September, 1943 
was furnished by Sears, Roebuck and 
Company, Chicago. 
NUMBERS OF FUR-TAKERS 
In the seasons before 1937-38 covered 
by this report, the state game code pro- 
vided that each Illinois fur-taker* oper- 
ating on land on which he did not reside 
must buy a trapping license if he took 
his catch with traps, or a hunting license 
REPORT OF FUR-BEARING ANIMAL SALES & SHIPMENTS 
To the DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION, Springfield, Llinois: 
Report of fur-bearing animals taken in month of __ 
by. 
» Illinois 
(County) 
ee 
| NO. TAKEN | 
| No. TRAPPED | WITH’ DOGS OR | 
| GUN AND DOG 
FOXES 
MINKS 
MUSKRATS 
OPOSSUMS 
RACCOONS 
SKUNKS 
OTHER ANIMALS 
(State Kind) 
Mour: FurBeEARER DIstRIBUTION AND INCOME 
507 
As will be explained below, the ratio of 
unlicensed to licensed trappers was prob- 
ably about 1.5 to 1.0 during the period 
beginning with the 1929-30 season and 
lasting through the 1937-38 season, fig. 2 
and table 1. After that it decreased be- 
cause of changes in the game code recorded 
below and improvement in conservation 
sentiment. 
In the years covered by this report, the 
number of licensed fur-takers in Illinois 
Report of sale or shipment of hides of fur-bearing animals in the month of Stee. 
| 
LETC ADDRESS OF PARTIES TO 
1 
NO. SOLD DATI 
OM SOLD OR SHIPPED 
NO. ON HAND 
FOXES 
MINKS 
MUSKRATS 
OPOSSUMS 
RACCOONS 
SKUNKS 
OTHER ANIMALS | 
(State Kind) 
Fig. 1—The two sides of the form on which the Illinois game code provided that fur-takers 
were to make monthly reports of their catch of fur-bearing animals to the State Department of 
Conservation for the 1938-39 season. Part of the code read as follows: “It shall be the duty of 
each and every person taking fur-bearing animals to make a report properly sworn to, to the 
Department, upon blanks supplied by the Department for such purpose, of all hides of fur-bear- 
ing animals taken, sold, shipped or dealt in, during the months of November, December, January 
and February ... Such reports shall be made to the Department not later than the 5th day of 
the month next succeeding the month for which report is executed.” The code for 1935-36 had 
tead “each and every holder of a trapping license” instead of “each and every person taking 
fur-bearing animals.” 
if he took furbearers by hunting. If the 
fur-taker operated solely under a hunting 
license, he was not required to report his 
catch. If, however, he operated under a 
trapping license, the law provided that he 
report all of his catch monthly during 
November, December, January, Febru- 
ary and March on a form, fig. 1, sup- 
plied by the State Department of Conser- 
vation. If the fur-taker trapped only on 
farm land on which he resided, he was 
required neither to buy a license nor to 
report his catch. Because of numerous 
loopholes that made law enforcement dif- 
ficult, the percentage of licensed trappers 
who reported was low and varied annual- 
ly, table 1. 
*The term fur-taker, as used in this report, usually in- 
cludes both fur-trappers and fur-hunters. 
has varied from 6,480 to a calculated 16,- 
615, being highest for the 1939-40 season, 
table 1. The average annual number has 
been about 11,300, or roughly 110 per 
county. 
Frison (1931), in assuming that the in- 
come of the unlicensed fur-takers operat- 
ing in Illinois during the 1929-30 season 
was about as great as that of the licensed 
fur-takers, by implication set the total 
number of fur-takers at twice the 13,911 
reported for the season. A similar pro- 
cedure in making fur-taker estimates has 
since been general practice in Illinois, for 
the sake of being conservative, although 
the feeling has been common that the 
ratio of unlicensed to licensed trappers 
was greater than 1 to 1. 
After Brown had made the oral survey 
