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MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
Glen C. Sanderson and Helen C. Schultz, Editors 
Urbana, Illinois 
January, 1975 
Vo 1. 18, No. 1 
Pheasant Populations and Land Use 
Mr. G. Blair Joselyn, leader of this project for the past several years 
and employed on it since 16 April 1962, resigned 15 January 1975 to accept a 
position as Wildlife Research Supervisor, Section of Wildlife Research, 
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Blair's resignation leaves a large 
void in Illinois, but we wish him well in his new position. 
Until there is a decision by the Illinois Department of Conservation re¬ 
garding the future of this project, reports from it will not appear in the 
Monthly Wildlife Research Letter.--Glen C. Sanderson. 
Ecology and Management of Squirrels C. M. Nixon, 
S. P. Havera 
State-owned forest lands open to public hunting experience considerably 
more hunting pressures per acre of habitat than comparable forests in private 
ownership. 
We have been collecting data on hunting pressure and squirrel harvests from 
three public hunting areas; Stephen A. Forbes Park, Marion County; Si loam 
Springs State Park, Adams and Brown counties; Kankakee River State Park, 
Kankakee and Will counties. Hunters are required to check out only and present 
any squirrels killed for examination. Squirrel seasons opened 1 September at 
Kankakee River and 15 September at Si loam Springs and Forbes Park in 1971-73. 
It should be emphasized that hunters are only required to check out of these 
areas; there is no real effort made to insure compliance and the ease of access 
to these forests means that many squirrel hunters do not stop at the check 
station. Moreover, hunter compliance varied between areas; all Kankakee 
River hunters reported even though they killed no squirrels, but hunters at 
Forbes and Si loam Springs rarely came into the check station without at least 
one squirrel. 
At Forbes, there was a steady decline in the gray squirrel kill between 
1971 end 1973 (JP^-O.IO). There was no significant difference in age ratios 
for either gray or fox squirrels in any year. This was also the case at 
Kankakee River, although fewer juveniles were killed in 1973 . 
