/ 
r\t>. II 
MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
T. G. Scott, Editor 
Urbana, Illinois 
November, I960 
Vol. 3, No. 11 
W-30-R-14 R. F. Labisky, R. I. Smith 
A summary of data collected on the Sibley Study Area during the 1956 
through the I960 hunting seasons is presented in Table 1. The information was 
obtained by interviewing hunters through the 20-day open season (November 11-30) 
in all years. The daily bag limit was two cocks in 1956, 1957, and 1958, while 
in 1959 and I960 a kill of three cocks per day was permitted. 
Data from nesting studies, standardized brood counts, and pre-hunt sex 
and age ratios obtained by night-lighting indicated that the I960 fall popu¬ 
lation was at least 20 per cent greater than in 1959. The age ratio of cocks 
killed in I960 (8.3 juvenile s/adult) supports this contention. 
Several factors influenced hunter success in I960, making hunting 
effort per cock killed (3.1 hours/cock) greater than all previous years except 
1957. Late planting of corn resulted in a late harvest; consequently large 
acreages of standing corn were present on the study area during the first 10 
days of the i 960 hunting season. Concentrations of pheasants in unharvested 
corn were inaccessible to hunters on many farms and in all cases made hunting 
more difficult. This is reflected to some extent in the high crippling loss 
of 31.9 per cent for the season. Hunting pressure during the last 10 days of 
the season was light, and hunter success did not improve following the corn 
harvest. 
Table 1. —Pheasant Harvest Data Collected During the 1956 Through I960 
Hunting Seasons, Sibley Area. 
Year 
Number of 
Hunters 
Interviewed 
Number of 
Cocks Aged 
by Bursal 
Examination 
Age Ratio of 
Bagged Cocks 
Young/Adult 
Gun-Hours 
Per Bagged 
Cock 
Percentage 
of Cocks 
Crippled 
Percentage 
of Cock 
Population 
Harvested 
1956 
525 
251 
12.5 
2.3 
34.0 
59.4 
1957 
443 
290 
4.7 
3.5 
24.4 
12.4 
1958 
595 
445 
6.4 
2.5 
23.0 
44.0 
1959 
461 
454 
5.6 
2.9 
17.8 
52.5 
I960 
496 
441 
8.3 
3.1 
31.9 
• • • • 
