Wolf and Coyote Trapping Part 10

"I do not use scent. I have tried several kinds and consider them no good. I have trailed coyotes where they have been trailing my tracks and found them caught in the traps. I have set traps in the evening and found coyotes in them the next morning. I have been trapping coyotes and wolves for some five years in my county (Billings Co.) I am located on the Little Missouri River a short distance south of the old ranch that President Roosevelt used to own, what is called Bad Land Country."

"First boil your traps, and from the time you take them from the hot water, use gloves till set, gloves to be smeared with blood. Take a pair of old shoes and nail on some blocks of wood cut from 2 x 4 stuff, the length of your shoes; nail them on from the inside of shoes with small nails, use gloves to do this. Now you are ready to start to where your coyotes are, so take four No. 3 or 4 traps and stake 3 feet long, with something to drive it with. Don't let traps touch your clothes while carrying them."

"When you get to your place that you have in mind, put stake thru all four rings of traps and drive down to the level of the ground; put your traps out each way so as to form a square, and bury each trap, chain and all. Make everything look as natural as possible. Put a small piece of wool or cotton under pan of trap and cover all well with dirt; take what dirt you have left from digging to set trap and carry away. Now leave your traps set till next evening, and then take a piece of beef liver or fresh hog lungs, put on your same shoes with blocks on and go put your bait in center of trap, (keeping gloves on), and don't expect to catch your coyote the first night, as he will likely come up close and take a look at things and go away again, but the third or fourth night, he will try to sample your bait, and when you catch your first one, the next one will walk in a lot quicker."

"I have caught as many as eight at one setting. Now mind you, in going to trap and resetting them, wear your shoes and gloves. I always bury my gloves and shoes in dirt to keep off human scent. I have caught lots of them this way, although, I have other methods.

The main thing is to keep human scent off of trap and the ground where your traps are set."

"I saw a coyote jump over a sage brush about 6 rods from me one day, and shot at him as he struck the ground with No. 6 fine shot and killed him. As I went to pick him up, I found his hind foot in a No.

2 Newhouse trap. I took him out of the trap, took the trap, and followed his track for about one-half mile toward the top of the b.u.t.te, and found a dead horse. I left the trap, went back and skinned the coyote, took his hide over to Mr. Muma."

"About a week after killing the coyote, I went over the b.u.t.te, and found a man at the horse covering up some traps. I told him of killing the coyote and where to find the hide. He caught 11 coyotes at this horse up to February 1st. They set their traps from 10 to 30 feet away from the horse, between sage brush, where coyotes would be likely to walk in approaching the horse. They had eight traps set at this place, fastened each one to a limb about 3 feet long. I think they put some scent on the horse to keep the coyotes from eating him, as I did not see as they had eaten any of it during the time they had their traps set."

"I will give some good coyote sets, altho the season is about over now, March 8th, but some coyote trappers will trap most all summer in order to get bounty. I find that this thing in handling your traps with gloves on is all foolishness. Well, to begin with, take some lard cracklings, say a half dozen. Go to some brush where there is a trail going through, take your cracklings to the trail and scatter cracklings along trail, and set traps one at each end of brush in trail. This is a set hard to beat, boys. Another way is to find some old cow path, and if you see coyote tracks in this set a few traps along in it, cover traps, first spreading some brown paper over trap then some dirt. Take an old coyote foot, make tracks all around your trap, and you will have another good set."

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Trail Set.]

"Here we have the coyote in larger numbers than any of the furry tribe, and he is here to stay, for his cunning is a match for the best of trappers, but many a one gets his toes pinched every season and his coat is worn the next."

"The best method that I know of to fool the cute chap is to find a carca.s.s, and if they are feeding off it, then take about six or eight No. 3 or 4 Newhouse traps and set well back from bait. Set in trails leading to and from the carca.s.s, but be very careful and leave no signs, for Mr. Coyote is very careful to look all around before partaking of his meal, and while making this tour of inspection (if you have your traps rightly and neatly set) he will get his foot caught."

"Never fasten the trap solid but to a drag so that he can drag it off and not prevent all the others from coming to the bait, and also he makes his hardest fight immediately after being caught, and if your trap is staked solid and happens to have a weak place, or your coyote is not securely caught, you are very apt to lose him."

"Find an old badger hole with a large pile of dirt in front of it.

Take your traps, and everything needed to make the set with, walk straight up to the place and don't move out of your tracks while you set the traps. Put the bait, fresh meat of almost any kind, in the hole, so that the coyote can just see it. Set one trap about six inches from the mouth of the hole, a little to one side and another on top of the mound of dirt. Bury the toggles carefully the length of the chains from the traps and dig a hollow for the traps to set in.

