Vol. 8, No. 12 
Page 3 
0 Hunting success, expressed as gun-hours expended per cock bagged, in 1 965 was 
comparable to the hunting success in all previous years of the experiment except 
I960, the first year (Table 3)* The significance of these findings is particularly 
clear when it is pointed out that no additional stock has been released at Neoqa 
since 1963 * 
The age ratio among 29 of the cocks bagged in I 965 was 8.7 uveniles per 
adult; this is similar to the age ratio of 8-9 young per adult for cocks bagged 
in 1965 on the Sibley Area in the heart of Illinois' best pheasant range. None 
of the 38 cocks bagged in 1965 were marked (had back tags or leg bands), indicating 
that all were produced on or in the vicinity of the study area. It is beginning 
to appear that a low-density but successful pheasant population has been established 
at Neoga. 
Table 3- Statistics of the pheasant 
harvest at 
Neoga, 
111 inois, 
I 960 
through 1965 * 
I 960 
1961 
1962 
1963 
1964 
1965 
Number of Days in 
Hunting Season 
» 9 ± 
24i 
28i 
33 j 
365 
29i 
Date Season Began 
Nov. 11 
Nov. 18 
Nov• 17 
Nov. 16 
Nov. 
14 Nov. 13 
Number of Hunters 
261 
286 
353 
161 
1 
1 
82 
Average Number of 
Hunters per Day 
13 
12 
12 
5 
1 
1 
1 
Q> 
3 
Gun-Hours per Cock Bagged 
6.1 
H.3 
9-6 
18.8 
(0 
0 
11.3 
Number of Cocks Bagged 
11 1 
60 
106 
37 
0 
2 
1 
38 
Number of Cocks Crippled 
and Lost 
21 
1 1 
14 
3 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
4 
4. Responses of Bobwhites 
to Habitat 
Manipu1 at 
on 
J 
. A. Ellis 
, R. 
L. Westemeier 
The harvest of quail on the Dale and Forbes areas in 1965 was less than in 
1964 (Table 4). On Forbes, 100 quail were harvested in 1965, a decline of 60 per¬ 
cent when compared with a harvest of 253 in 1564. On Dale, 126 birds were harvested 
in 1965, compared with 230 in 1964, a decline of 45 percent. 
Hunting effort on Dale was about the same in 1964 and 1 965 . On Forbes, how¬ 
ever, there were 67 percent fewer hunters in 1965 ( 113 ) than in 1964 (341), and 
the number of gun-hours declined 62 percent from 1964 to 1 965 . Forbes was closed 
to upland game hunting during the 6-day deer season in 1965 , which could account 
for some decrease in hunting pressure. 
The kills per unit area on both Dale and Forbes have declined each hunting 
season (1963-1965), except for a slight increase on the Forbes Area in 1964 compared 
with 1963. The kill per 100 acres on Forbes in 1965, 4.6, was 59 percent smaller 
than in 1963- On Dale the kill per 100 acres in 1965 , 11.4, was 52 percent smaller 
9 
