1 
MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Illinois Federal Aid Project W- 66 -R 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, 
Glen C. Sanderson and Eva Steger, Editors 
>iCT4 197B 
UBRARY 
Cooperating 
Urbana, Illinois 
September, 1978 
Vol. 2 i, No. 9 
Manipulatio n of Pheasant Habitat 
- R« E. Warner 
r u^n°: 0 £ - d r :;vrr ^ 
perce“t P 097 nt ^VT ^r^planUd “ IT** 
>976, and an Z erfT, p^nVpe^,! T’ * 0 ° pereent 
In 1976, and an average of 76.8 percenter T f ?’ %\] 
2.6 percent of the fields on the SSA were left fail-.,, • ^ > 
Federal Set-Aside-Acres Program. reSponse “> the current 
Similar trends in .sjfjd use were recorded for the FfMU in ia 7 Q nn i n ? 
percent (44 acres) of harvested hay was noted on the 20-stari-mMe arel V a 3 
from the 2.2, 1.2, 1.1, 1.1, and 1.0 percent for 1973 - 77 , respectively. 
feHerIl’ endS in ' and USe °" th6 Study areas indicate that attempts by the 
contributed^™-^ t0 r educ ® the Production of feed grains in 1 978 have not 
contributed to increasing the amount of prime habitat available for the 
th V'~ - east-centra, . I Mnots^unused 
(oats and alfalfa)?*” n ° planted ,n cover Preferred by pheasants 
Pheasant nest studies were continued on the FCMU in 1978 for the sivth 
X'v^v h 3 tche v e ^ 
per acre in 19 ? 77 ? e 1 ?? 8 ’, ed W ' th ] ' 30 ’ U2i > 0 - 2 ?> 0.48, and 0.17 
square mile hatched' * *' VS Y * '* n estimated average of 1.3 nests per 
26 7 16 c « (3 h « d n n ^ n : row -crop cover on the FCMU in 1978; an average of 
1973 - 7 ? respective?' , ^ per Sectioa estimated for 
rZil- 7> res P ectl ve, y* In 1978, approximately 69 percent of all surressf l 
?r:h? 9 h a ?rc ? h t :s b ?o? h ::i?s nt : n ^e r r r c,; i ha r r side3 - 
hatched nests were found In ^/^d^ 5 “*^’ 50 ° f *" 
olots^frnrnl ?•* ne ^h searches has been completed on 90 0 . 25 -mile 
Roadsides (FCGR). in'TdfSe™ JSips'td 
