MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
Glen C. Sanderson and Helen C. Schultz, Editors 
Urbana, Illinois December, I 965 Vol. 8, No. 12 
1. Pheasant Populations and Land Use W. J. Francis, S. L. Etter 
The success of hunters on opening day and throughout the I 9 C 3 pheasant hunting 
season was lower than in any of the preceding 5 years (Table 1). The 1 76 hunters 
interviewed on opening day in 1965 bagged a cock, on the average, every 8 hours 
and 24 minutes, whereas 256 hunters interviewed on opening day in 1964 required, 
on the average, only 1 hour and 59 minutes to bag a cock. The lower hunter success 
in 1965 appeared to be due to a combination of a lower pheasant population and 
large acreages of corn which remained unharvested well into the hunting season. 
Because of the low hunting success on opening day, hunting pressure for the re¬ 
mainder of the season was light. Heavy rains during the last weekend of the 
hunting season, an otherwise favorable period because most of the corn had been 
harvested, discouraged even the most persistent hunters. 
The age ratio of the 79 cock pheasants shot by hunters and examined by 
biologists on the Sibley Study Area during the 1965 hunting season was 8-9 
juveniles per adult, about the same as in the two preceding seasons. A ratio of 
9-0 juveniles per adult was obtained from 140 cocks captured by nightlighting 
prior to the hunting season. The crippling rate reported by 226 hunters inter¬ 
viewed in I 965 was 14.9 percent; which is similar to rates reported for the 4 
preceding years. 
Table 1. Pheasant-harvest data obtained by interviewing hunters on the Sibley 
Study Area during the I96O-65 hunting seasons. 
Year 
Number of 
Hunters 
1nterviewed 
Number of 
Cocks Aged 
By Bursal 
Examination 
Age Ratio of 
Bagged Cocks 
(Young per Adult) 
Gun-Hours 
per 
Bagged Cock 
Cocks Crippled 
and Lost per 
100 Downed 
I960 
496 
441 
8.3 
3-1 
31 .9 
1961 
443 
402 
7-0 
2.8 
20.9 
1962 
833 
812 
11-9 
3.3 
13-0 
1963 
468 
441 
9-2 
3.1 
24.3 
1964 
421 
425 
8-9 
2.4 
17.2 
1965 
226 
79 
8.9 
8.0 
14.9 
2. Manipu1 ation of Pheasant Habitat G. B. Joselyn 
The rate of establishment of pheasant nests on seeded roadsides in 1 963 
(290 nests per 100 acres) was exceeded only by those which occurred in unharvested 
natural history survey 
JAM ^4 1966 
library 
