MONTHLY WILDLIFE RESEARCH LETTER 
Department of Conservation and Natural History Survey, Cooperating 
Glen C. Sanderson and Helen C. Schultz, Editors 
Urbana, Illinois 
August, 1971 
Vol. 14, No. $ 
1. Pheasant Populations and Land Use 
S. L. Etter 
A previous report (MV/RL 14(7):!) indicated that the availability of 
nesting cover per se was not the only land use characteristic influencing 
pheasant abundance on the Sibley Study Area. The effect of changes in 
acreages of small grains, forage crops (hay and rotation hay pasture), and 
grassy permanent cover, all of which provided this nesting cover, was not 
however, confined to the nesting season. The fall and winter cover provided 
• V tyP6S d f creased from 3,560 acres in 1962-63 to 1,503 acres 
in 9 “67 (58 percent). As a consequence of the increased acreaqes of 
corn and soybeans that replaced small grains and forage crops, fall plowing 
increased from 11,943 acres in 1962 to 14,343 acres in 1 966 . Thus the fal? 
and winter cover provided by small grains, forage crops, and grassy 
permanent cover was replaced by plowed fields. 
Although the benefits of small grain stubble, forage crops, and grassy 
permanent cover to pheasants in fall and winter, except as roosting cover, 
is presently unknown, the replacement of such cover by plowed fields is 
obviously detrimental to pheasants. These data point out the need for 
more information on the survival and habitat utilization of pheasants 
during fall and winter. At present, however, it is obvious that land use 
changes effecting fall and winter survival have been equally as drastic 
as those effecting nest cover. Given the findings of the present study, 
it appears that future research should place primary emphasis on survival 
studies rather than on reproduction. 
2. Manipulation of Pheasant Habitat 
G. B. Joselyn 
Records of the Ford County ASCS office, Paxton, show that 137 
individuals farm adjacent to graded roadsides that were selected for seeding 
in the county during September. For the 86 linear miles of roadside 
proposed for seeding, this number constitutes an average of 1.6 farm 
operators per mile. Lists of farm operators, along with maps’ indicating 
the land each farms adjacent to the graded roadsides, have been prepared 
and are now in the hands of Department Biologists. Using this material, 
the biologists are contacting individual farm operators to seek permission 
for seeding their roadsides. Each farmer is also being requested to refrain 
from mowing his roadside until July 31 or later beginning in 1 972 . Contacts 
of farmers began August 3 ; initial reports indicate most farmers are willing 
to participate in the program. Seeding is scheduled for mid-September. 
