so WOLVES m KELATION TO STOCK, GAME, AND FOREST RESEEVES. 



wires from sagging away from each other, a vertical wire can be 

 wrapped about each, at intervals of 8 feet, by a hand machine. In 

 regions of deep snow the height must be increased according to the 

 probable height of the crust. The fence should be patrolled at suffi- 

 ciently frequent intervals to keep it in repair. 



A fair grade of suitable 36-inch woven wire may be bought at an 

 initial cost of 25 to 35 cents a rod, and barbed wires from 3 to 5 cents 

 per rod each. The actual cost of fence, made as directed, can be 

 computed only for localities where the cost of barbed wire, posts, 

 and labor is known, but is usually 50 to 75 cents per rod. Posts 8 

 or 9 feet long, so as to make the fences 5^ to 6^ feet high, with one 

 or two additional barbed wires, would cost approximately 5 or 10 

 cents per rod additional in localities where posts are not readily 

 available. Barbed wire, with the barbs close together, commonly 

 called " hog wire," is to be preferred, especially for the lower wires. 



BOUNTIES. 



Bounties, even when excessively high, have proved ineffective in 

 keeping doAvn the wolves, and the more intelligent ranchmen are 

 qiiestioning whether the bounty system pays. In the past ten years 

 Wyoming has paid out in State bounties over $65,000 on wolves alone, 

 and $160,156 on wolves, coyotes, and mountain lions together, and 

 to this must be added still larger sums in local and county bounties 

 on the same animals. 



In many cases three bounties are paid on each wolf. In the upper 

 Green River Valley the local stockmen's association pays a bounty of 

 $10 on each wolf pup, $20 on each grown dog Avolf, and $10 on each 

 bitch with pu]3. Fremont County adds $3 to each of these, and the 

 State of Wyoming $3 more. Many of the large ranchers pay a pri- 

 vate bounty of $10 to $20 in addition to the county and State bounty. 

 Governor Bryant B. Brooks, of Wyoming, paid six years ago, on his 

 ranch in Natrona County, $10 each on 50 wolves in one year, and 

 considered it a good investment, since it practically cleared his range 

 of wolves for the time. It invariably happens, however, that when 

 cleared out of one section the wolves are left undisturbed to breed in 

 neighboring sections, and the depleted country is soon restocked. 



A floating class of hunters and trappers receive most of the bounty 

 money and drift to the sections where the bounty is highest. If ex- 

 termination is left to these men it will be a long process. Even some 

 of the small ranch owners support themselves in part from the wolf 

 harvest, and it is not uncommon to hear men boast that they know the 

 location of dens, but are leaving the young to grow up for higher 

 bounty. The frauds which have frequently wasted the funds appro- 

 priated for the destruction of noxious animals almost vitiate the wolf 

 records of some of the States. If bounties resulted in the extermina- 



