If there are many methods of trapping the wolf, there are still more for catching the coyote, for it is a far more common animal, and while its range is over a smaller area of country, it is found in far greater numbers than the grey or timber wolf.
If there is any difference between the two, the coyote is more cunning and wary than the wolf, but the fact that wolves do not care for dead bait and the proportionately small number of the animals makes the capture of them more difficult and the catch very much lighter. All of the methods given for the grey wolf are good for the coyote, and in addition we give here the methods of various others, from all parts of the Southwest. The first is from Mr. Vasma Brown a noted coyote trapper of Texas.
"In the season of 1903-04, I commenced trapping about November 25th, and stopped about March 1st. I used seven No. 2 Victor traps, but consider No. 4 a better size. In the ninety-six nights that I trapped, I caught 182 coyotes, 4 skunk, 12 opossum, 3 coons and 12 cats. I only trapped for coyotes, but these other animals came along and got caught. Had I been trapping for skunk, opossum and wild cat, I would have caught about 200 of each, but their pelts were not worth more than 10 cents each."
A Trapped Texas Coyote.
"I took a piece of fresh meat and dragged it along a trail for about a mile. About every two hundred yards I set a trap. I scratched a hole in the ground just the size of the trap, put it in the hole and covered it up with a piece of paper and sprinkled dirt or sand upon it entirely concealing it. For bait, I cut some little pieces of meat and put about six or eight around the trap and then went on and set my other traps. I never failed to find two or three coyotes in my traps. My biggest catch in one night was six coyotes and one coon. I never use any scent. Fresh pork is the best scent that a person can use. I tie my traps to a log or a piece of brush."
"In the spring of the year, I have many calves and some hogs killed and eaten by coyotes. A calf about six months old, is the finest kind of bait for a coyote. A few years ago I saw a coyote kill a calf and as soon as I could, I put a 38 Winchester bullet through him. As many coyotes as I have caught in steel traps, I have never had one dig up my trap. They are very easily caught."
"In the winter of 1903 and 1904, I raced with a friend of mine catching coyotes. Our trapping places were about five miles apart, and there were just as many coyotes on his place as mine. I used seven No. 2 and he used nine No. 3 traps. He also used scent and I used none. When the day came to count and see who had the most hides, I had the most by one hundred and three coyotes, besides twenty-one other hides. He used scent and the animals were not very hungry. The scent they found on a suspicious place, made them shy, because they could not see what it was."
"If you will all think about it, it is plain enough. If an animal is hungry and sees a bait he is going to eat it whether it looks suspicious or not; and if not hungry and he sees a trap with bait, especially if he has ever been caught and gotten away, he will not bother it. The slyest of all animals have been caught in the most simple way a trap could be set, because they were hungry. My brother and I used to, and do now, catch coyotes at the carcass of a dead animal with our traps as unconcealed as you can set them. We always have had good success. We catch about one-third of what comes around."