Hal Korber fall season with virtually no birds available to hunt. So in 2012, we released birds over the season’s first four weeks and the parking lots were full. We also increased the required size of pheasant hunting habitat needed from 15 to 50 acres before an area could be stocked with birds. This gave stocked birds a better chance of landing in targeted habitat upon release, making them less susceptible to being killed on roads, by predators and more likely to provide sporting opportunities to hunters. We try to place a majority of birds on state game lands or other public lands under cooperative agreement with the Game Commission. They often have the state’s best pheasant hunting habitat, and from a previous leg-banding study, we know birds stocked in these places have higher harvest rates than on hunter-access properties. We also stopped stocking hens in wildlife SEPTEMBER 2013 management units with a male-only pheasant hunting regulation. They are better utilized in wildlife management units with either-sex pheasant hunting. Our plans for pheasant stocking in the upcoming 2013 pheasant hunting season remain the same as in 2012. For the junior pheasant season, we will be stocking select game lands and other public lands, as indicated on pages 25-27 of the 2013-14 Pennsylvania Hunting & Trapping Digest and on our website. During the regular pheasant season, there will be one preseason and four in-season releases, followed by a December release of excess hens in wildlife management units with either-sex pheasant hunting. Bob Boyd is chief of theWildlife Services Division in the Bureau of Wildlife Management. 27