Vol. 24, No. 3 
Page 4 
Two other factors may be part of the problem at Bogota: (1) disturbance 
of prairie chickens by the public visitation program each spring (Ml/RL 24 (2): 3-^4) 
and (2) a high level of nest predation since 1973. However, the predominant 
factor at Bogota apparently is the ring-necked pheasant. Effective control is 
needed, but any control measure must consider local public sentiment, which 
favors the pheasant. Trapping and transplanting of pheasants to Sam Parr State 
Park may be one approach to control. Such an effort would, theoretically, 
keep the birds in Jasper County on an area where they may be legally hunted. 
Trading pheasants from Bogota for wild turkeys from Missouri or ruffed grouse 
from Kentucky may also have merit. 
Ecology and Management of White-tailed D eer - W- 87 -R C. M. Nixon, 
L. P. Hansen, 
J. E. Chelsvig 
Since 1957 successful gun hunters have been required to bring their deer to 
county check stations to record such data as sex, age, and location of kill. 
Sex and age ratio data from 1 year can be used in a series of life table 
equations to predict deer herd size the following year. These predictions may 
not be accurate because harvested deer are often aged incorrectly and sex and 
age ratios in the harvest may differ from those in the wild because of variable 
susceptabi1ity to harvest by different sex and age classes. If these biases 
are consistent in the same direction, however, trends in population size may be 
predicted. 
From sex and age ratio data, we evaluated trends in deer population in 15 
west-central Illinois counties (Region 3, Table 3). Predicted deer kill indicates 
a general upward trend in deer population. To prevent problems associated with 
over- and underexploitation of our deer resource, management agencies need to be 
able to control herd size; the most feasible means is by controlling hunter 
harvest. The relationship between number of deer harvested (dependent variable) 
and the predicted number of deer and number of hunters (independent variables) 
can be determined by the following equation: 
1/Y * 8.177 x 10“ 3 - 2.241 x 10~ 7 X 1 - 2.249 x lo" 7 X 2 
Y = Deer kill 
Xj = Numbers of hunters 
X 2 = Estimated number of deer 
2 
with anr = 0.92. Desired levels of harvest can be maintained through use of 
this equation. Extension of this basic equation to include other variables 
affecting the population dynamics of the white-tailed deer and its harvest will 
be evaluated in the future. 
