34 THE AUDUBON) BUDE Ea 
An Illinois Natural History Survey Report: 
ROADSIDE PHEASANT FARMING 
A unique undertaking is the seeding and management of roadside vege- 
tation for nesting pheasants being tried experimentally in Ford: County 
by Survey wildlife specialist G. Blair Joselyn in cooperation with the 
Illinois Department of Conservation. This experiment is unique because 
it attempts to establish permanent nesting cover in an intensively farmed. 
cash-grain crop area—even if on a limited scale—and because it represents 
a scheme based upon research data which demonstrates that pheasants wil) 
benefit from the development. 
Research to determine the management potential of establishing habitats 
(grasses and legumes) for nesting pheasants in east-central Illinois was 
initiated in 1962. During the six-year period from 1963 through 1968, the 
2.9 nests per acre on unmowed roadside plots seeded to a grass-legume 
mixture exceeded the 2.0 nests per acre on unmowed, unseeded roadside 
plots (managed control plots), and the 1.3 nests per acre on unseeded plots 
in which mowing was left to the farmers’ discretion—unmanaged contro! 
plots. During these six years, seeded roadsides also had greater densitie; 
of nests per acre than any of seven cther cover types (hay, wheat, oats, and 
so on) in the study area. Also, the hatch of pheasant nests on seeded road- 
sides was significantly greater than in the control plots on roadsides and 
in most of the other cover type plots. 
Seeding of roadsides is now being attempted in order to answer prac- 
tical questions regarding such problems as: the acceptance of seedings by 
farm operators and their willingness to delay mowing until after hatch 
time; the time required for, and the problems of, establishing seedlings 
from a standpoint of equipment operation; the cost of establishment anc 
maintenance of seedlings; the effects of roadside seedings on pheasani 
population levels. 
During 1967 a 16-square-mile area between Sibley and Melvin in Force 
County was designated for trial seeding. The area was studied during 1967 
for feasibility of seeding, to estimate pheasant population levels and tc 
study normal maintenance procedures of roadsides. Sixty-one of the 
sixty-five farmers contacted agreed to take part in the program. These 
farm operators agreed to mow their roadside closely in early August of 196% 
to facilitate seeding and to delay mowing in 1969 and subsequent year; 
until after most pheasants hatched successfully. 
In 1968 fertilizer, lime, and defoliates were applied, the roadsides weré 
mowed, seeded with the Howard Rotevator Company’s Rotaseeder, anc 
rolled. Smooth bromegrass and vernal alfalfa were the cover crops seeded 
Total costs amounted to $10,124 or $139 per mile of roadside ($68 per acre) 
Amortized over a ten-year period, these costs appear more reasonable. It 
is expected that these costs could be reduced to half this amount in a large- 
scale operation where some refinements such as fertilizing could be omitted 
and supervisory expenses would be much less. 
The effect on populations will be assessed again in 1970 and future 
years using the same techniques as were used in the Sibley study area in 
the 1963-68 studies. The success of this venture could mean greatly in- 
creased pheasant populations in areas where the very intensity of cultiva- 
tion practices tends to lower the population levels ‘of these game birds. 
