Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-11-08
system are essentially a part Of 1t, and |
OF hers
Some Of the Defects are out
Of the Bounty System. .. 49,,

Some Of the Defects are out
Of the Bounty System. 81 ,oea,
conditions in this state. The chief and
inseparable weakness in a bounty sys-
tenn is the fact that the trapper makes
his living by catching wild animals.
Hence he 10 out to catch them-but not
by any means to extsrminate them.
which is what the cattleman wants II
he exterminated the animals, his live
lihood would be gone. Hence his
method Is apt to be to take the cream
OF the catch in a certain district rich
in wild animals, and then move on to
another, leaving enough members of
each tribe to stock op the first district
after a few undisturbed seasons 1t has
even been charged that professional
bounty hunters will rope wild wolves
and raise pups for tho sake of the
scalp. Since the bounty on a wolf is
$2b. and the fur is worth something in
, addition. it is evident that such q sys-
TEN is as profitable as raising peri
greed dods: but it is not much help
to the stockman.
hunter cannot afford to kill out all the
animals In the district, to the last one
he makes thirty or thirty-five dollars
on eacn wolf he traps. As business
time and provisions on some crafty
old animal that takes more than thirty
dollars worth of effort to catch. So
ne catches the foolish and the juniors
o. the pack and leaves the wise old
patriarchs on the range. It is just
these latter that the stockmen want
killed out. One big ranch had a man
with wagon on the trail of single
old .loafer," as the big wolves are
scalp cost about 500 Si by ths time meif It
was drying on the fence, but it was
worth the money.
Besides the general weaknesses of
the bounty system, there are some
in other western states with a similar
system. The bounties are paid out OF
county funds. and many of the counties
are SO rich in wild animals and SO short
OF cash that their claims run four or
nve years without being paid. The
trapper can discount his bounty
voucher at so cents on the dollar to
spectators in some counties, and the
ing a twenty-fve-dollar bounty on
wolves and lions caught on the range
OF its members. taking the county
voucher in return; but such a proceed
per does not want to wait 1--WE years
for his money, nor take 80 cents on
the dollar: and when bounties are only
paid on animals caught on certain
mems land they breed freely elsewhere
and spread. AS one cattleman pointed
out at the recent meeting, a wolf is a
movable animal.
This last objection applies also to the
employment of hunters by individual
ranches. The
Federal Appropriation hunter may
to Help Is Urged. antma1s On
that ranch. but others will come in
from the neighborhood. A statewide
campaign, or a campaign covering q
dozen states. is called for.
The latest development in the game is
furnished by the United States bio
logical survey. which has put forward
plan by which federal appropria-
ton of $4,000 or more will be supple
mented by a state appropriation OF
equal size, the whole to be used in
employing expert trappers under the
doubt, however. as to whether the state
would decide to appropriate. Certain
other local interests think the problem
is a stockman's problem. and state
tax would tap every pocketbook. On
the whole, 1t looks as though the last
range war Is far from over. The
wolves and the lions will continue to
take toll from the invaders of their
ancestral acres for some time to come,
and they will fight cunning battle to
the end.