Be sure they rest solidly in their beds, so that they will not tip over if the coyote steps on the jaw. Cover neatly, with, first a piece of paper, and then fine dirt. After the set is completed, use a skunk's tail for a brush and smooth out all signs except your tracks.

Have it appear that you have walked by there without stopping. The No. 4 Newhouse trap is the one to use, and the more coyotes you catch in one place, the better the set will be."

[187 Traps Set at Badger Den.]

"Around most ranches are hollows, ditches, or strips of brush, along which the coyote approaches the ranch to catch chickens. Along one of these places, about a quarter of a mile from the house is the place to catch a coyote."

"Take the entrails of a hog or other animal and go up the gulch until you find a place where the ground is loose and there is no gra.s.s. Set two traps about four feet apart and place the bait between, and about one foot from one of the traps. If the animal tries to eat the bait, it will be caught in this trap, and if it is suspicious and walks around the bait, the other one will catch it. Take a piece of the bait and erase all signs that you have made in setting the traps, so that it will appear that you have only come there to dispose of the bait."

"Look at the traps every other day, not oftener, and never go close to a set if it can be avoided. These may not be the best methods, but they are good ones, and I have caught many coyotes with them. When you get thirty or forty skins, you will think that they are well worth the trouble necessary to secure them, just to look at."

CHAPTER XV.

BLIND SET METHODS.

Where wolves and coyotes are plentiful and natural conditions are favorable, blind sets are very successful, especially for the wary animals that refuse to take bait. Conditions must be favorable in order to make blind set trapping feasible. There must be plenty of good clear trails traversing the country, and a comparatively rough locality will be found to be the best as, on rough ground, the wolves are more certain to walk on the trails.

It is only, perhaps, a small per cent. of the trappers who are able to make a success of blind sets, for it requires one who is very observing and a diligent worker. To make a fair catch requires that one runs a long line of traps, for he must depend on putting his trap just where the wolf will step, instead of decoying the animal into the trap by means of a bait, and no matter how careful he is in this matter, he is certain to set a lot of traps in bad places.

On the other hand, if food is plentiful and the wolves do not take bait well, or if they have become shy and wary because of persistent trapping, one is more likely to make a showing if he uses blind sets, in part at least. Then, too, he may be more certain of pulling in the "old veterans."

The reason that the blind set is more certain for the wary animals is that there is no bait to arouse the suspicions of the intended victim, and it is taken when completely off its guard. Such animals as the wolf, coyote and fox are always suspicious of a bait even though there is no trap there, and will sometimes steer clear of it for several days, simply because they think there may be something wrong there. They approach a baited trap warily and if they detect any disturbance or sign of human presence, they are off for good.

With the blind set, that would not occur and if the trap is in the proper place, the trapper may be pretty certain of the animal when it comes that way.

In all parts of the wolf and coyote country, trails of some kind are to be found. On the Western Plains the stock trails are numerous and offer great possibilities for blind trapping. In the mountains, game trails are to be found and as such trails invariably lead through pa.s.ses and other natural pa.s.sage-ways they make excellent places for wolf sets, if on the animals' route. In the northern forests, moose, caribou, and deer trails are plentiful and good places for blind sets are to be found.

Main trails are the best always, unless one finds that the animals are traveling on the branches. The trail leading to the crossing place of a deep washout is an excellent place in which to set a trap.

Unless the trail traverses a natural pa.s.s or leads to the crossing of a ravine, it is always best to be sure that the animals are traveling the trail before setting traps.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Good Catch.]

A narrow, well defined portion of the trail should be selected, and if there are bunches of brush, cactus or weeds on either side, so much better. A single trap may be used but as the animal is likely to step over it without springing, two traps are better. They should be attached to drags of some sort; either stones, chunks of wood or the p.r.o.nged, iron drags. If the traps are staked the captured animal will tear up the trail and the next one that pa.s.ses that way will stop to investigate and may locate the trap. With other sets, it is sometimes better to let the captured coyote or wolf scratch up the setting but with the trail set, it is best to use a drag.

A piece of canvas or cow or sheep hide should be spread on the ground and the trapper should stand on it while making the set, and should also use it as a receptacle for the loose dirt. A hole should be dug for each trap, the same shape as the trap when set, but a little larger, and of such a depth that when the trap is covered, the covering will be even with the surface of the ground. A narrow trench should be made for the chain and a hole in which to place the drag.

