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MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
Glen C. Sanderson and Helen C* Schultz, Editors 
Urbana, Illinois October, 1966 Vol. 9, No. 10 
1. Pheasant Populations and Land Use S. L. Etter 
A comparison of the age ratios of cock pheasants (young per adult) captured 
during prehunt trapping in October and early November with those of cocks captured 
during posthunt trapping in January and February for the years 1962-65 indicate 
that juvenile cocks survive only about half as well as adults during the interim 
period (Table 1). The comparison of the age ratios of cocks killed during the 
hunting seasons with those of cocks captured during prehunt trapping did not show 
any significant differences within individual years and were nearly the same when 
all years were combined. 
Since it is unlikely that any differential mortality between the fall trapping 
period and the hunting season would be equalized by a compensating vulnerability 
to hunting, it is felt that adult and juvenile cocks are equally vulnerable to both 
trapping and hunting. Taking this into consideration, the data suggest that the 
differential mortality between the two age groups is the result of natural factors. 
A second and more important implication of the above data is that the differential 
mortality of juveniles apparently occurs after the early part of the hunting season 
when most of the cocks are shot. This would suggest that the differential mortality 
rates of juvenile and adult pheasants (see also Monthly Wildlife Research Letter, 
March, 1966) may be associated with the stress of the onset of winter storms in 
late November and December. 
Table 1. Age ratios of cock pheasants (young per adult) in prehunt and in post¬ 
hunt trapped samples and in hunter bag samples, Sibley Study Area, 1962-65* Sample 
sizes are in parentheses. 
Prehunt 
Hunter Bag 
Posthunt 
1962 
12.8 ( 760 ) 
11.9 ( 812 ) 
6.9 (63) 
1963 
9*7 (407) 
9*2 (441) 
3*8 (29) 
1964 
6-7 (207) 
8.9 (425) 
4.0 ( 20 ) 
1965 
8.3 (140) 
8.9 ( 79) 
3*5 ( 36 ) 
Total 
10.2 (1,514) 
10.1 (1,757) 
4.7 (148) 
2. Manipulation of Pheasant Habitat G. B. Joselyn 
It is desirable to compare pheasant nest establishment and production on seeded 
roadside plots with that occurring on "typical" unseeded roadsides on the study 
a rea. 
Seeded and adjacent managed control (unseeded) roadside plots are mowed each 
summer only once, after the second search for pheasant nests in late July. Because 
most farm operators usually mow roadside cover several times each summer, managed 
control roadside plots are not representative of other roadsides on the study area. 
To compare pheasant nesting ecology between seeded and "typical" roadsides, 
