"However, my turn came. There was a little old straw pile that they seemed to like to run onto, to see if the coast was clear. There I set a trap, covered it and the drag nicely with snow, brushed out the tracks with a twig and made some nice tracks right over the trap with an old coyote's foot. I also threw a little piece of meat up on the stack.
"Friday morning I ran down to my trap and was surprised to see it gone. I saw some blood on the snow but could not realize — no doubt on account of so many disappointments — that there was anything in the trap. However, I followed up the trail and you can imagine my delight in finding a big, fine, dog coyote in the brush. The next thing was to kill him, and I assure you that they are the hardest animal to kill with a stick an inch in diameter that I ever tackled. I pounded him on the head until his skull was crushed and still he breathed.
"On Sunday morning I took a walk down to a trap I had on another straw pile and when within a hundred yards of the stack I saw a coyote rise up, take a look at me and then start to run. I ran, too, and when I arrived at the other end of the stack there he was fast in my trap. I thought that was pretty good for I had actually chased him into my trap. Two coyotes in three nights was pretty good, with only three traps, and I was quite proud of myself, but that was a week ago and number three only came last night. I am in hopes of more before spring, but never will I have the thrills of pleasure like those I had when I found my 'first' coyote."
CHAPTER XVII.
SOME RULES AND THINGS TO REMEMBER.
If you are using small animals for bait, use the whole animal, if your method will allow of it, and do not skin the bait, as that will make the coyote or wolf suspicious. Leave the bait, if possible, looking as though it had died a natural death and you will be more successful in your trapping.
Do not, if timber wolves are expected, stake a single trap on smooth ground, for the captured animal will be almost certain to escape if you can not visit the trap soon after the animal is caught. This is especially true when using the smaller sizes of traps. When using the regular wolf trap, it may sometimes be fixed solidly if desired but it is better to use a drag of some kind.