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SECOND COUNCIL MEETING, DIVISION OF ECONOMIC INVESTIGATIONS

Bureau of Biological Survey.

Held Thursday, November 9, 1911. Dr.A.K.Fisher, presiding.

Members present: Fisher, Lantz, Kalmback, Birdseye, ^[[Wetmore]], Lesk, Ward. Absent: Beal, Schaffer, McAtee.

[[underline]] Dr. Fisher [[/underline]]: Prof. Lantz, how did you finally come out with the County Clerks down in Kansas?

[[underline]] Prof. Lantz [[/underline]]: I received reports from 65 of the 105 Counties, and I have now the returns of the bounty payments in Kansas from 1900 to 1911, except that about 40 reports for the last three years [[insert]] ^[[are]] [[/insert]] still lacking. Most of them are very careful reports and indicate just about the same amount paid in bounties as in previous years.

[[underline]] Fisher [[/underline]]: Are these in Counties that are badly infested?

[[underline]] Prof. Lantz [[/underline]]: About the average. They are paying $1.00 for coyotes, and the number killed has been steadily increasing until 1908, when it was probably the largest; since then it may have decreased slightly, but for the 105 counties the average bounty is $25,000 a year during the 11 years for which I have returns.

[[underline]] Dr. Fisher [[/underline]]: When you get back to Kansas it might be well to look into the coyote farms and see how they manage them.

[[underline]] Prof. Lantz [[/underline]]: When I was in Kearny Co. [Kansas] in June a man brought in 16 [[insert]] scalps of [[/insert]] coyotes; one was of an adult, and the 15 scalps of young were all the same size. He said he dug them all out of the same hole. I am satisfied that the coyote bounty has not decreased the numbers of coyotes. Many people bring in coyote scalps and claim that they are wolf scalps. Some counties will not recognize wolf scalps at all.
The crow bounty is looming up very large in Kansas, and also the gopher bounty in some counties. I have returns that show large payments at certain places. Crow bounties have been paid the last two or three years in some counties under a new law. I have made arrangements with one of the County Clerks to furnish us 50 stomachs a month from a crow roost in southern Kansas.

[[underline]] Dr. Fisher [[/underline]]: We have only 33 stomachs from Kansas all told, so that it would be a valuable addition to get a good lot from there.