Another good way is to take tainted beef or pig kidneys and put them at the back of a V, made by two logs falling across each other. I took one this way before the snow came, but he got away with my trap.
I have read and heard a lot about human scent and animals being afraid of it. I have seen enough to be sure that fox are not afraid of either human scent or steel traps, if the dirt is not disturbed around the trap.
CALIFORNIA TRAPPER VISITING TRAPS.
When snow is plentiful so that sly Reynard may be tracked, then search out his haunts and find where he sleeps in the day time, says a Canadian hunter. They seldom go in holes in the winter, and in the bright sunny days are very sleepy. In tracking you will see marks where they have been lying, generally in some elevated position close to their haunts, where they may be caught napping as they often are caught. The snow should be soft so as to make the least noise possible, but it is astonishing the amount of noise you can make and still not disturb them, providing you have been thoughtful enough to keep the wind in your favor, as they are very quick to smell a person, so in consequence you should always face the wind and go easy in your search. The snow shoes are a great help when the snow is deep, as it is then that the fox is easiest gotten as they will not go far in the deep snow. Try it boys and be surprised at your success.
I will try and explain to you my method of catching fox alive, writes Howard Hurst, of Pennsylvania. Take a common box trap, put a wire partition about 4 inches from back end of trap. On the back end of trap put a wire door that you can open and shut. Take the trap to some good den, take a small live chicken and put in the back part of trap. The noise of the chicken will attract the foxes' attention and he will enter the trap door. I saw four caught this way last spring by a boy 9 years old.