In films about very old days(in cowboy films specially) I have seen people put notices like "Reward of money will be given to the killer of someone". People who are trying to kill them are called bounty hunters. And below is what I found from a yahoo answer. It is clearly giving the idea. "There are two meanings. The old meaning would be hunting animals for which the government pays a bounty, for example wolves. Then the government started paying bounties for hunting humans -- Native Americans (Indians) at first, then criminals. Today, "bounty hunter" means a person who goes out and finds people who have not appeared in court or fled from law enforcement. The government or the company that provided bail will pay the "bounty," that is the amount of money offered to bring the person in, to the "hunter" who captured the person." ( http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100402163639AAVAQ6l )

No. A bounty hunter captures fugitives for a reward, usually money. Bounty = reward.

Another word for bounty hunter is "skip tracer". To trace is to follow - in this case someone who "skipped" (run away from) the bail by not showing up in court.