102 



FISII AM) CAMi: COMMISSION 



Tlio Pnlifornin T)ivision of Fish and CJaniP lias lioon payin;_r linniity 

 for tlic killiii<x of nioinitain lions since llic iiiccplion of llio lumtin^j; 

 lioenso act in 1007. Tj) to the end of nocombcr, l!l'29, honnty lias boon 

 paid on 5811 lions, or an avora«re of 2i)7 por yoar. In lI'L'li ;i i(ii;d of 

 801) lions woro taken. The incroasi^ is ])artially dno lo llie fact that wo 

 have enii)loyeil additional lion hunters who have sj)ent all their linio in 

 hunting, and also to the fact that extraordinary effort was made by 

 local autlioritios to g^et rid of lions in tlie southern part of the slate. 





Fig. 41. Average sized desert mountain slieep ram, Inyo Range, Inyo County, Cali- 

 fornia. Enlargements from moving pictures by E. S. Cheney, October, 1929. 



The present good condition of the deer situation is due to our moun- 

 tain lion work and also to our spike buck and generally satisfactory 

 deer season law. The mountain lion is the one predator}' animal that 

 works almost exclusively on animals that are a benefit to man. Deer 

 are their natural feed. Practically all other species of predators com- 

 pensate for the damage they may do by being of use in the destruction 

 of species that are in themselves harmful. Very little good can be said 

 of lions. For over twelve years we have paid a bount}- of $30 on 

 females and $20 on males. During that time we have secured data that 

 shows that the sexes are practically equal in numbers and it would be 

 well to pay the same amount of bounty on either sex. 



Predatory animal control is a subject that must be kept in mind by 

 conservationists. Whenever predators increase to such an extent that 

 they do more harm than good, steps must be taken to reduce their 

 numbers. Before it can be certain that this condition has arisen, care- 

 ■Pul study must be made of the relationship of the various species one 



