336 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



encouraging success has been attained in poisoning operations, and 

 they are occasionally trapped by using special scent baits attractive 

 to them. 



In Montana a hunter with his dog succeeded in killing five moun- 

 tain lions between 1 and 4 p. m. on February 8 in one of the great 

 deer yards, where the deer were found easy prey. During the period 

 from November 26, 1921, to June 30, 1922, this hunter killed 23 

 lions, and another Montana hunter killed 14 during the year, one of 

 them having been treed and shot just after killing a deer which it 

 had not had time to eat. 



PREDATORY ANIMALS AND GAME. 



As the extent to which predatory animals destroy game becomes 

 better known. State game departments are coming to cooperate more 

 liberally with the bureau in efforts to destroy these animals. Their 

 destructiveness is not only to such of the larger game as deer, elk, 

 and antelope, but also to practically all of the ground-nesting species 

 of game birds. In Michigan the work was initiated at the request 

 of the conservation commission, primarily in the interest of game. 

 The work in this State is being led by an expert of the bureau, and 

 the field operations are financed by an increase of $1 on resident and 

 $15 on nonresident deer-hunting licenses, which, with receipts de- 

 rived from the sale of furs, skins, or live animals taken by hunters, 

 yields sufficient revenue for very effective work, costing between 

 $30,000 and $40,000 a year. Live-stock and agricultural interests 

 profit by the Michigan plan, as instanced in certain cut-over forest 

 areas, wliere sheep grov.ing was found impractical)le until the pred- 

 'atory animals were destroyed. It has been estimated after careful 

 investigation that not less than 10,000 deer are killed annually by 

 predatory animals in that State. Timber wolves, coyotes, wild 

 cats, and foxes all join in game destruction, the kill being heaviest 

 in winter, when the snow is deep, and especially in early spring, 

 after the snow becomes crusted. At this period wolves and coyotes 

 often appear to kill for no apparent reason other than for amuse- 

 ment or sheer lust of killing. 



A good instance of the destructiveness of deer by wolves was 

 observed by the bureau representative in southern Marquette County 

 the latter part of March. Evidence had been found that a pack of 

 Avolves was working in the deer yards of that section, and one night 

 they were heard howling. The following morning investigation was 

 made on snowshoes and the tracks of a single wolf were soon located. 

 The trail led a short distance to a swamp, where several deer were 

 yarding over a small area and w'here the wolf was joined by two 

 others and the round of destruction begun. The remains of four 

 freshly killed deer were found on an area of about 3 acres. Sub- 

 sequent investigations disclosed that in the few weeks preceding 

 this time probably a hundred deer in yards scattered over an area 

 of about 3 square miles in that locality were killed by these wolves. 

 This nurnber does not include many unborn fawns. The wolves also 

 worked through other yarding sections, as they spent only a part of 

 their time in the area described. 



Coyotes destroy many deer in the forested sections, where two or 

 three working together pull down the large animals whenever the 



