Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1896-12-11

SarsapariIla
The One True Flood Purifier. All druggists. 81.
-, =, re. are purely vegetable, re-
'~od'S pills liable ari beneficial q5c.
BOUNTY ON DEAD WOLVES
It Costs Mime sofa Dearly to Sub
due the Animals.
Come Incidents which illustrate the
workings Of the Law-Tho Busi-
ness Has Developed Many
Sharpers.

|Omo Incidents which luuotrato the
workings Of the Law-The Busi-
ness Has Developed Many
Sharpers.
It costs something to keep down the
wolf crop of Minnesota. For several
days the counter in the auditors Office
has been piled high at one end with a
lot of official-looking paper boxes la
beled "woH bounties," with the name
Of the particular county from which
they come attached. There is some
red tape about the wolf bounty bust
ness, and it is just as we'll that there
should be, for it costs good deal OF
money to buy all the scalps offered, and
the price paid is quite an inducement
for men who have no moral compunc-
tons about doing" the public treasury
to 60 into the business of raising the
brutes for their scalps. In fact, there
have been prosecutions for that very
sort of thing. One of the northern
counties. Polk, had such O case, and so
did Otter Tail once upon a time. In
both of the counties named enterpris-
ing individuals had gone regularly into
the business of raising the wolves.
Either Polk is the banner wolf county
or the people up there are the most per-
sistent hunters in the state. The farm
ers turned in two hundred and forty
four wolf scalps in two years. They
took in bounties one thousand one hum
dred and forty-six dollars out of the
state treasury and one-half as much out
of the county treasury. At that time
there was many q suspicious looking
scalp that was sent back for further
identification. The man who kills
wolf and then tries to collect the boun-
ty, having no previous knowledge OF
what he must do, inevitably comes to
wish he had let the wolf alone. lie is
brought into contact with nearly every
public officer who has to do with the
paying of public obligations, from
chairman of the board of supervisors of
his town to the state auditor. OF course,
IL he gets q couple of wolves day for
few days in the winter he must do
fairly well.
The wolf hunter does most of his
business in the early months Of the year
for the scalps are most valuable then
A full-grown female wolf killed in the
first months OF the year is worth fit
teen dollars to her slayer. A male vol
or cub brings only five. During the
summer months the bounty is five dol
lars head for any sort of II wolf. Tit
hunter takes the pelt of his victim, l
he is inclined to be nice about following
the law, and he will show the same Il
|, the chairman of the board of count,
, supervisors in the town in which tn
. killing was made. If he cannot get tn
, chairman of the board he is permittc'
, by law to exhibit the hide to majorit
, of the members of the board. Where
a upon he will be given certificate an
: will deliver the same to the count
;, auditor, who will pay over the pric'
i unless he is suspicious, and then b
Q will insist that the entire hide be shown
Sometimes the hide is not available, an
sometimes the kick does not come unit
r the bounty is demanded by the count
|. auditor or the state auditor. A couple
= wears ago there was such a case.
u A man in q northern county killed
D. wolf. His county auditor would N
nav the bounty, and the demand can
to the auditor of the state. At tn
time there were no wolf sharps In Il
y auditors Office, and, after they read Il
law, they came to the conclusion tn
n they would have to see the body OF Il
,r beast. They could not look at a sea
r and do all the guessing the law
!, IN
Is of the decision. 1t was getting war
n in the spring, when one day the
he walked into the Office n long-hairt
It. fierce-looking man. Hanging down
al hack was the carcass Of q very de
n wolf, He threw the wolf on the COT
re terof the Office and said: There, giml
ne my money" The wolf had deceas
10 some weeks before, and the man &
.e- his money. The wolf was thrown c
no of the window, and Janitor Rose, al
: long wrangle with the wolf-slay
=; superintended the removal OF the
a ~. mains. He has thought ever since Il
no there ought to be law passed repe
- ing the wolf bounty act.
If. 1t cost upward Of twenty thousa
,or dollars in the last two years to X
a.. down the ambitious wolf. Nearly tn
ma thousand scalps were paid for-exae
mo- two thousand nine hundred and
uc- in fact. They came largely from
rk, north, and possibly some OF them W
emit natives of other states, but their No
lad ity cannot be too closely question
de. In some of the counties there are l
WE fessional wolf hunters. who put in
OBJ month of January in the business,
do of course, let a cub grow up to the
teen-dollar limit. The rapid settlen
of the remote counties Ia driving
d er. wolves further north, and With
pn- few years the wolf bounty will no K
Mr. Nh: err cut an important figure in public
con penditurc. The practice Of infestine
~ as. animals with the germs of contag
disease is decimating the wolf I
ILL., even more rapidly than anything
and wolf raising for bounties is NJ
. dustry that belongs altogether to
Up. past.-St. Paul Pioneer Press.