THIRTY-FIFTH BIENNIAL REPORT 41 



"vvhieh is acquired in the school of practical experience. They had 

 varying degrees of ability and when it became necessary to reduce the 

 number of men in 1933 the most efficient were, of course, retained. 

 The group of five trappers who remained on the payroll represented 

 the cream of this crop and became the firm foundation on which it 

 was possible to begin the construction of a new predatory animal 

 control organization. 



It was at this time — July, 1936 — that it became necessary to 

 materially increase the Division's Predatory Animal Control activities 

 — necessary, due to the fact that the Legislature had set aside the sum 

 of $80,000 to be spent solely for the control of predators during the 

 87th and 88th fiscal years. It was at this same time that the Fish and 

 Game Commission decided that the Division should have its own trap- 

 pers rather than to rely on the selection of experienced men from the 

 ranks of the commercial hunters. This departure from the established 

 way of doing things has resulted in the development of a predatory 

 animal control force of which the State of California may well be 

 proud — and following is the manner in w^hich it has been accomplished. 



The first step in the development of this new organization was the 

 division of the State into five predatory animal control districts : the 

 northeastern California, the north coast, the southern Sierra, the south 

 coast and the southern California districts. Each of the five men 

 who comprised the predatory animal control force at this time was 

 placed in charge of one of these districts and to each of these super- 

 vising trappers — as they are now called — was assigned a group of 

 young men for training. These young men, most of them in their 

 early twenties, were recruited from the ranks of the assistant fish 

 and game wardens, the apprentice grade from which this Division 

 draws most of its permanent personnel. Except in a few cases none 

 of these men had received any training in predatory animal control 

 methods prior to the time that he was assigned to this work. 



This training program has continued for a period of two years 

 and during that time a total of forty assistant wardens have been 

 instructed in the art of trapping predatory animals. Most of them — 

 contrary to expectations — have shown an extraordinary amount of 

 aptitude for this work and have turned in very creditable records 

 during their various terms of service. There has been, of course, con- 

 siderable variation in the catches of the student trappers, but the 

 man's catch record should by no means be the yardstick by w^hich his 

 ability is measured. A low or a high catch record is .iust as fre- 

 quently a measure of the coyote or bobcat population as it is a measure 

 of efficiency of the trapper. Following table gives the catch of coyotes, 

 bobcats and other predators in each county of the State during each 

 year of the bienninm. It will be noted that the catch during the 

 second year is far greater than that for the first year of operation 

 of the new program. This remarkable increase is due, not only to the 

 progressive increase in efficiency of the trapping force, but to the 

 gradual improvement in equipment and in methods of instruction as 

 well. Further, more men received training during the last half of 

 the biennial period covered by this report. 



During the year beginning July 1, 1936, and ending June 30, 

 1937. the average number of trappers employed was 12 men per 

 month. These men ran a total of 67.960 miles of trap line and made 



