BUREAU OF BIOLOGICAL SUR\'EY, 



345 



organizations, as farm bureaus and stockmen's associations. The dis- 

 tricts are as follows : 



As soon as funds are available it is planned to assist in the organ- 

 ization of cooperative campaigns against mammal pests in Iowa and 

 Minnesota. Assistance in eliminating losses from rodents is being 

 requested in many otlier States from the Mississippi Valley to the 

 Atlantic coast. 



PREDATORY ANIMALS. 



A force of skilled hunters and trappers, varying from 300 to 400 

 in nurnber, were employed under bureau supervision during the year 

 to destroy predatory animals. A part of these men were paid by the 

 Federal Government and a part by cooperating States, counties, live- 

 stock associations, and individuals. For this purpose $272,000 was ex- 

 pended by cooperators in Arizona, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, 

 Nevada, California, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Utah, 

 and Wyoming. As heretofore, the skins taken by each hunter become 

 the propert}" of the organization or individual paying his salary. 

 The numbers and kinds of skins taken by these hunters during the 

 year were as follows : 



Wolves 523 



Coyotes 21, 558 



Mountain lions 189 



Bobcats 2, 987 



Canada lynxes 10 



Bears 94 



Total 25, 361 



The skins taken bv Federal hunters during the year sold for 

 $42,048.80, making a "^ total to date of $240,791.6.5 turned into the 

 United States Treasury in connection with this work. 



In addition, extended poisoning operations were conducted over 

 great areas, especially in Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and 

 New Mexico. Judging from the dead bodies found, the number of 

 coyotes killed in this way was approximately the same as the total of 

 all animals trapped. It has become evident that systematic poison- 

 ing operations on a large scale, employing modern methods under 

 careful supervision, are a most economical and practical means of 

 reducing the number of coyotes. Extended experiments have been 

 conducted both at the Albuquerque, N. Mex., laboratory and on the 

 ranges and forests. Good progress has been made in developing 

 more effective poisons as well as improved methods of establishing 

 stations and distributing poison for coyotes. These have been suc- 

 cessfully applied in organized cooperative campaigns. 



In many large grazing ranges, mainly through poisoning followed 

 by systematic trapping, coyotes have been so thoroughly eliminated 

 that sheep owners, with practically no losses, now permit their sheep 

 to graze freely without close herding. Important lambing grounds 



24435— -AGB 1020 'J.J 



