.. x iJSTORt SURVEV 
MAY 15 I 978 
UBRARV 
MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Illinois Federal Aid Project W-66-R 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
Glen C. Sanderson and Helen C. Schultz, Editors 
Urbana, Illinois 
April, I 978 
Vol. 21, No. 4 
Manipulation of Pheasant Habitat R> L> v/arner 
An evaluation of the harvest of pheasants on the Sibley Study Area (SSA) 
in the 1 96 O's indicated that from 1962 to 1968 an average of 6.7 percent of 
the early fall population of hen pheasants was bagged (illegally) by hunters 
during the upland game season; the percentage for the seasons of 1 962 and 
1963^ when peak numbers of pheasants (and hunters) were observed on the SSA 
was 9 . 0 . The average illegal hen kill dropped to about 5 percent in 1 967 ’ 
and 1968 , corresponding with a moderate decline in the numbers of pheasants 
and hunters. In most Midwestern and Plains states, reduced hen kill appears 
to be a typical pattern of response to declining populations of pheasants. 
However, some workers have expressed the belief that when lows occur in pheasant 
abundance, proportionately greater numbers of hens are shot. Although this 
was not the case on the SSA in the 1960 's, the density of ringnecks in the 
east-central counties of the state in recent years has been only a fraction 
of that noted a decade ago, and for this reason the current level of illeqal 
hen kill merits attention. 
The below-average harvest of cocks and numbers of hunters afield in 1 977 
reflected the scarcity of pheasants (MWRL 20(11):1); winter sex ratios of 46 
cocks per 100 hens were indicated on several areas of investigation in Ford, 
Champaign, Iroquois and McLean counties after the 1977 upland game season. The 
sex ratio for the east-central counties has averaged slight’y less than 30 
cocks per 100 hens since 1968 . 
To ascertain if recent declines in the abundance of cocks has prompted 
hunters to shoot more hens, pheasants found road-killed or frozen in the field 
were collected over the past few months. Although considerable effort was 
expended by staff members of the Department of Conservation and Natural History 
Survey only 25 ringnecks (8 cocks and 17 hens) were gathered for f1uoroscopinq. 
Most of these pheasants were found on or near the five study areas located in 
the counties listed above. The fluoroscoped sample was too small to afford a 
calculation of the percentage of hens shot by hunters. Only one pheasant (a hen) 
was found to contain lead pellets, which seems to reflect the unusually low 
unter pressure in 1977- It would be logical to expect that more than one hen 
would contain lead shot if illegal hen shooting had increased to critical 
proport 1 ons. 
