetation. 
