MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
o. 8 " 
i 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
Glen C. Sanderson and Helen C. Schultz, Editors 
Urbana, Illinois January, 1965 \Jo] . 8, No. I 
1. Pheasant Populations and Land Use S. L. Etter 
It was estimated that 7,071 pheasants (2,888 cocks; 4,183 hens), or an average 
of 191 per section, were present on the 37-square-mi 1e Sibley Study Area just prior 
to the 196 k hunting season. The estimated numbers of pheasants on the study area 
immediately prior to the 1962 and 1 96 3 hunting seasons were 15*224 and 10,391* 
respectively. 
For 1964, as for 1 962 and 1 963 , the estimate was calculated using the following 
ratios: 
(1) Number of Tagged Cocks Shot 
b y Hunters Interviewed (30 = 
Number of Cocks Tagged 
during Prehunt Period (203) 
where X = 2,888 cocks; and 
(2) Number of Cocks Tagged 
during Prehunt Period (2 03) = 
Number of Cocks Present 
during Prehunt Period (2,888) 
where X 1 = 4,183 hens. 
The above estimates and information obtained about age ratios, numbers of 
broods, numbers of nests established, and proportions of established nests that 
were successful in 1963 and 1964 (Monthly Wildlife Research Letters; September, 
October, November; 1964) indicate that the production of pheasants on the Sibley 
Study Area in 1964 was 30-40 percent lower than in 1963- 
2. Manipulation of Pheasant Habitat 6. B. Joselyn 
The density of pheasant nests on seeded roadside plots in 1963 was 3>1 pa r 
acre in fencerows and 2.8 per acre in the remaining portions of the plots (Table 1). 
In 1964, 2.5 nests per acre were established in fencerows and 4.0 nests per acre 
in the remaining parts of these plots. Thus, the increase of almost 1 nest per 
acre in total nest density on the seeded plots occurred in those portions exclusive 
of fencerows. 
In contrast to the seeded roadside plots, on managed control roadside plots 
(unseeded), nesting tended to be concentrated in the fencerows in both 1963 and 1964. 
UAi SURVEY 
FEB 5 1965 
Number of Cocks Shot by 
Hunters Interviewed (441) 
Number of Cocks Present 
during Prehunt Period (X) 
Number of Hens Taaged 
during Prehunt Pe ri od (294) 
Number of Hens Present 
during Prehunt Period (X 1 ) 
[ir '1Y 
