Pheasant populations characteristically exhibit relatively high rates of reproduction and high mortality rates are. This will occur whether the population is hunted or not and involves the loss of both hens and roosters. Changes in pheasant numbers from year to year are habitat related. The problem of low population levels cannot be solved by stocking more pheasants, controlling predators or curtailing hunting. It can only be solved through providing more habitat.
All wildlife go through what is commonly termed an annual cycle of abundance.
Beginning with the breeding season, populations are at their lowest annual level. With the hatching of the new crop of pheasant chicks, the population builds. Mortality begins to thin the population immediately. By the time the hunting season arrives, at least 40 percent of the new chicks will already be lost. During late summer the amount of cover and food available for pheasants is at its highest level.