NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/963498
olf bounties were a point of contention between eastern and western Nebraska in the early 1900s. Many eastern Nebraskans saw wolves as a western problem and didn't want to be taxed to pay for it. The political struggle included charges of fraud – even the rumor that people were raising their own wolves and coyotes, killing them, and turning their scalps in for payment. It was "an industry that is thriving in several sections of the state," reported the North Platte Semi-Weekly Tribune on Jan. 3, 1902. The story soon went national with a New York Times report on Jan. 20: "The large number of claims coming into the [Nebraska] State Auditor's office for bounties on wolves and coyotes has led that official to make an investigation, and he has arrived at the conclusion that the farmers and ranchers in the western part of the State have gone into the business of breeding these animals for the bounty market. In one instance it was found that one farmer had raised more than 100 wolves last summer from several animals he had trapped and penned up for that purpose." State law allowed counties to pay $3 apiece for the scalps of wolves, coyotes or wildcats. The state added $1, bringing the total bounty up to $4. Claimants were required to present a scalp to their county clerk with both ears and the face down to the nose. They swore an oath that they killed the animal in Nebraska. The county clerk then paid the claimant and billed the state for the extra dollar. Was it profitable to breed wolves in captivity for only $4 a head? It seems implausible, and contemporary reports are suspiciously vague on details. No names or specific locations were given. The rumor may have gained traction because of the politics of wolf bounties. The state had fallen way behind in bounty payments by 1902. No money had been appropriated since 1899. Western Nebraska legislators wanted $40,000 appropriated for wolf claims. Western farmers and ranchers wanted the bounty so that non-landowners would also have an incentive to reduce the wolf population. Many eastern Nebraskans were skeptical. It sounded to them like ranchers wanted the government to pay them for performing a task they were going to do anyway. Stories of wolf breeding seemed to confirm their suspicions. The Omaha Bee claimed on March 23 that wolf-breeding was "the most profitable industry in Nebraska." In the end, the legislature appropriated the money – but also repealed the bounty for future claims. The wolf bounty returned with the 1905 legislature. The Omaha Bee described the legislative struggle as a battle of "east against the west," while the Alliance Herald advised that while waiting for the legislature, "this would be an excellent time to get out with your horse and hounds and kill off a few that are bothering your sheep or poultry." Western Nebraskans won, and the state enacted a new bounty law. On April 4, the Omaha Bee called the new law "another legislative outrage upon the taxpayers of Nebraska. There is no good reason why people subject to the depredations of wolves should not kill them for their own protection without the incentive of a bounty. The bounty law will simply resurrect the wolf scalp factories that did such a flourishing business a few years ago until the bounty claims accumulate again in such alarming proportion that the taxpayers will be forced to insist upon another repeal." But it doesn't seem to have worked out that way. By Nov. 8, 1905, the Columbus Journal observed that the "next legislature probably will not have to make an appropriation for a state bounty on wolf scalps, as wolves seem to becoming [sic] scarce in Western Nebraska. Auditor Cook reports that bounties for several months have not averaged more than $100 per month." And with that, rumors of a Nebraska wolf breeding industry faded. Across the lower 48 states, wolves were all but exterminated by the mid-20th century. At one point only small populations survived in northern Minnesota and Michigan. Coyotes, of course, were another matter – bounties or not, these adaptable creatures have managed to thrive in a multitude of environments. ■ Visit the Nebraska State Historical Society's website at history.nebraska.gov. W By David Bristow, Nebraska State Historical Society 10 NEBRASKAland • APRIL 2018 A Brief History The Nebraska Wolf-breeding Industry "Old Jules" Sandoz with his dog and a pair of coyotes he shot at his place in Sheridan County, circa 1924. NSHS RG1273-2-2