Wolf and Coyote Trapping Part 7

"The above method is the same as I learned it from an old Hudson's Bay trapper, Peirre Deverany, who was born in 1817, and had trapped all thru the British possessions and the Rocky Mountains and with whom I trapped for several years."

We find that many of the professional trappers condemn all scents except those which they, themselves, use, but as there are a number of successful ones using different scents it proves that there are numbers of good decoys.

"I use scent a good deal, but make it myself," writes one man who follows trapping continually. "The mating time is the best time to use it and the matrix from a female wolf in alcohol is very good to use. Put a few drops on a bone or stick of wood near the trap, say ten or twenty inches from it. If you have two traps set near each other, put the scent between them."

With regard to bait the grey wolf prefers horse flesh to beef. Colts are also preferred to old horses. It is the same as regards cattle; the calves and yearlings are invariably chosen. In the timbered sections where there is very little stock for the wolves to prey on, venison is perhaps the best bait. Antelope, jack rabbit, and in fact, almost any kind of flesh is good if the wolf is hungry, but the bait in all cases must be strictly fresh. Unless food is scarce, wolves seldom return to the carca.s.s of a victim, but they do so occasionally and some are caught by setting traps in such places, especially in the North, during winter when the animals are hungry. If possible they prefer to kill their own game and it is that which makes the trapping so difficult.

The same baits that are recommended for wolves are also good for coyotes, but the coyote is not so particular regarding the condition of its food and will eat tainted flesh, greedily. They are very fond of mutton, prairie dogs, badgers and sage hens. As with the wolf, horse flesh is a favorite food. One of the southwestern trappers claims that they like fresh pork, in his section, better than any other food.

It will be an easy matter in almost any part of the country to keep the traps baited as the ranchmen and sheepmen are, as a rule, willing to furnish animals for bait. As a general rule, we advise the use of scent sets and blind sets in spring and summer and bait sets in fall and winter.

CHAPTER XI.

SCENT METHODS.

In sections where the wolves and coyotes can obtain an abundance of food, they do not care for meat bait and scent sets are recommended, especially for grey wolves. Such sets are also successful in summer when meat baits soon become tainted and lose all power of attraction.

There are many ways of using scent, depending much on the kind that is used, and also on other things. One of the simplest as well as one of the best is the following:

Having found the route of travel of a band of wolves, one may be certain that he has found the proper place to set a number of traps, for the wolves are sure to come around that way again. A pa.s.s through the hills is an excellent place and as cattle, sheep and game animals are almost certain to be traveling that way at certain seasons, one is sure to find a trail of some sort traversing the pa.s.s. Having located such a trail find a spot where same is well defined and select a place for the trap, several feet to one side of the trail, where it may be placed between bunches of brush, cactus, rocks or any other obstruction that will guide the wolf over the trap. The obstruction must be a natural one as the wolf is certain to detect any artificial arrangement, and avoid it.

The trap should be fastened to a drag of some kind, which should be buried and the trap must be set and covered as explained in another chapter. In setting, the chain should be stretched out to its full length so that the drag may be buried as far as possible from the trap, and the disturbance of the soil is less likely to be noticed.

The scent should be applied to the gra.s.s, weeds or ground at the back of the set, and so placed that in trying to reach it, the wolf or coyote must walk over the trap. It should not be placed too near the trap as the first impulse of the animal is to roll over the scent.

Mr. Vernon Bailey in his instructions for trapping describes this set as follows:

"The trap, chain and stone drag should be buried out of sight close to a runway, where the wolves follow a trail or road, cross a narrow pa.s.s, or visit a carca.s.s, with the trap nearest the runway and flush with the surface of the ground; to keep the earth from clogging under the pan, the pan and jaws should be covered with an oval piece of paper and over this should be sprinkled fine earth until the surface is smooth and all traces of paper and trap are concealed.

The surface of the ground and the surroundings should appear as nearly as possible undisturbed. The dust may be made to look natural again, by sprinkling water on it. Touching the ground or other objects with the hands, spitting near the trap or in any way leaving a trace of human odors near by, should be avoided. Old, well-scented gloves should be worn while setting traps, and a little of the scent used for the traps should be rubbed on the shoe soles. A piece of old cowhide may be used on which to stand and to place the loose earth in burying drag and trap.

"A narrow trail may be made by dragging the stone or sc.r.a.ping the foot from across the runway to the trap. A slender line of scent should be scattered along this drag mark or cross trail and more of the scent placed around the trap and 6 inches beyond it, so that the wolf will follow the line directly across the trap, stopping with its front feet upon it. With old, experienced and suspicious wolves, however, it is better not to make the drag mark, but to set the trap with great care, close to the side of the trail and put the scent just beyond it. If possible, place the trap between two tufts of gra.s.s or weeds, so that it can be readily approached from one side only."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Caught in a Scent Set.]

