"Take the entrails of a hog or other animal and go up the gulch until you find a place where the ground is loose and there is no grass. Set two traps about four feet apart and place the bait between, and about one foot from one of the traps. If the animal tries to eat the bait, it will be caught in this trap, and if it is suspicious and walks around the bait, the other one will catch it. Take a piece of the bait and erase all signs that you have made in setting the traps, so that it will appear that you have only come there to dispose of the bait."
"Look at the traps every other day, not oftener, and never go close to a set if it can be avoided. These may not be the best methods, but they are good ones, and I have caught many coyotes with them. When you get thirty or forty skins, you will think that they are well worth the trouble necessary to secure them, just to look at."
CHAPTER XV.
BLIND SET METHODS.
Where wolves and coyotes are plentiful and natural conditions are favorable, blind sets are very successful, especially for the wary animals that refuse to take bait. Conditions must be favorable in order to make blind set trapping feasible. There must be plenty of good clear trails traversing the country, and a comparatively rough locality will be found to be the best as, on rough ground, the wolves are more certain to walk on the trails.
It is only, perhaps, a small per cent. of the trappers who are able to make a success of blind sets, for it requires one who is very observing and a diligent worker. To make a fair catch requires that one runs a long line of traps, for he must depend on putting his trap just where the wolf will step, instead of decoying the animal into the trap by means of a bait, and no matter how careful he is in this matter, he is certain to set a lot of traps in bad places.
On the other hand, if food is plentiful and the wolves do not take bait well, or if they have become shy and wary because of persistent trapping, one is more likely to make a showing if he uses blind sets, in part at least. Then, too, he may be more certain of pulling in the "old veterans."
The reason that the blind set is more certain for the wary animals is that there is no bait to arouse the suspicions of the intended victim, and it is taken when completely off its guard. Such animals as the wolf, coyote and fox are always suspicious of a bait even though there is no trap there, and will sometimes steer clear of it for several days, simply because they think there may be something wrong there. They approach a baited trap warily and if they detect any disturbance or sign of human presence, they are off for good. With the blind set, that would not occur and if the trap is in the proper place, the trapper may be pretty certain of the animal when it comes that way.
In all parts of the wolf and coyote country, trails of some kind are to be found. On the Western Plains the stock trails are numerous and offer great possibilities for blind trapping. In the mountains, game trails are to be found and as such trails invariably lead through passes and other natural passage-ways they make excellent places for wolf sets, if on the animals' route. In the northern forests, moose, caribou, and deer trails are plentiful and good places for blind sets are to be found.