The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1919-03-27
WORK OF GOVERNMENT HUNTERS
EXPLAINED BY HAROLD D0BYNS
To the Editor Gazette Times:

% lHt EuliOI bdASltS- iilACS.
1 have read numerous articles in the
different county and state papers
bout Government hunters and their
work Of eXterminating coyotes Being
a Government hunter, | wish to say
few words in regard to the same.
IN article in one OF the late papers
about poisoning coyotes, especially at
tracted my attention
Poison is not used prOmisCously by
the Government hunters and trappers,
as some people have been lead to be-
lieye, but the GiNernment instTucts its
hunters to use poison, only, where 1t
has been determined that it can be sue
cessfully used, and Furthermore if it is
properly used, there is but little dan
ger of poisoning birds, other than
crows and magpies, which are pests
that game laws do not protect. Just be
cause your dog goes away from home
and gets poisoned and there is q Gov
ernment hunter in the neighborhood
lon't lay it to him. and furthermore
mans dog that leaves home is no
good anyway. That is the way they
Usually get poisoned, out prowling
around when they should be home,
There is far more poison put out by
farmers than by Government hunters
.egardless of what it may kill. The
crows and magpes are the biggest
nuisance a trapper has to contend with
and are also nuisance to the stockmen
and farmers
The Government does not kill the
COYOTES merely for their furs and what
poison is used is to destroy the animal
regardless of it's fur, but of course we
save the skins of all the animals that
we can for they are valuable and help
to pay the salaries of the hunters,
A true trapper will not use poison to
kill fur bearing animals for II an AMI
NAL is not found shortly after being
1. ,1-,, To IL prrnl 70 nn
tain extent. The coyote, is predatory
animal and the game laws do not class
it as a furbearing animal.
That the Government Predatory AMI
NAL determination work is fake and
the Government hunters are no good,
as some people say, is absolutely not
So The Government gives a man an
opportunity to prove his ability as a
hunter and trapper and if he does not,
make good they will not keep him. The
Government hunters job is not the
snap people give him credit for having,
and if any of you doubt it, go out and
tch few of the old timers that are
left. The Government hunters in this
district saved about one half million
dollars worth of stock during the fiscal
cear 1918 How much did other hunters
ave. How much was paid out in
hOuntes? How many of the coyotes
hat were turned in for the bounty
ers work all year round and kill the
old ones as we'll which are responsible
for having to pay so much bounty on
young ones. 1t was not the bounty that
~ade the coyotes scarce, but 1t was
he Government hunters. 1t has been
proven more than once that the bounty
system is failure. have been Gov
ernment hunter for almost a years and
have hunted for the bounty great
: deal and I think | know the game
pretty we'll. Almost all of the hunt
ing that is done for the bounty is done
in the spring for the dens of young
ones. No effort is made to captur"
the mother of them, while we are re-
auired to get the old mother coyote
with every den, thereby saving the
, bounty on a bunch of pups the follow
ing spring. They average about ~
pups to a litter, and | have found
| litters of IA belonging to one coyote,
We hunt every month in the year,
while others only hunt while the fur
is prime or for the pups, for they cam
not make decent wages hunting FOR the
bounty.
! our bosses do not accept excuses for
| our catch, but we have to turn over
the skins and scalps, of which a sys-
| tematic record Is kept
1t is true that the sheepmen help the
hunters by giving them board and
horsefeed in return for the good they
| do, in killing the coyotes of their
| ranges but I have received some
mighty rotten deals from some OF
| -hem. One time was asked to go to a
| certain mans range and he told me he
would furnish me with board and feed
NY horse, so I went, l had to turn the
horse on bunch grass and when | was
~eady to move to another territory he
| ,sked me to go and settle up for my
hoard with the old lady, and | did
caught II old coyotes the month I was
there A trapper earns all the accomo-
dation the public gives him.
Some people say, don't kill the
coyotes, they destroy the rabbits" and
contend that was what used to keer
down the rabbits, 1t Is true that
| COYOTES kill few rabbits but what
they catch has no diminishing effect or
them at all. AS a rule, under ordinary
circumstances it takes two or three
coyotes to catch a rabbit. Judge fol
Yourself and I think most of you will
agree that the Government Predatory
| Animal determination work is a fine
thing for the country and you will give
it's hunters your cooperation nsteac
il your knocks Talk Is cheap but II
takes money to buy whiskey and In
going to keep on hunting for the Gov.
ernment as long as I can make more
money there, for 1t Is the almighty
dollar that is the one great question
that is agitatng the minds of almos
everybody today.
HAROLD w. DOBYNS,