"276 Foxes, 17 Wolves Bring $799 in Bounties to County" from the January 10, 1950 Door County Advocate
276 Foxes, 17 Wolves Bring $799 in Bounties to County
A surprising total of 276 foxes and 17 wolves were killed in Door county during 1949, representing a sharp increase over the previous season and bring the varmint hunters a total of $799 in bounties.
Led by William Rucker of Ellison Bay, a former government trapper who slew 62 of the foxes himself, and Orbie Bader, a Luxemburg man who collected on a den of 10 wolves found in the town of Union, the varmit hunters truly made it a banner year.
Claims recorded by County Clerk Hollis Bassford show that there were 269 mature foxes and 16 fox kits slain in the county during the period, while there were eight mature wolves and nine wolf cubs taken.
Wolf and 9 Cubs
Bader dominated the wolf department by turning up with a mature wolf and nine cubs early last year, but Milton Petersilka again led the regular wolf hunters with three mature animals bagged in the northern end of the county.
Others who each downed single mature wolves were Bert Anderson of Sturgeon Bay, Gordon Fairchild of Fish Creek, William Carlson of Fish Creek and Edward Hilander of Liberty Grove.
Adolph Schartner of Sevastopol followed Rucker in the fox list with 13 animals shot in various northern townships. Others high on the list were Fairchild with 10, Leo Hammersmith and Herman Hass with nine apiece and Emery Roberts and Ben Patza with seven apiece.
Liberty Grove High
As usual, Liberty Grove topped the list of towns in the number of varmints killed. There were exactly 100 foxes shot in the town in addition to five wolves.
The town of Sevastopol accounted for 38 of the foxes while 34 were killed in Egg Harbor. The number slain in other townships included Gibraltar 18, Jacksonport 18, Sturgeon Bay 17, Nasewaupee 12, Gardner 12, Baileys Harbor 11, Clay Banks 6, Union 4 and Forestville 2. Two were also killed in the village of Ephraim.
Two wolves were taken in Gibraltar in addition to those killed in Union and Liberty Grove.
There were no wildcats killed in the county last year, one was slain by a Forestville man in 1948.
In contrast to last year's totals, only 162 foxes and five wolves were turned in for bounties during 1948.
[author not stated]
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
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