Then to be ready, adopt the rule of always carefully covering your traps. We all admit that the fox and wolf are shy animals and are rather difficult to catch, yet they are frequently caught by trappers who are only trapping for opossum or skunk. These trappers, of course, had their traps carefully hidden. While fox and wolf are among the smartest animals, yet they can be caught, as the thousands of pelts sold annually is evidence. See to it, trappers, that every trap is set and covered properly and you will be rewarded some morning on visiting your trap by a fox or wolf if they are many in your section.
WOLF CAUGHT AT BANK SET.
Now a word about trapping those cute little coyotes, writes a California trapper. The best way to catch anything that walks on four legs is to make a fool of them. Some people may think that is "hot air," but I know better.
The best way to fool an old coyote is to take a fresh sheep skin and drag it, you riding on a horse, for a mile or so in the hills near where your man is in the habit of going, (now be sure you don't touch it with your hands) until you find an open hill not too high. Have a stake there before hand and your traps set. The traps should be left lying in the sheep pen for a week before setting.
When you get to the stake, hang your pelt on it, so when the wind blows the pelt will move. Mr. Coyote will be sure to find the trail you have made and will follow it until it sees the pelt, and then he will walk around it for a night or so, but he will not get too near the first night or three or four nights, but he will try to pull the skin down and he will forget about the traps and everything else and will be taken in just like all the other suckers.
My outfit consists of the following, writes a well known Western trapper: Sixty No. 3 Newhouse single spring otter traps (I find they will hold any wolf and are easier set than double spring traps), an axe, 60 stakes 16 or 18 inches long, 12 or 15 pounds of wool or cotton, wool preferred, 20 stakes 10 or 12 inches long, a piece of oil cloth or canvas about 3 feet square, a light wagon and team, a good rifle and four stag hounds. The hounds are trained so stay on the wagon until told to go, and will nearly always get a coyote when sent after him.
In setting traps I choose a high knoll or a bare spot on the range — often the bed of a dry creek — where I see plenty of signs, and then proceed as follows: Stick one of the small stakes where I want the bait and from 20 to 24 inches from it lay a trap and stretch the chain straight back, drive stake through chain ring and drive down below the surface of the ground an inch or more. Then fix two more traps the same way at the opposite points of a triangle. Set your traps and place a good wad of wool under the pan so that rabbits and other small game will not spring it, and then proceed to bed the traps and chains, placing all the dirt on the canvas.
Now place your bait (I always use live bait if weather is not too cold, but have had good success with dead bait). Lay an old dead hen or other fowl in the center and drive small stakes through it into the ground firmly; cover end of stake with wing or feathers of bait.