In 1944 Houston County, each crow could bring a bounty of 10 cents, which had the purchasing power that $1.70 has in 2023. In 1955, the rattlesnake bounty doubled from 50 cents to a dollar. Significant increases came in 1957 when the bounty on pocket gophers went from five cents to 10 cents, on crows from 10 cents to 25 cents and on woodchucks from 15 cents to 25 cents. Wolf bounties had varied through the years but were set at $35 in 1957, the same year striped gopher bounties began at five cents.
Courthouse records show the State of Minnesota first paid bounties on wolves in 1893, but Houston County made $3 payments on wolves as early as 1883, about three decades after settlement. Gray fox bounties ($1) began in 1932 with red fox added in 1944. The county first initiated bounties on rattlesnakes in 1934 before adding pocket gophers, woodchucks and crows in 1942.
Bounties were paid in North America as far back as the 1683 bounty on wolves in the English colony of Pennsylvania. Under the bounty system, citizens are paid to kill or capture animals that were considered undesirable by various government bodies – states, counties, townships, etc. Payments were made when specified parts of the animal, such as pelt, head, feet or ears were presented to the appointed official.
Originally, the bounty system was initiated to eliminate predators, agricultural pests and dangerous species. Presumably, bounties would encourage hunters and trappers to help control harmful species. But professional conservationists in the 1960s were in general agreement that bounties had been ineffective in reducing the numbers of intended species – a waste of money. However, bounties were continued in some instances with the purpose of providing money to the poor, especially during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Some believed bounties kept young folks occupied while also providing some financial independence. Supporting the poor proved more successful than controlling undesirable pests.
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Pursuing several animals for bounties could become a family tradition through generations. Five members of one Houston County family was active in the bounties of wolves, fox and other species for over 60 years.
The number of pocket gophers bountied increased sharply from 1955 to 1957 because some townships supplemented the county bounty. Numbers dropped during 1959, likely due to farmers using poisons, which proved not worth the expense. For several years, one professional gopher trapper annually trapped over 2,000 gophers and occasionally more than 3,000. In addition to bounties that ranged from 10 cents to 25 cents, he was also paid by the farmer on whose land the trapping occurred.
From 1944 to 1962, relatively few crows were bountied, seldom more than 200. However, in 1963, the number reached 700, mainly due to one man who, during the months of April and May, bountied 314 crows. For woodchucks, 1958 was the peak year when one man bountied 130 woodchucks.
Another county man received widespread attention in a 1981 Minneapolis Tribune article, which featured rattlesnake trapper Hank Hermanson. From his Rooster Valley farm near Yucatan and Black Hammer, he walked toward known dens with a forked stick and an old feed sack, the latter for carrying his catch. “It’s a great sport,” he said. “When you get a bunch of them at one place, and you’re there in the middle and reaching around trying to keep them out of their den and catching them one at a time… then you get one 50 inches long and grab hold of it near the head, and it starts to swing around, and you got to hold on to it tight… No, I’ve never been bit, and I’ve lived to be 72. So, I’d say I’ve been careful. You have to be.”
Hermanson began hunting snakes when he was unemployed during the Great Depression. He would kill them and collect a small bounty from the county. But in the early 1960s, he became intrigued with live catches. Hermanson sold live snakes to a man in Winona, who marketed them to reptile gardens and pet stores. A big snake might bring $20, but the average was about $11.
Changes in numbers of bountied animals, such as replacement of wolves by foxes in Houston County, were believed to have occurred mostly due to changes in habitat and the encroachment of civilization. White-tailed deer were sparse in Houston County as late as 1930 before becoming an important game animal. The habitat of Houston County has changed during the last 150 years from a virgin prairie area to a prairie and wheat area and finally to an area of corn and forest.
An exception to the effect of bounties might be the timber rattlesnake for which bounties of 50 cents were first paid during 1935. The number of rattlesnakes bountied dropped sharply after the year 1941. Timber rattlers descend into the valleys during droughts and are therefore more often captured. Researchers felt the low numbers of snakes bountied during the years 1942-1953 may have resulted principally from wet years, hunters entering the armed services during World War II, and lack of interest because of a meager 50-cent payment.
A sharp increase in numbers of rattlers bountied occurred in 1955 when payments were doubled to $1.00. From 1935 to 1963, there were 60,179 rattlesnakes bountied at a cost of $45,403.50 to Houston County. One family, which received bounties for 2,511 rattlesnakes during 1959 alone, bountied more than 7,300 rattlesnakes during a four-year period from 1958 to 1961. And unlike other undesirables, live rattlers offered an alternative to bounties when sold to snake farms where the snakes were milked for their venom.
Intensive harvesting had significantly impacted Minnesota’s rattlesnake population. By 1987, fewer than 200 snakes were turned in for bounty in Houston County. In 1989, Minnesota became the last state to eliminate timber rattlesnake bounties. They became protected when listed as a threatened species in 1996. There are still timber rattlesnakes in Minnesota, primarily in Houston, Winona and Fillmore Counties.
Sources: “A Review of the Bounty System as a Method of Controlling Undesirable Animal Populations in Houston County, Minnesota (1883-1965)” by Calvin R. Fremling and Robert E. Munkel; article on Hank Hermanson, Minneapolis Tribune, December 6, 1981
Note: In last week’s history column, Deb Wray’s name was misspelled. Wray is the correct spelling.
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