THIRTY-FIRST BIENNIAL REPORT 



101 



bounties paid by state agencies in 22 states; 11 pay on wolves; 8 on 

 mountain lions; 8 on coyotes; 11 on wildcats; 5 on foxes; 2 on weasel; 

 3 on bear ; 3 on hair seal, and 5 pay on certain species of hawks. There 

 are also bounties paid on a few additional species that are of little con- 

 sequence. It is interesting to note that no state pays a bounty on 

 raccoons, skunks or opossum. On the contrary, most states protect 

 these species by a closed season. Foxes are protected in about one-half 

 of the states. 



Pennsylvania, the most frequently mentioned when the predatory 

 animal question arises, at the present time pays a bounty on only three 

 species of mammals — wildcats, gray foxes and weasels. Pennsylvania 

 protects by a closed season raccoons, skunks and opossum. Pennsyl- 



FiG. 40. Rarest of big game .species. Prong-horned antelope. Photo by 



E. S. Cheney, May, 1929. 



vania has been paying a bounty on certain species since 1915. The 

 following tabulation is made from the reports for a period of 12 years. 



Wildcat Gray fox Red fox Weasel Amt. paid 



Number killed 5,318 74.263 50,134 517,165 $1,053,226 



Average per year 433 6,190 4,178 43,097 87,769 



Killed in 1928 416 9,980 6,046 63,610 121,860 



It will be noted that the 1928 kill of wildcats is almost as great as 

 the average annual kill for the twelve-year period, and the kill of the 

 other three species has increased approximately 50 per cent over the 

 average annual kill for the twelve years. The question naturally 

 arises if after the payment of bounty for twelve years the supply has 

 increased, how long will it be before they are controlled ? 



