In front of the line of vehicles some 50 men on horseback held in reserve nearly 100 dogs, mostly greyhounds. Guns of all kinds were ruled out of the final 'round-up,' and only lariats, dogs, and clubs were permitted as weapons.
The line of spectators was formed at 1 o'clock, but it was fully an hour before the driving divisions were heard or seen. In the south a beautiful mirage occupied the distant valley a white sheet of water bordered by trees. It was on the surface of this mimic lake that we first saw the riders galloping by twos. Soon after we faintly heard their distant shouts; and when the shouts began to come clearer, the coyotes also came up the valley by ones and twos, and at length by threes and fours before the swiftly moving horsemen.
When the first wolf was still a half mile distant, the dogs were released and riders and dogs dashed to the front to head off the animals. Hemmed in in front and rear, they broke to the right and to the left, and many made good their escape through the thinner lines of the east and the west divisions.
The sport was fast and furious for a short time, but when a little Later the dead and captured wolves were brought together in the town, they were found to number only eleven in all. Two of them were roped by cowboys during the drive and killed with pistols. Two were dragged to death at the end of lariats. Seven were caught by the dogs in the round-up, and two of these were brought in alive. Many escaped, but it is impossible to estimate the number.
Such hunts have considerable influence in decreasing the number of coyotes and also afford an agreeable break in the monotony of frontier life. Their purpose, however, is never admitted to be that of sport, but to kill coyotes.
Activity in the warfare against the coyote has been considerably stimulated by the payment of bounties from the public treasury of the States and counties. Nearly all the States in which coyotes occur have been for years maintaining such bounty systems. In some parts of the West these are supplemented by rewards from stock associations or ranch owners. The bounties from public funds have ranged from 25 cents to $5 for each animal killed, but supplementary payments sometimes make them as high as $15.
The subject of bounties in general has been already discussed by Dr. T. S. Palmer, of the Biological Survey.[G] Doctor Palmer refers to the California coyote act of 1891, which was practically in force only eighteen months, but which cost the State $187,485. As the bounty was $5 per scalp, this represented the destruction of 37,493 coyotes. Kansas, with a county bounty of $1 per animal, succeeds in destroying about 20,000 each year. In addition to the bounty, the pelt of an adult coyote is worth from 50 cents to $1.50, according to its condition. However, most of the killing is accomplished in spring, when the female and her young are dug out of dens and the pelage of the adults is not in prime condition.
[G] Extermination of Noxious Animals by Bounties. Yearbook U. S. Dept of Agr., 1896, pp. 55-68.
Doctor Palmer rightly concludes that in practice bounties for the destruction of noxious animals, paid from public funds, are usually objectionable. Probably those on wolves and coyotes have been more nearly justified than those on any other animals. While it is certain that the larger wolves have greatly diminished in numbers under the system, forces far more potent than mere rewards have operated against them. Chief of these has been the encroachment of civilization. Coyotes have in some places held their ground under bounties, and possibly might have been held in check nearly as well under the operation of the same forces that helped to decimate the timber wolves. But the observed effect on the coyote of contact with settlements hardly justifies such a conclusion. That the bounties in some places have done effective work is undoubted; the question is as to whether the results have been commensurate with the expenditures. However, the principal objection to bounties is the ethical one, that they lead to fraudulent practices.