Vol. 23, No. 3 
Page 3 
Prairie chicken hens prefer to place their nests near field edges, i.e., 
sharp edges. Ten acres is a practical field size to provide edge. Where edge 
is indistinct, as between meadows of sods of different ages, mowed or disked 
firelanes, or both, can provide sharp edge. 
Ten-acre fields are ideal for booming grounds. The largest and most stable 
booming grounds at Bogota have been maintained on fields about 10 acres in size. 
Typically, such booming grounds attract 20 to 40 cocks. In 1972 a 10-acre field 
of soybean stubble surrounded by nest cover contained 65 cocks (the largest on 
record) throughout the breeding season. Conversely, fields of 5 acres or less, 
though otherwise suitable (bare ground or short sparse cover and surrounded by 
nest cover), generally do not attract even small numbers of cocks. 
The 10-acre field size provides sufficient incentive for sharecropping. 
Such a unit is also convenient for bookkeeping and for determining amounts of 
seed and fertilizer needed in routine management. 
Ecology and Management of White-tailed Deer - W-87-R 
C. M. Nixon, 
L. P. Hansen, 
J. E. Chelsvig 
This report summarizes the deer captures made during the winter of I 98 O. 
All captures were made by shooting a rocket net over deer feeding on a bait pile 
of corn, apples, and salt blocks. Two crew members watched from a blind and 
fired the rockets when the deer were in positions. 
Most captures were made on, or adjacent to, Robert Allerton Park, approxi¬ 
mately 1,500 acres owned by the University of Illinois and located 4 miles 
southwest of Monticello, Piatt County, Illinois. One capture was made 2 miles 
northeast of Urbana, Champaign County, Illinois, on 80 acres also owned by the 
University and used for plant and animal ecology studies. 
From a total of 9 successful captures, 23 deer were marked--l adult male, 
5 adult females, 10 male fawns, and 7 female fawns. The deer were marked as 
follows: radio-transmitter collars on 3 adult females and 2 female fawns, 
thermoplastic collars bearing reflective symbols on all other females, a special 
expandable collar with a reflective symbol on the adult male, and vinyl-coated 
nylon streamers attached to each ear of the male fawns. Collars and ear 
streamers were color coded to correspond to specific capture sites. All deer 
were marked with numbered metal ear tags for identification upon death or 
recapture. 
One male fawn was recaptured at the same bait site 6 weeks after the 
original capture. His ears had healed well after the ear streamers were attached. 
