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UNCLE SAMS SKILLED HUNTERS How Beasts of Prey Are Controlled in Ten Western Washington November 27 Skilled hunters in the employ of Uncle Sam are waging persistent warfare against the predatory animals that prey on sheep and cattle iu the western states Their ef ¬ forts are encouraging stockmen to increase live stock production on the federal forest reserves as well as in the range country and they are pro ¬ tecting the sources of war supplies of meat leather and wool now in the western grazing dis ¬ tricts trictsHunters Hunters of the biological survey of the United States Department of Agriculture have killed 70713 predatory animals during the last three years which has resulted in a direct saving estimated at nearly S 00000 a year to the stockmen of the Rocky Mountain section The sectionThe total killed since the fall of 1013 when the work was started includes 50473 coyotes 8094 Iwbcnts 1820 wolves 201 mountain lion and 137 bears The government experts estimate that the annual depredations among cattle and sheep effected by single predatory animals arc as follows Wolf 1000 stock killing grizzly bear 00 mountain lion roo bobcat 30 and coyote iO iOStockmen Stockmen in sections where the predatory ani ¬ mals are obnoxious are aided by the government in ridding the ranges of such rogues In sonic lo ¬ calities the stockmens associations cooperate with the state and federal authorities iu the extermi ¬ nation campaign professional hunters being em ¬ ployed to detect and kill the prowling animals that prey on sheep and cattle Illustrative cattleIllustrative of the scope of this work the total income from pelts of predatory animals killed I y government nimrods last year amounted to ap ¬ proximately 100000 In addition many other ani ¬ mals whose skins could not be reclaimed were killed I poisoning Ordinarily the United States Biologi ¬ cal Survey has from 230 to 330 professional hunters permanently in its employ employThe The area wherein predatory animal control is practiced includes ten districts Montana Idaho Washington and Oregon Nevada aud California Utah Wyoming and South Dakota Colorado Ari ¬ zona New Mexico and Texas
