- ■'CYUXtr 
NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY 
JUN 2 6 1968 
LIBRARY 
MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
Glen C. Sanderson and Helen C. Schultz, Editors 
Urbana, 11 Iinois 
November, 196 7 
Vol. 10, No. II 
1. Pheasant Populations and Land Use S. L. Etter 
Pheasant hunting on the opening weekend of the season in 1967 was the poorest 
recorded on the Sibley Study Area in the last 6 years--hunters spent an average of 
18.1 hours in the field to bag a cock pheasant. Comparable figures for 1962 through 
1966 were 2-2, 2-7* 2.1, 8.0, and 6.9 hours, respectively. 
The poor hunting this year was mainly the result of large acreages of standing 
corn. The corn harvest in east-central Illinois is about 5 weeks behind normal, and 
only about a fourth of the corn on the Sibley Study Area had been harvested when the 
hunting season opened. At the present rate of harvest, it appears that it will be 
early December before enough corn has been harvested to permit good hunting. 
2- Manipulation of Phcasanjt Hab i tat G. 2 . JoseJyn 
For the 5 years 1963-67, pheasant nest density on seeded roadside plots was more 
than double the density of nests on all (mowed and unmowed combined) unmanaged control 
plots, which are considered "typical" unseeded roadsides on the study area. 
Density of successful (hatched) nests on seeded plots for the 5 years (0.8 
successful nest per acre) was double the density of successful nests on all unmanaged 
control plots (0.4 successful nest per acre). Seeded plots had between 0.5 and l.l 
successful nests per acre during each of the 5 years. Mowed unmanaged control plots 
produced between 0.4 and less than 0.1 successful nest per acre, each year, and 0.2 
nest per acre for the 5 years; unmowed unmanaged control plots hatched from 0.4 to 1.1 
nests per acre during the period and 0.6 nest per acre for all years combined. Thus, 
nest success on unmowed unmanaged control roadside plots for the 5 years compares 
favorably with that on seeded plots. This suggests that nonmowing of existing road¬ 
side vegetation could result in pheasant nesting cover which approaches the quality of 
seeded roadsides. While this supposition may prove valid, presence nsfidve^d.s.pand ldok'i 
of uniformity in vegetation on unmewed roadsides would make them 1 ;nocceptable to most 
farm operators. It may be possible, however, to employ selective spraying techniques 
which would make roadside vegetation relatively secure for nesting pheasants and would 
also control undesirable vegetation sufficiently to eliminate objections from farm 
operators. 
3- Factors Inf1uencinq D istribution and Abundance of Pheasants W. L. Anderson 
To gain further insight into the possible effects of inorganic ions on the 
distribution of pheasants, corn, the staple food of this species in Illinois, was 
