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 carcass 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 pass 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 pass. 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.