One of the coyote trappers from Saskatchewan, Canada, says: "I will give a snow set for coyotes that an Indian showed us and we proved its merit. Select a good hard snow drift, set your trap and lay it on top of the drift, then with a knife, mark the snow around the trap, remove trap and dig out the snow to a depth of three or four inches, replace trap in hole so that the pan will be about two inches below the surface. Now go a little distance off and cut a cake of snow large enough to cover hole, in which lies the trap and scrape it as thin as possible without breaking. This requires care. Now place the cake over the trap and sprinkle some snow around the edges so as to leave all smooth. The chain and clog of course, should be well buried in the snow."
"I have caught a coyote in a set like this after a big storm, the snow having blown clear over the drift and not injuring the set in any way; all I did for bait was to set my trap by a little bunch of grass. Of course, it is evident a set like the above will only apply when it is cold and there is no chance of a thaw. Another important point to be remembered in setting traps is to give them a firm bed. When a trap is sprung it kicks back the same as a gun but when on a firm bed it has the greatest chance of a high grip."
In portions of the North, snow sets are used considerably. The sets given here were sent by a Minnesota trapper who claims to have used them successfully.
"I have trapped wolves a good many winters in this part of the country, but they are very scarce here now. As to my way: I use a No. 4 trap and set under the snow. If I can find a place where their paths come together or cross, I select it as a favorable place for catching them. If there are a couple of bushes near together with the paths between, I set my trap there, pushing it under the snow from a couple of feet back of the path, taking care to make as few tracks myself as possible and to fill those up and brush with a bunch of twigs or weeds for a distance of twenty feet or more. I sift snow over the trap also and leave everything as natural as possible. This method I have found very successful in capturing these shadowy pests of the prairie."
"When ponds, lakes and rivers are frozen over and the snow is deep, wolves are apt to travel on the ice; any dark object out on the smooth expanse of snow on lake or river will at once attract their attention and they are apt to go and examine. A crow, rabbit or bait of any sort; let it be up where it can be seen at a distance. Place two or three traps around the bait at a distance of three feet, put pieces of white paper, one under and one over the trap, then cover carefully with dry snow by sifting it with a piece of wire screen."
"When traveling an old trail or timber road thru the woods, reach out to one side as far as possible and place a piece of bait with some of the scent on it or near it, and place two traps half way between bait and trail, also one directly in the trail. Set and cover it as on the ice. It is a good plan to scatter a few beef or lard 'cracklings' along your trail. No. 3 traps are about right for wolves, and the No. 2 1/2 Newhouse otter trap makes a good wolf trap if the attachment is taken from the pan."
A Large Wisconsin Wolf.
"To sum up, the trapper who makes a success of trapping wolves must make a study of it and must often contrive methods suitable to his particular trapping grounds."