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MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperati nf^TURAL HISTORY SURVEY 
Glen C. Sanderson and Helen C. Schultz, Editors JAN S 1371 
LIBRARY 
Urbana, Illinois 
December, 1970 
Vol. 13, No. 12 
Pheasant Populations and Land Use 
S. L. Etter, 
R. E. Greenberg 
Beginning in the fall of 1968, half of the juvenile cock pheasants 
captured during the fall trapping period were marked with back tags and bands 
and half were marked with bands only. Tags and bands, and bands only, were put 
on alternately, so that the effects of differences in locations and in dates of 
capture were minimized. Adult cocks were excluded from the samples because of 
the small numbers captured and the possibility of differences in recovery rates 
related to age. 
During the hunting season of 1968 , 13 cocks with tags and bands and 12 
cocks with bands only were shot and were reported to project personnel. During 
the hunting season of 1969 > three additional cocks with tags and bands and four 
cocks with bands only, from the sample trapped in 1968 , were reported shot. 
Twelve cocks with tags and bands and 13 cocks with bands only, from the sample 
trapped in 1969 ^ were reported shot during the hunting season of I 969 . To date 
(December 20, 1970), one additional cock with a tag and band and one cock with 
a band only, from the sample trapped in 1969 , have been reported shot during the 
current hunting season. Only one cock with a tag and band and two cocks with 
bands only, from the small sample trapped in 1970, have been reported shot thus 
far. 
Although the numbers of marked cocks shot by hunters are small, these 
findings suggest that the survival rate of tagged and banded juvenile cock 
pheasants is nearly equal to that of juvenile cocks marked only with bands. 
Because of the short period of time between marking and recovery (first-year 
recoveries) during the hunting season of 1968 , large numbers of second-year 
recoveries are desirable. At present population levels, however, too few 
pheasants can be captured to accumulate significant numbers of second-year 
recoveries except on a long-term basis. 
2. Manipulation of Pheasant Habitat G. B. Joselyn 
For the 8 years 1963 - 70 , pheasant nest density on seeded roadsides (2.6 
nests per acre) was more than double the density of nests on all (mowed and 
unmowed) unmanaged control roadsides (1.2 nests per acre), which are considered 
typical" unseeded roadsides on the study area. 
Density of successful (hatched) nests on seeded plots for the 8 years (0»8 
0 successful nest per acre) was slightly more than double the density of successful 
nests on all unmanaged control plots (0.3 successful nest per acre). On mowed. 
