The Oregon Sportsman 



Volume II NOVEMBER, 1914 Number 11 



WHERE THE BOUNTY LAW FAILS. 



A year ago last June the County Clerk of Tillamook county 

 was authorized to pay twenty-five cents apiece bounty on dead 

 gophers and moles. On June 4, 1913, the first payment was made 

 and by July 29, 1913, there were 16,307 dead animals presented 

 for bounty. This made a total of $4,076.75 paid out of the county 

 fund. 



Both these animals are exceedingly common over the whole 

 of Tillamook county. The gopher (Thomomys hesperis) is one 

 of the smallest species found in Oregon and lives for the most 

 part in pasture and hay fields where the damage done is com- 

 paratively small. 



The mole (S cap anus townsendi) is an insectivorous mammal 

 and feeds mainly on worms, grubs and insects. Probably the 

 worst that can be said against these animals in Tillamook county 

 is that during harvest time the mowing machines are badly 

 dulled by cutting through the mounds of loose dirt thrown up in 

 the fields. 



We are told that one person made an average of one hun- 

 dred dollars per month trapping moles and gophers in one local- 

 ity where they were abundant. Another person earned about 

 eighty dollars per month. While the moles and gophers were 

 diminished in number in these places, the work was in no 

 way a benefit to the farmers in other parts of the county where 

 little or no trapping was done. 



The four thousand dollars which Tillamook county paid in 

 bounties is a poor investment for the following reasons : 



First, there is no more reason for a county paying a bounty 

 on moles and gophers than on rats and mice. These are pests 

 that have to be battled with by the individual landowner rather 

 than by the county or state. 



Second, if the moles and gophers in Tillamook county were 



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