Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 April 1911 — FAVORS CROW BOUNTY. [ARTICLE]

FAVORS CROW BOUNTY.

F. M. Lakin of Union Tp. Says County Council Should Appropriate Funds. F. M. Lakin, one of the old time democrats of Union tp., was down on business Thursday. Mr. I-akin thinks the county council should appropriate funds to pay crow scalp bounties. Twenty years ago to see a crow was a rarity in his vicinity, but they have been increasing in number right along along of late years and do much damage. Many young turkeys are swooped down upon by crows up there every year, besides they do much other damage. Hunters do not kill them because they are not considered fit for food. Consequently they have been unmolested for years and have,, increased in number until they have become a great nuisance in many localities. Making it worth while for hunters to shoot them will dimish their number greatly in a short time and it will not be long until they are driven out of the country iiy the* fulisades that will be fired at the them by hunters who will go after them for the tyMr. Lakin is considered a pretty leavel-headed man and his

judgment in this matter is no doubt correct. He came to Jasper county with his parents when but a toddling youngster, his father taking up a homestead in what is now Union township. Ihe , country here was very sparcely settled at that time and neighbors were miles away. Wolves were plentiful and a bounty of $5 per head was finally placed upon them. It is now $lO but not more than one or two scalps are brought in each year. He has had as high as S2BO worth of wolf scalps on hand at one time, from wolves he had killed, when the bounty was $5 per head. Mr. Lakin is a man who never enjoyed the advantages of an education, and can neither read nor write, but his judgment is valued in business matters, and he has amassed a comfortable competency. He is now 71 years of age, but is active and he is as strong and his argument as convincing as of twenty vears ago.