Wolves are part of my earliest memories. When I was growing up between the sagebrush hills of east Oregon, I was afraid of the dark, ghosts, bears and wolves. On really dark nights I could hear what were supposed to be wolves howling up on the hills around my hometown of Baker, Ore.

In time, I found out those alleged wolves were really coyotes who were yipping instead of howling. Adding to the noise factor on those otherwise quiet nights were town dogs barking back at those coyotes up in the hills.

Back in the pioneer times, Oregon, like all the western and midwestern states, had quite a large population of wild wolves. However, those wolves caused problems for farmers, sheep raisers and people in general. That’s because those wolves were clever and always hungry. Also, they were involved in some weird and usually false fables. As a result, the nation’s wolf population was gradually eliminated by hunting, trapping and poisoning, except in the northern part of Minnesota.

The two factors which really helped to place the wolf on the nation’s endangered critter list were hunters and something called the bounty system.

Just when did wolves roam around the countryside in this area? To answer that question I have four short news items from the Freeborn County Standard weekly newspaper which were recently given to me by historical researcher Kevin Savick.

In early December 1925 a local hunter named Martin Rofshus shot a wolf in Riceland Township. He received a payment of $15, the state’s bounty for an adult wolf, from the county auditor. The news article said, “Wolves are rare in this county, but every fall and winter a few wander in and are shot.”

A year later a group of six Albert Lea hunters led by Haldor Knatvold spent four hours trailing a wolf before killing it in Mansfield Township. Knatvold commented that there were still a few wolves left in the county. He added that these wolves, plus foxes, were doing “great damage” to the county’s pheasant population.

One of the last known wolves in the county was shot by Theo. Cornick on the Leslie Seath farm north of the city during September 1927.

Later, during December 1927, Alf Clausen, Truman Olson and Martin Rofshus drove over to Blue Earth and shot a wild wolf south of that city. This particular wolf and maybe a mate was causing some problems for the area’s farmers. The news item said Rofshus shot the animal from a distance of about 200 yards.

There may have been a stray wolf or two killed in this part of the state in the early 1930s, but so far there’s no printed confirmation for this.

As I mentioned earlier, there was a bounty system in effect to encourage the demise of the wolves. This bounty in the late 1920s was $15 each for full grown wolves and $6 each for cubs or pups. The bounty system was sponsored and paid for by the state. Some counties up north added their own bounty bonus to entice hunters to go out and eliminate still more wolves.

An article in the July 23, 1928, issue of the Tribune said the state had appropriated $75,000 for wolf Bounty program. However, this wasn’t enough money and the Legislature had to appropriate still more funds.

Within a few more years the state’s wolf population had declined to just a few packs in the northern part of the state.

Right at this point there’s a very legitimate question which could be considered. Does Freeborn County still pay any bounty fees? I checked with Freeborn County Auditor-Treasurer Dennis Distad and found out the answer is yes. He said the county pays $25 each for beaver tails. He added that some townships may still pay a bounty for gopher tails.

Maybe the wolf is gone from this area, but two more critters are still around to take their place. One is the fox, and the other is one of the most wily of all animals — the crafty coyote.

Ed Shannon’s column has been appearing in the Tribune every Friday since December 1984.