iP HR ALU DL, BiOON BU ii ls bell N 7 
in 1968-1969. McHenry County 
spent nearly $2,000. Adams, Mar- 
shall, Sangamon, Tazewell, and 
Will Counties each spent about 
$1,000. Marshall County no longer 
bounties foxes, however. 
Crawford County spent over 
$2,000 on woodchuck bounties in 
fiscal 1968-1969, with Randolph 
County just behind at $1,950. Jas- 
per County spent over $1,700; Mon- 
roe, $1,485; Edwards, $1,369; and 
Richland, about $1,300. White, Ef- 
fingham, and Clark Counties each 
spent about $1,000 on woodchucks 
in 1968-1969. All continue to pay. 
In 1970, only one county con- 
tinued to pay a 10-cent bounty on 
crows, 24 continued to pay from 
30 cents to $1 for woodchucks, 23 
counties paid from $1 to $3 for 
foxes, and only 18 counties paid 
from $3 to $15 for wolves. 
Proponents of bounties claim 
that predator control is necessary 
to insure high populations of small 
game. Bounties, they say, are 
necessary to control foxes. 
Greenberg points out the consis- 
Us 7 
RED FOX CUBS 
tently high cost of fox bounties in 
Illinois (over $30,000 in fiscal year 
1968-1969) — continuing year after 
year — indicates that the bounty 
system is both an expensive and 
unsuccessful method of control. 
Greenberg says foxes illustrate 
the balancing compensations of 
healthy populations. Losses tend 
to be limited to individuals that 
represent the biclogical surplus 
produced each year. In general, 
when environmental conditions be- 
come more favorable for a certain 
species, an increase in its popula- 
tion should be expected. 
Conversely, adverse changes in 
the environment result in a re- 
duced population. For species with 
a high reproductive potential, such 
as foxes and woodchucks, it is the 
environment (rather than bounty 
hunting and trapping) that controls 
the population level. 
When human activity causes ma- 
jor changes in the environment, a 
population that cannot adjust will 
disappear. Timber wolves disap- 
peared in Illinois during the nine- 
teenth century, as European sett- 
