The refuge in pheasant management
Journal of Wildlife Management
By: F.H. Dale
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Abstract
1. Cock pheasants in favorable habitats have demonstrated ability to withstand hunting pressures up to 300 gunhours per hundred acres and maintain a satisfactory remnant for breeding purposes. 2. Sex ratios of 10 or more hens per cock are adequate for the production of fertile eggs, and there is evidence that much wider ratios could be tolerated without loss of fertility. 3. Sex ratios divergent enough to reduce egg fertility have not been reported, even in areas of high hunter concentration. 4. Since other pheasant management goals can be attained without protection from hunting, the refuge, per se, must be judged solely on results of a reduced hunting season kill. 5. Even with unusually effective refuges, the reduction in statewide hen kill attributable to refuges is not likely to amount to more than 2 per cent of the hen population. This would be accompanied by a larger reduction in harvest of cocks. 6. Since the usable pheasant population is measured by the harvest, any unnecessary reduction in cock kill must be considered a waste of the game crop and contrary to good management. 7. Legal protection and educational programs designed to save hen pheasants are more selective and probably more effective than refuges in pheasant management. 8. Pheasant populations are products of habitat. Improvement of the entire range within economic limitations and the full utilization of annual population surpluses wherever practicable appear to be reasonable goals of management.
| Publication type | Article |
|---|---|
| Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
| Title | The refuge in pheasant management |
| Series title | Journal of Wildlife Management |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Year Published | 1951 |
| Language | English |
| Contributing office(s) | Patuxent Wildlife Research Center |
| Description | 337-346 |
| Larger Work Type | Article |
| Larger Work Subtype | Journal Article |
| Larger Work Title | Journal of Wildlife Management |
| First page | 337 |
| Last page | 346 |
| Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |