Band Returns from Indiana Club-Reared Pheasants

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Abstract
For many years the Indiana Division of Fish and Game has released thousands of pheasants through the cooperation of the Conservation Clubs, yet little was known regarding the effect of the release in providing birds for the gun, adaptability of the birds in various sections of the state, period of survival, and causes of mortality. In an effort to uncover these unknown factors, 8,406 pen-reared pheasants 8 weeks old were released between July 13 and Aug. 28, 1942, in 35 different counties. Up to Dec. 1943 a total of 367 band returns had been received, representing 4.4% of the total release. Assuming an equal cock-hen ratio, a 6.4% return was had from the total number of cocks released. Band returns, in accordance with time released showed a 5.6% return during the period in July as compared with a return of 7.7% for the pheasants released in Aug. This would indicate that the shorter the period of time between release and the open season, the higher the kill. High mortality occurs during the pre-hunting season but due to the difficulty of recovering bands it is impossible to make an evaluation. The study showed that only 1.4% of the released pheasants lived through to the second year. 40.1% of the pheasants did not travel over one mile from the point of release. Causes of mortality were: 73.8% by hunters; 14.2% by accidents; 6.3% by predators; and 5.7% due to miscellaneous and unknown causes.

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