HKTORM- history survey 
JUN 17 1968 
UBRIW. 
MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
Glen C. Sanderson and Helen C. Schultz, Editors 
Urbana, Illinois 
February, 1 968 
Vol. 11, No. 2 
1. Pheasant Populations and Land Use S. L. Etter 
In order to evaluate the response of hunters to the 2-week extension of the 
pheasant hunting season in I 967 , questionnaires were sent to 48 hunters who had 
returned tags or bands from cocks killed during the last four hunting seasons. 
The hunters were asked to indicate the number of times they hunted during the 
regular season in 1 967 and during the 2-week extended period, and also to indicate 
the number of cocks they killed during each period. 
The 30 hunters who responded to the questionnaires reported a total of 116 
days of hunting during the regular season and a total of 61 days during the ex¬ 
tended period. The reported kills were 107 cocks and 61 cocks during the regular 
season and the extended period, respectively. According to these data, the hunt¬ 
ing effort increased 53 percent and the kill increased 57 percent over that which 
would have occurred without the season extension. 
In spite of the increased kill resu11ing from the extension of the hunting 
season, the total kill of cocks was considerably lower than in 1 965 or 1966. The 
sex ratio of pheasants on the Sibley Study Area after the 1 96 7 hunting season was 
59 cocks per 100 hens, compared with 40 and 33 in 1965 and 1966, respectively. 
These data indicate that despite the fact that the extension of the season was 
successful in providing considerable additional hunting, a large number of harvest- 
able cocks remained in the field after the season ended. 
2. Manipulation of Pheasant Habitat 
G. B. Joselyn 
The method used to establish roadside seedings in 1962 (plowing, disking, 
and harrowing, followed by hand seeding) was reliable, but too costly and time 
consuming to be considered practical for establishing seedings over a large area. 
During the past 3 years, approaches investigated as possible one-step methods of 
establishing grasses and legumes in bluegrass sod include: (1) using a sod seeder 
to seed directly into sod, without tillage; (2) complete tillage (to provide a 
prepared seedbed as in plowing) using a high-speed rototiller with an attached 
broadcast seeder; and (3) complete tillage using a large, slow-speed rototiller. 
None of these methods proved entirely satisfactory. The sod seeder, being 
constructed for operation on level ground, failed to function properly because 
of the undulations in most roadsides. The large, field-type rototiller worked 
well but, because of its size and the large tractor required to pull it, proved 
undesirable for use on small roadsides. The high-speed rototiller was small 