Traps may also be set with bait and some scent used to advantage, in fact many of the decoys are to be used in that way. Two brothers who trap in partnership give the following method of trapping with scent and bait:

"This is one way of catching coyotes: We find all the horse meat we can, we even ask people if they know of any dead horses, or sheep or cattle. But the horse flesh is the best bait for them, then comes the sheep, that they like almost as well. Rabbits are also excellent bait for them, by putting a little pucky for scent along the side of the rabbit bait. We also tell how to make this 'pucky.'

"Secure all the small fish you can from three to four inches long.

Trout is the best if you can secure them, but other varieties of fish will do; clean but leave the heads on, because you will find more oil in the head than in any other part. Cut them up so they will go into a bottle; stuff them in very tight, up to the neck of the bottle; then put a thin cheese cloth over the top of the bottle and let it stay there for about two weeks. It will begin to work good about that time, then cork it up tight, and in a few days it is ready for use.

"Now, taking the horse meat, sheep or rabbits, you have for bait, find a good place to lay the bait so the coyotes cannot get to it from all sides. Never make your trap stationary but wire the chain to a small log, a stick of wood about four feet long and three inches thick, leave a few knots sticking out on the log, and they will help tire the coyote out, by digging in the ground; wire the chain about in the middle, as it will drag harder for the coyote.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Traps Set with Bait and Scent.]

"Now dig a hole the same shape of your trap, where you want it to set, also bury the clog. Put your trap in its place and have it so it will be about one-fourth of an inch below the surface of the ground, not any lower. Put a piece of wool under the pan so birds and rabbits won't spring it; then take a piece of paper big enough to cover the jaws of the trap, take some dirt and put over the paper until level with the surrounding place, if anything a little sunken, just so you can notice it. Now set your trap about the length of the coyote from the bait and one more a little farther out, both in the same way as I said. Be sure and put your bait in such a place as to make them come around in front.

"If you have to set traps at a dead horse out in the open, put one just behind the hips, and one in between his feet where he lays. Set them as I have told you and you will get them. If you find a dead animal, that is, bait, I mean, also set your traps in triangle around him. Put your traps about one foot and a half from bait. Study them carefully and you will soon learn to set right. Try it.

"Some trappers say, don't let the traps touch your clothes, smoke and bury your gloves; and even say bury your shoes after each trip. We think all of this unnecessary for we tie our traps around us, wear warm German socks and overshoes, just as everybody else should do in winter. Set our traps with our gloves on or off, don't matter; when through, brush over with a small brush and leave it. Don't make any more tracks around your traps than possible. We made one freak of a catch, two coyotes at one setting in one night. One had a stub foot having been caught before."

A very good method is to find a large clump of cactus (p.r.i.c.kly pear) with even, well defined edges, and set several traps near the edge and at varying distances. Use all possible care in setting, following the instructions given elsewhere. It is best to leave the setting some three or four days before placing the scent; that will give plenty of time for the human and other scents, that have been left there, to pa.s.s away and the ground which has been disturbed, will have taken on a smoother appearance by that time. Then go on horseback and saturating a lump of earth with the decoy, drop it in the center of the cactus bed. Do not dismount from the horse when placing the decoy. This is an exceptionally good set for coyotes.

While they can not reach the scent, they will walk all around the cactus bed and are almost certain to step in one of the traps.

Another successful mode of setting is to place the trap in a trail where it leads through a clump of sage or greasewood and put some decoy by the side of the trail a rod or two away. The bank set which is described in another chapter may also be used without bait by placing some scent on the edge of the bank.

One of the Montana trappers uses this method: "Take your traps and boil them in lye water. Do not handle them with your bare hands but be sure and use clean buckskin gloves, and handle them as little as possible. Find a place where they run pretty regular, like an old road that is not used or a cow path or trail. Find a place that is sandy if you can, and set your traps lengthwise with the trail. Of course, you must dig out where you put your traps.

"Now cover your traps with a piece of deodorized paper and about one-half inch of sand. Get some water and sprinkle along the trail and over your traps to make it all look alike. You must not leave a lot of loose and lumpy dirt lying near your traps. Leave as little sign as possible. Wait two days before you go there again, and then go with a saddle horse and drop six or eight drops of good scent bait between your traps, and await results. Do not get off your horse when you go to put out the scent bait, for I know of no animal that is any more sly than the old grey wolf.

