6 
state’s pheasant range (Fig. 2-4). Although the pheas- 
ant population in northern Illinois had already declined 
by 1958, it diminished even more during the past 
decade. The abundance of pheasants in all counties 
of northern Illinois, except Carroll, diminished substan- 
tially between 1958 and 1968; losses in abundance dur- 
ing these 10 years exceeded 50 percent in Jo Daviess, 
Stephenson, Boone, McHenry, Kane, Cook, Du Page, 
Lee, Henry, and Stark counties (Table 2). Pheasant 
populations in northern Illinois would have plummeted 
even lower had not such counties as Carroll, Stephen- 
son, Winnebago, Boone, De Kalb, and Ogle actually 
registered gains in abundance between 1963 and 1968. 
The most spectacular change in pheasant abundance 
that has occurred in Illinois within the past decade has 
been the increase in pheasant numbers in a block of 
nine counties—Logan, Moultrie, De Witt, Macon, 
Mason, Christian, Menard, Sangamon, and Cass—sit- 
uated south and southwest from east-central Illinois. 
Increases in abundance among these nine counties, all 
of which had densities of more than one pheasant per 
100 miles of driving in 1968, ranged from twofold to 
sixteenfold during the 10 years, 1958-1968 (Table 2; 
Fig. 2-4). Notably, two of these counties—Logan and 
Moultrie—advanced from their respective county rank- 
ings of 16 and 37 in 1958 to rankings of 2 and 
5 in 1968; these advances in ranking were due not 
only to gains in abundance recorded in the two 
counties but also to declines in abundance in many of 
* 
WARREN oP BOE 
=z 
Ss 
S 
2 
S 
r=] 
= 
HANCOCK 
SCHUYLER 
CASS 
MORGAN 
BROWN 
66000 
SCOTT SANGAMON SOOO Mu 
GREENE MACOUPIN 
CALHOU! 
= 
JERSEY 
MADISON BOND 
EFFINGHAM RD 
1958 aor calf 
MARION RICHLAN! AWRENCE 
APRIL, 
PHEASANTS PER /™ | = 
SE IOOMILESMINE (© oe euam 
100.1 PLUS cp am 
50.1 — 100.0 er 
10.1-50.0 eis 
I. —10.0 
0.1 - 1.0 
LESS THAN OI 
Fig. 2.—Distribution and abundance of pheasants in Illinois 
as mapped from township statistics obtained by a rural mail 
carrier census, April, 1958 (after Labisky and Anderson 1965). 
Counties below the heavy line were not censused. 
EDWARDS 
WABASH 
HAMILTON | WHITE 
}—___ GALLATIN 
WILLIAMSON Satie 
| MASSAC 
So? 
% 
<5 
VEU 
the previously top-ranked counties. Several counti: 
that adjoin the nine-county sector, namely Piatt, Taz, 
well, Edgar, and Coles, also posted substantial, thoug 
proportionately smaller, gains in pheasant abundance 
during the past decade. 
No decisive spread of pheasants into unoccupie 
range along the southern and western boundaries 
the contiguous pheasant range has occurred within th 
past decade (Fig. 2-4). Yet pheasant abundance j 
many segments of this so-called “marginal” range, pai 
ticularly in the south, has increased in recent years. Th 
several small populations of pheasants beyond the cor 
tiguous range could be precursory, self-maintainin 
flocks, but are probably the artifacts of local release 
of artificially propagated birds. 
DISCUSSION 
Examination of records documenting the distributio 
and abundance of pheasants since their introductio 
into Illinois (Greeley et al. 1962), leaves little douk 
that the state’s all-time high in pheasant abundanc 
was attained in 1962 or 1963. This conclusion is sub 
stantiated by the fact that the calculated autumn kill o 
cocks by hunters in Illinois was greater in these years- 
989,000 in 1962, and 1,066,000 in 1963—than in any pre 
ceding or following year through 1968 ( William L. Pre 
no, Illinois Department of Conservation, unpublished) 
The low in pheasant numbers in Illinois during the pas 
“ell i 
Mi at 
UY) 
a. 
APRIL, 1963 
PHEASANTS PER 
lOO MILES 
100.1 PLUS 
50.1 — 100.0 
10.1 — 50.0 
1 —10,0 
0.1 — 1.0 
LESS THAN O.I 
Fig. 3.—Distribution and abundance of pheasants in Illinois 
as mapped from township statistics obtained by a rural mai 
carrier census, April, 1963 (after Labisky and Anderson 1965) 
Counties below the heavy line were not censused. 
JEFFERSON 
WILLIAMSON 
eens 
