Bounders

The Bounders were an organization of Shire-hobbits.

Along with the Shirrifs-service, they were charged with responsibility of keeping strange persons and creatures from entering the Shire and making trouble. They wondered or perhaps patrolled parts of the Shire and its borders as part of their duties. They deferred to the Shirrifs-service and were probably deputized able-bodied hobbits that were charged with helping them in their job.

By about the time just before the War of the Ring, their numbers had increased due to reports of "queer folk" entering the Shire and were busier then ever before.

External link

 * Bounders at Tolkien Gateway