MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
Glen C. Sanderson and Helen C. Schultz, Editors 
Urbana, Illinois 
February, 1975 
Vol. 18, No. 2 
Ecology and Management of Sgulrrels 
C. M. Nixon, 
S. P. Havera 
In the last monthly report (MWRL 18:1-2), we presented some relationships 
between hunting pressure and squirrel kill on three public hunting areas: 
Kankakee River State Park, Kankakee and Will counties; Stephen A. Forbes State 
Park, Marion County; and Si loam Springs State Park, Adams and Brown counties. 
We have drawn certain conclusions regarding hunters and squirrel kills on 
these three areas. 
In general, squirrel hunters who frequent public hunting areas for their 
sport are often not very proficient. This statement seems also to be true of 
Illinois hunters, but because all hunters are not checked, the true success 
rate is not known. It is certainly a fact that a comparison between the 
squirrel bag classes for our hunter cooperators and the bag classes from the 
three public areas shows them to be quite different. There are also con¬ 
siderable differences among our three public areas. These differences can 
be ascribed to two factors: (1) hunters at Forbes and to a lesser extent, 
Si loam Springs, that kill no squirrels do not report to the check stations; 
(2) hunters at Forbes, coming from a rural background, are more skillful 
squirrel hunters and kill more squirrels than hunters who frequent the other 
two areas. It seems likely that the Kankakee hunters are predominantly urban, 
are probably not particularly skillful hunters, and return to the check 
station whether or not they kill any game. 
Hunter success rates at Kankakee River resemble those reported by other 
investigators, who found that more than one-half of all hunters contacted on 
public lands in Ohio, West Virginia, and Indiana, respectively, were 
unsuccessful in killing squirrels. 
The average kill per trip on the three areas was lower than that of our 
hunter cooperators, who hunt almost exclusively on privately owned forests. 
At Forbes, hunters averaged 2.3 squirrels per trip; at Si loam Springs, 1.8; 
and at Kankakee River, only 0-59 squirrel per trip. 
It is our belief that the Department of Conservation should make an 
increased effort to obtain reliable data on squirrel harvest on these public 
areas. Although many hunters who frequent these areas are not skilled, their 
cumulative numbers and persistence can generate high squirrel kills to the 
point of overharvest, at least on small woodlots. 
HATURAl HISTORY SURVEY 