The drag should be buried as far from the trap as the chain will allow.

The traps should be set with the jaws lying lengthwise of the trail.

After filling in neatly with dirt around the springs and the outside of the jaws, a sheet of clean paper should be placed over the trap and covered with from one fourth to one half inch of fine dirt, covering the edges of the paper first to prevent it from sagging.

When finished the whole should be brushed smooth and the surplus dirt carried away.

Sometimes one can find a long, deep ravine which is practically impa.s.sable to wolves and coyotes. At such places one may find small branches running out to the side and wherever there is such a branch, there is sure to be a trail at the first crossing place. Such a trail is sure to be used by the animals when traveling along the canyon for when they strike the lateral branch, they are certain to follow it to the first crossing place. That is the place to set a trap for them.

One of the trappers who is located on the coyote range of the Northwest, writes: "There are several ways of trapping for the coyote but none of them will hold good very long. The coyote will soon get on to the way you trap, and know as well where your trap is as you do."

The most successful way I have found is to take two No. 3 and No. 4 Newhouse traps and wire the rings together hard and fast. Set them in trails that are used by the coyotes. Dig a hole in the trails the right size for the traps. Double the chains up and put them under the traps, cover the traps lightly with dust, leaving everything as normal as possible. Two traps together make your chances double for a catch, and the loose trap answers for a drag. The coyote will not go far until he becomes entangled for keeps. I never use bait only to draw the coyote to some place where there are lots of trails leading in all directions. These trails I monopolize with traps as just described. I set it in the most likely looking place, then take a large sized bait, fasten it in a thicket in the vicinity of the traps, and your chances are good for a catch."

Another trapper gives his method in the following: "In setting traps for wolves and coyotes, I set them mostly on the trails made by stock. I use steel pins made from rake teeth. With a short handled axe I cut out a place in the trail so the trap will be level with the top of the ground when covered. I use paper over the jaws and set two No. 4 traps at a setting, putting them fourteen or twenty inches apart. A wolfs foot is good for brushing the dirt over the traps so as to make everything look as natural as possible. I use a pair of gloves in handling my traps and set them where the trail is narrow and on a little knoll, or where the trail goes around a bank or between two hills.

"Leave all wolf and coyote carca.s.ses near the traps after skinning them, as they make a good decoy. A good plan is to throw your rope around a piece of meat and drag it from your saddle horn. Take a dozen No. 4 traps and go up and down the dusty trail and set them on the drag mark. If you hide them well, you will get Mr. Wolf or Coyote. I do not use bait in warm weather and not much in cold weather. A grey wolf is hard to catch by bait, unless very hungry and he is seldom troubled that way where there are cattle and horses on the range."

CHAPTER XVI.

SNOW SET METHODS.

When the ground is covered with snow, trapping for wolves is exceedingly difficult and there are few, if any trappers who can make a success of it. Throughout Northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, as well as in Canada, a few are caught by the most persistent hunters, but the winter catch never amounts to much.

It is difficult to make a set in the snow and leave no signs when the set is finished, and even if one can make a neat set it will seldom remain long in working order. This is the rule, but there is one exception, a set which is successful, but can only be used in places where the winter temperature is such that the snow will remain a long time in a loose, powdery condition. In other words it can only be used successfully in the North, where the weather is very cold. The method referred to is the one used by the northern Indians for trapping both the fox and wolf. It is made as follows:

Having the trap attached to a heavy clog, and well cleaned by boiling or washing, go out onto the ice of some windswept lake and sc.r.a.pe up a pile of snow. Make it cone-shaped about three feet in height and six or seven feet in diameter at the base. Bury the clog, or drag, in the mound, and stretch up the chain, so as to bring the trap to the top. Make the mound hard by beating it with a snowshoe, and in the top, scoop a hole about five inches deep and somewhat larger than the trap. Line this hole well with dry moss or cat-tail down, the down is best, and place the trap in the nest. Fill inside of the jaws, and under the pan with cat-tail down and after the trap has become cold, so that there is no danger of the snow sticking to it, sift snow over it, to the depth of an inch. Do not touch this snow with the hands or it will freeze hard and the trap will not spring.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Snow Set.]

The bait should be cut into small pieces and tucked into the sides of the snow mound, where it will be out of sight of the birds. Brush out your tracks as you go away and the wind will soon erase every vestige of signs, leaving the snow as smooth as it was before the trap was set, but the mound will freeze hard and no amount of wind can drift it away.