MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
T. G. Scott and Wendy Patton, Editors 
Urbana, Illinois December, 1962 Vol. 5, No. 12 
1. Pheasant Populations and Land Use J» E. Warnock, G* B. Joselyn 
Pheasant harvest data collected on the Sibley study area from 1956 through 
1962 are presented in Table 1. Information was obtained by interviewing hunters 
each year during the hunting season. 
Table 1. Pheasant harvest data collected by interviewing hunters during the 
hunting seasons on the Sibley study area from 1956 through 1962. 
Year 
Number of 
Hunters 
Interviewed 
Number of 
Cocks Aged 
by Bursal 
Examination 
Age Ratio of 
Bagged Cocks 
Young per 
Adult 
Gun-Hours 
per Bagged 
Cock 
Cocks 
Crippled 
and Lost 
per 100 
Downed 
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 
1960 
496 
441 
8.3 
3.1 
31.9 
52.0 
1961 
443 
402 
7.0 
2.8 
20.9 
77.1 
1962 
833 
812 
11.9 
3.3 
13.0 
— 
The age ratio among cock pheasants killed during the 1962 hunting season, 11.9 
juveniles per adult, was the highest since 1956 when 12.5 young birds were bagged 
for each adult. This age ratio of 11.9 young per adult compares favorably with that 
of 12.8 young per adult obtained from 760 cocks captured by nightlighting prior to 
the hunting season. The 1962 crippling rate of 13.0 percent was the lowest rate 
recorded during the 7 years of the study. 
Favorable hunting conditions existed in 1962; about 95 percent of the corn had 
been harvested by opening day, and a large amount of fall plowing was accomplished 
before and during the hunting season. However, except for the opening 2 days of the 
season, hunting pressure was light. 
The success of hunters decreased during the course of the season. For example, 
147 hunters interviewed on opening day bagged a cock, on the average, every hour 
and 42 minutes, but on the last day of the season, 51 hunters interviewed spent an 
average of 20 hours in the field for every cock bagged. 
JAN 16 1963 
NATURAL 
HISTORY SURVEY 
LIBRARY. 
