Vo l. 11, No. 7 
Page 2 
The questionnaires indicated that the season extension in 1967 was successful 
in providing additional hunting recreation, and that the increased opportunity to 
hunt was well received by a large majority of the sportsmen who expressed their 
opinions of the lengthened season. There is no evidence to indicate that the 
vulnerability of cock pheasants to hunting was appreciably greater during the 
2-week extension than during the regular season, and the additional hunting provided 
did not result in a high proportionate harvest of cock pheasants—cock harvest in 
1967 was considerably lower than that considered desirable for the optimum use of 
the available pheasant resource. 
These findings, in addition to data obtained in previous years when hunting 
conditions were favorable during the entire season, suggest that there is little 
likelihood that cock pheasants would, or could be, overshot during seasons as long 
or longer than the extended season in 1967* Thus, longer seasons appear to be 
highly desirable in terms of the additional hunting recreation which could be 
provided and the optimum use of the available resource. 
2. Manipulation of Pheasant Habitat G. B. Joselyn 
In 1968, the first search for pheasant nests on manipulated and on managed 
control plots along 9? miles of roadway on and near the Sibley Study Area was 
conducted during the last week of June and first week of July. Fifty-nine pheasant 
nests were located on the plots, 36 on seeded and 23 on managed control plots. The 
first search in previous years produced the following totals: 1967, 52 nests (seeded, 
30 ; managed control, 22); 1966, 70 nests (seeded, 44; managed control, 26); 1965, 
57 nests (seeded, 35; managed control, 22); 1964, 85 nests (seeded, 52; managed 
control, 33); 1963, 80 nests (seeded, 40; managed control, 40). 
By July 15 this year, 15 nests had hatched on seeded plots and 7 nests had 
hatched on managed control plots. This represents the greatest number of successful 
nests on seeded roadsides at this point in the nesting season since 1963, when there 
were also 15 hatched nests by July 15; 1963 was also the year of greatest successful 
nest production on seeded roadsides (1.1 hatched nests per acre) during the 5 years 
of this investigation. By July 15, 1967, only four nests had hatched on seeded 
roadsides while six had hatched on managed control plots. Thus, pending the outcome 
of the second search of roadsides in late July, there are indications that success¬ 
ful nest production on seeded roadsides may approach that of 1 963 - 
3. Factors Influencing Distribution and Abundance of Pheasants W. L. Anderson 
Twenty-two hen pheasants (11 layers and 11 incubators) were collected in Ford 
and Livingston counties — the state's better pheasant range—during May and June, 
1968. By counting the ruptured follicles in the ovaries of the layers, and by 
allowing 1.3 days for each ruptured follicle, it was determined that the "average" 
hen pheasant began laying on April 26 (range, April 12-May 10). The number of 
ruptured follicles counted in ovaries of the incubating hens averaged 29-9; hence, 
the "average" hen pheasant laid 30 eggs before she began to incubate a clutch. In 
1967, it was estimated that the "average" hen began laying on April 26 (range, 
April 10-May 15) and laid 31 eggs before incubation began. These findings suggest 
that onset of laying and the number of eggs laid by hens in the state's better 
pheasant range were almost identical during the 2 years, 1967 and 1 968 . 
