Method of Preparing Poison Baits.
"As it is, the farmer's dogs have been suffering, and are nearly extinct here. For the last few seasons it has been quite common to see large quantities of dead fish round the lake after this poisoned meat goes into the water. I understood that parties laying out poison had to observe certain regulations, so that no person's property would be endangered thereby, and if I am rightly informed, it must be some person's duty to stop the nuisance. No doubt it is a good thing to get rid of the wolves, but the poisoning ought to be prosecuted far enough from settlements and from public roads that stock and poultry will not be endangered by the bait."
It is advisable when using poison to leave no human odors on the bait and to prevent so doing, some people prepare the baits without touching them with the bare hands. A simpler method is to make up the baits several days in advance and place them in a clean vessel, out of reach of all animals, and where they will be exposed to the open air. In this way, the human odor will pass away, and when they are placed out for the wolves they should not be touched with the hands.
The poison should not be placed in a capsule as that is too uncertain. There is very little danger of giving an overdose. The writer has seen strychnine used in large doses, considerably more than four grains, and the results were far better than when using smaller doses.
Strychnine is to be had in crystals or in crushed or powdered form. Both forms are equally deadly, but some poisoners claim that it will act more rapidly when crushed. The following article on poisoning is given by a Wyoming trapper:
"I have used strychnine and it is a poor idea for a trapper to use it as it destroys more fur than anything and also makes animals very shy about taking bait. The best way is to put the strychnine in lard which has no salt in it. I take some lard and put on my gloves or mitts and go in the shade or early in the morning where it is almost at the freezing point, so the lard will stay hard. I pinch it off in one inch chunks, take it between my hands and roll it in round balls, take a pocket knife or stick and drill a hole in it. Then fill it with strychnine and close the opening up by mashing the lard over the hole. Be careful not to get any strychnine on the outside as it has a bitter taste and if he tastes it he is almost sure to spit it out."
"Care must be taken not to touch the outside with the bare hands as the first thing a coyote will do is to smell it and if there is much human scent on it, he will not take it. I dip it in blood to kill some of the human scent. I have known a coyote to travel half a mile with a piece of strychnined meat in his mouth and then feeling it work on him, drop it and trot on."
"Now to show that it wastes furs and makes them wild, suppose it had snowed, blowed or covered his track in some way; a skunk in passing by and finding it, would get poisoned, which would be a loss of one fur, or suppose it were a mink or something else, it would have been the same. The chances are that the trapper would not have found it until it was spoiled."