"Now I don't claim that this will work in all localities, but I have had fairly good luck with this set. I always use two traps at a setting for wolf or coyote."

CHAPTER XII.

BAIT METHODS FOR WOLVES.

Many of the sets used for coyotes are equally good for grey wolves, providing that one uses a trap sufficiently strong to hold them and almost any set that will catch the wolf is good also for the coyote, but there are some which are especially good for the grey wolf and we give here some of these methods.

One of the most successful is the following: Somewhere on the wolf's route of travel find an unused trail and selecting a well defined portion, set two traps close together as shown in the diagram. Have the jaws of the traps parallel with the trail so that there will be no possibility of the wolf's foot being thrown out by the rising jaws, and so arrange them that the pans will be about twelve or fourteen inches apart. The traps must be attached to drags of some sort, stones or iron drags, which must be buried, along with the traps. Great care should be used in setting so as to leave everything as nearly like it was before as possible. No loose dirt should be left lying about, and no tracks or signs of human presence should remain about the setting.

Two more traps should be set in a similar manner, somewhere on the trail, and from fifty to one hundred yards from the first two. The traps should be left setting some four or five days before placing the bait. This will allow all foreign odors to pa.s.s away from the setting. A large bait should then be placed midway between the two settings, and close beside the trail.

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

On approaching or leaving the bait the wolves are almost certain to walk on the trail, and while they view all signs of disturbance near the bait with suspicion, they will be less cautious some distance away. In other words they will not be expecting danger so far away from the bait.

When looking at the traps, one should go on horseback and avoid dismounting near the traps or bait. In placing the bait one should, if possible, go on a wagon, or if more convenient, on a horse, and should drop the bait in place without stepping down on to the ground.

If desired a single trap may be used at each setting but as the length of step of the timber wolf is from eighteen to twenty-four inches, it is better to use two traps, for the wolf is likely to miss a single trap. The method will be found to work well in all localities and is as good for coyotes as for wolves.

Another very popular mode of trapping the grey wolf is with what is known as the square setting. This set requires four traps and they are arranged in the form of a square.

On a smooth sandy spot of ground, dig a hole about six inches deep and having attached the chains of all four traps to the stake, drive it in the hole until the top is below the surface of the ground. The traps should have the regular short chains and they should be arranged in the form of a square each about twenty inches from the stake. The traps must be bedded down, or in other words, they should be set in holes dug for the purpose as previously described and should be neatly covered. A narrow trench should be made for each chain and they must be covered also, so as to leave no sign. The bait should be fastened with wire to the top of the trap stake and the hollow beneath it may be filled with sand. The wire must not be visible and if a bird, rabbit or any small creature is used for bait, it must not be skinned or mutilated. When baiting with a piece of beef mutton, horse-flesh or the flesh of any large animal, it is best also to leave the skin on, as a skinned bait is likely to make the animals suspicious.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Square Setting.]

If the animal's suspicions are not aroused, it will approach the set unsuspectingly and attempt to raise the bait, but when it finds it fast, it will step around some and is almost certain to step into a trap. It will be very likely also to land in another trap after it commences to struggle, and there will be very little danger of it escaping.

Many of the trappers who use this method use only three traps at a setting and arrange them in the form of a triangle. This is good but we believe that the use of four traps will give better results.

One trapper fastened his traps to iron pins, about 10 inches in length, and used this pin as a stake. The captured animal could easily pull up the stake but the entire bunch of traps would act as a drag, and it could not go far through the sage brush without getting fastened up.

One of the best methods for both the timber wolf and the coyote is what is known to trappers as the "cut bank set." All over the western country, along the water courses and wash-outs, will be found straight cut banks, sometimes overhanging. Select such a bank from 5 to 7 feet high, and if you can find two bunches of cactus, about 16 or 18 inches apart, on the top of the bank, this is the place to set the trap. If the cactus can not be found growing this way, place some there, being very careful to give it a natural appearance, so that it will look as if it had grown there.

The trap should be staked the length of the chain from the edge of the bank, and the stake driven out of sight. Set the trap about 20 inches from the bank, if for coyotes, and about 26 inches, if wolves are expected, and directly between the two bunches of cactus. Cover the trap nicely as per instructions on a preceding page, and fasten the bait between the cactus, on the very edge of the bank. When properly set, the animal can not reach the bait without stepping on the trap. When caught it immediately leaps over the bank, and as it can not get back, will be unable to make use of its strength in struggling, and will seldom escape. Another thing that speaks well for this method is the fact that the fur of the captured animal is always clean, which is more than can be said of those which are caught in traps set and staked on level ground, where they can struggle and roll in the dirt for hours, and sometimes days.