MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Illinois Federal Aid Project W- 66 -R 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
Glen C. Sanderson and Eva Steger, Editors 
lJuoAL iiWUM SURVEY 
DEC 8 1978 
IIRR4PY 
Urbana, Illinois 
November, I 978 
Vo 1. 21, No. 1 
Manipulation of Pheasan t Habitat 
R. E. Warner 
1977) A w^e e I? ) t :id U on e the f S r"T:rStudy n A%: Is^td 7Z 7™ ^ d 
(FCMU) during the opening weekend (11-12 tovembir' ?q 7 £wff ana 9 eraen ‘ Unit 
Conditions for hunting were genera v favor a Me J1 * upland 9 ame season - 
and soybean harvest wls complied ther WaS mild and dr V> c°™ 
years when plowing has beenexjens i ve bird/h!^ WaS e * tenSive - In recent 
and permanent cover for the first few’hn r. f w ^ en concentrated in residual 
hunter activity to plowed^ i e'1 dTwh^eX llSTuZX ^^ ^ 
remainder of opening weekend. relatively inaccessible for the 
Hunters indicated that their effnrt-c 
areas this year than in 1977- Man-hours expended W trhr re SUCcessful both 
lUlXii 5 a “ i:e' 977; r ?he FCH ".' ^ 
tallied per cock harvested on the SSA^s onhe^CMU."" 65 35 many man ' hours was 
the ^ ^f 1 r * 'V related to 
to differences from previous vears in WPat h Ph asant Population rather than 
efficiency. Eighty-four perc^ of?he™ h " r \^ tatus of C ™P harvest, or hunter 
were juveniles, which indicates an aboveTp S * at W f re aged ° n openin 9 weekend 
population (Table 1). Althouqh the denJ/ I 96 number of V oun 9 in the fall 
observed on these areas was lower in 1978 tha and breed '"9 hens 
rate of recruitment of juveniles into thf f,n ’? 77 . (MWRL 21 (i 0) : 1), the 
have been enhanced by an unusuallv hinh population per breeding hen may 
greater clutch “^su^fT^[e" 65 * 5 
if it^ a r aS dUrin9 ^"9 -kend- 
population per breeding hen--mav be an en ^ lt: T ent ? f Juveniles into the fall 
from the heavy losses sustained during the pas?'tL S seV f pheasant / e «>«ry 
g tne past two severe winters (MWRL 21(6);1). 
