monthly wildlife research letter HISIMSURVEY 
Illinois Federal Aid Project W- 66 -R OCf 6 ]977 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooper'^'' 
Glen C. Sanderson and Helen C. Schultz, Editors 
Urbana, Illinois 
September, 1977 
Manipulation of Pheasant Habitat 
Vol. 20, No. 9 
R* E. Warner 
Area («A) ^Vo^CountV'ana'geL^t™nU (fCHU) T'’^"t °" $ibley Stud V 
season. On the SSA, 9 I .2 percent of the 006 the previOUS growing 
soybeans, compared with 88^3 in 1976 88 8 ? d ioic "f planted to corn and 9 
1973, and 65.8 dating back to m 63 whfn'Lnt ' 97 1’ ® 9 ' 1 in '” 4 ' 8 M in 
observed on the SSA. Hay, pasture’ andf numbers of pheasants were 
proportionately with the expansion'of row cm 9 : a,n . acrea 9 es h ®ve diminished 
occupied only 0.9 percent of the land am P ^ armln 9l tame ha y fields 
reflects the sami trend in land J* h^ ! ^ SSA in ' 977 ‘ Tha p CMU 
(128 acres) in 1977 , down from l.l percln/i n^A^T 613 ° n ' y ' - ° percent 
percent In 1974, and 2.2 percent in I 973 si U ?6 ’ • percent in 1975, 1.2 
percent (126 acres) of the FCMU in 1J77 7!'™ were Panted on 1.0 
2.5 percent in , 975 , 3-7 percent in 1974,13^6 P^cent' in*^ 3 "^ ' 976 ' 
Per JZ'JXSZ"Z1 ° f 0 ^ 7 b - bad 
in all other U types oTnon-row'cro^coT ' 005 H ( Tab ' a V ^enstties 
than in I 973-76 (Table I). T he estil^.7" 'l 6 FCMU were also ,ower in '977 
in non-row crop cover dec I i nld 72 8 p^cen^f ^ ?S 7 £ ,tC 5 * d ““ per saat '° a 
types of non-row crop cover on the fcmii . ?"? 1 976 . However, among all 
number of nests (Table 21 with = FCHU ' roadsides supported the greatest 
section in 1977, a ^er’avemge JhaTt^e^f pheasa "' " 65t5 itched per 
basis of information in Table 2 m^ric-d t ^ ie P rev ' ous ** years. On the 
nests hatched in non-row crop cover f ° r p «rcent of the 
■975, 58.8 percent in I 974 and 38 8 977j A7 ' 9 per cent in 1976, 26.3 in 
46 -I percent. Seven of^he 17 ^ 4 ?^ percent'" ' 973 ’ With 3 5 ' year mean of 
roadside plots searched in 1977 were successful eStablished on ‘he 68 
90 0.2?: m ne e Mo^s'th^riem'sele'md^ro 3 ^ 66 ^ “" ductad a p f 
(FCGR). These roadsides are scattered thm ^ F °'t County Graded Roadsides 
were seeded by the DOC in I 972 , 1974 0 !!f° U 9 d| fferent townships and 
graded by the township road commissioners fn toTA" th \ roadsid « had been 
found on the 9.9 acres of seedings (I 97 sl‘thir 976 n ° pheasant nests were 
because the vegetation was not we 11 es tab I i " ra searc b ed —Prssumabl y 
(seeded in 1972 and 1974) ropdciM^ t> sh-d. The 52.4 acres of mature 
and 0.17 hatched pheasant nesfper TcrV 'tn^ ' 976 had °' 44 «t.blished 
roadsides seeded in I 975 as well as on ear!" 977 ' ? est,n 9 occurred on the 
of pheasant nests found on the FCGR ?n Seed,n 9 s ’ The limited number 
r-CGR n 1977 prevented testing for differences 
