"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.
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 (prickly 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 pass 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.