Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 1963 Iowa Bounties

I came across this and found it interesting. In 1963, the State of Iowa paid out the following amounts in bounties:

Fox: $101,913.00

Adult Wolf: $21.775.00

Rattlesnake: $871.50

I remember bounty's on fox when I was a kid.

We even used to get bounties on gophers, five cents a tail.

Now if you killed a rattlesnake in Iowa you would get a healthy fine.

I got interested and google fooed wolves in Iowa. The last one shot there was in 1925. The last one shot before that one was in 1885.

Something is amiss with your info.

Actually, now that I think about it, they used to call coyotes 'Brush Wolves'.

That's what I wondered. I got the figures from a 1964 article in the Storm Lake Pilot-Tribune.

Well I know they have Timber rattlers there. My dad went to college at Luther in Decorah and killed one in 1960 or 61.

I heard that rattlers were out here, but have yet to see one. Crossed paths with many in AZ desert.

My son-in-law killed a rattlesnake in south west central IA a couple of years ago. He's got the skin and rattles still.

I killed a rattler in 1973 in northwest Missouri. Took him to town to show off.

I remember there being a bounty on coyotes in Missouri back in the '60's. They wanted the ears as proof of kill.

I just about hit a fox every night on my trip to Cedar Rapids. Some pretty good size deer. Ran over a skunk last nite with half of the 18 wheels

Yup, the MO bounties dropped from $50 down to $15 for a pair of ears. Dad and his hunting partner paid for a lot of gas and dog food with that bounty money.It also paid for a lot of .243 ammo.

Then hides got pricey in the late '70s and they dropped the bounty down to $5, so they had more work skinning them than it was really worth to maintain the hounds, etc. CB radios added to the decline (too many people horning in on Dad and Dale's dogs and sniping the coyotes out in front of them, the scumbags).

It sure was a helluva lot of fun for us kids, though, and we learned a lot about coyotes and their behaviors.

We had 100 bucks for coyote ears for some time in the hill country. Unfortunately or not, the sheep ranchers had them so thin I never saw or heard one in those years.

Now that the bounty is low or even nothing up there I"ve killed 2.... go figure.

We get something around here still at home. 10 or 15 maybe. I usually don't bother...

John, in the late 50's and very early sixties, I collected pocket gopher feet-the front ones. Kept them in a jar of salt until I had enough to take to the court house and collect my bounty. I think a quarter for a pair IIRC.

Felt like I was livin' large.

I wonder what the bounty would be on the pole cats and varmits we elect to office.

Jim

We got a dime in Storm Lake. I also remember the Ehlerses had a box of crows' feet in the shed awaiting delivery to the court house.

I have sent an e-mail to the DNR asking about the wolf bounty - will see what they come up with (if anything).

I always wondered if they had a bounty on raccoons to the west of Ames. If they had, it would have been known as the "Boone County 'coon bounty".