CHAPTER X.
SCENTS AND BAITS.
Scents for attracting animals to traps have been employed for many years, but trappers differ greatly in their views regarding its value. Some use scent only, to attract the animals, and make good catches; others use bait alone and condemn anything in the line of scent. Some use neither scent nor bait but depend entirely on "blind sets".
The value of scent for trapping wolves and coyotes depends on the kind that is used and the method employed, the time of year, the sex of the animal, whether trapping is prosecuted extensively, etc. We have no doubt that if the right scent is employed and used in the proper way that it will be productive of good results. In all probability those who are so ready to condemn scents have never used the right kind, or having tried the proper kind, have not used it in the right way.
If one will stop to consider just what scent is, and the object in using it, he must readily perceive its value, if the right kind is used. Scents are of various kinds and are expected to appeal to the animal in different ways. When one uses bait, it is the odor of same that attracts the animal from a distance,--why then will not a scent which suggests their favorite food also prove attractive? All animals of the dog family are very susceptible to food odors and the same scents will attract both the wolf and coyote. Then there are other scents which appeal to the animal's passions. These will be described in the following pages. They are especially attractive to the wolf during the mating season, but are also good at other times, and should be used without bait.
The habit of depositing urine on the same spot used by another for that purpose is characteristic of all animals of the dog family. This is sometimes taken advantage of by the trapper, and the wolf urine is used in that way.
In some parts of the country it is probable that one would be more successful by using bait alone; in other places blind sets would be better. For many localities it is best to use a good scent, and especially so at certain seasons. For trapping grey wolves in summer, it is especially valuable as at that time meat baits soon become tainted and are not attractive to the animals.
The United States Biological Survey have made exhaustive tests with scents and the result is given in the following:
"Success in trapping depends mainly on the use of scents that will attract the wolves to the neighborhood of a trap and keep them tramping and pawing until caught. Meat bait alone is of little use, for as a rule the wolves kill an ample supply for themselves. Many tests of scents, both prepared baits and various animal musks, have been made with wolves in the field and in the National Zoological Park. While some have given a fair degree of success, others have proved worthless, and no one odor has proved entirely satisfactory. Experiments are being continued, however, and new odors tried."
"Beaver musk (castoreum) and the commercial perfumery sold as musk have proved effective in many cases by causing the wolf to turn aside to follow the scented cross line and so walk into the trap. Siberian musk (from the Siberian musk deer ) is very attractive to wolves in the Zoo. Oil of anise and oil of rhodium seem to have no attraction for wild wolves, and are scarcely noticed by those in confinement. Assafoetida is mildly attractive to wolves and coyotes at the Zoo, but used alone is very slightly, if at all, attractive to those on the range."
"Wolf urine taken from the bladder is used by some trappers, and is said to be very successful. It is bottled and kept until rancid and then sprinkled over the trap. The sexual organs of the female wolf immersed in the urine are said to add efficacy to this bait. The urine of the female in the rutting season is said to be especially attractive to males; it should be used in January or February."
"Fetid bait.--The bait that has proved most effective may be called, for lack of a better name, fetid bait, because of its offensive odor. It has been long in use in variously modified forms by the most successful wolf trappers, and its preparation is usually guarded as a profound secret. It cannot be credited to any one trapper, since no two prepare it in just the same way, but in most cases its fundamental odors are the same. It may be prepared as follows:
"Place half a pound of raw beef or venison in a wide-mouthed bottle and let it stand in a warm place (but never in the sun) from two to six weeks or longer or until it is thoroughly decayed and the odor has become as offensive as possible. If the weather is not very warm this may require several months. When decomposition has reached the proper stage, add a quart of sperm oil or some liquid animal oil. Lard oil may be used, but prairie dog oil is better. Add half an ounce of assafoetida, dissolved in alcohol and one ounce of tincture of Siberian musk, or, if this cannot be procured, one ounce of pulverized beaver castor or one ounce of the common musk sold for perfumery. Mix thoroughly and bottle securely until used."
The government has introduced this scent into Northern Michigan where it has been used successfully. Other very similar decoys are used extensively by Western trappers.
A scent which is highly recommended, and is used successfully by some Wyoming wolf and coyote trappers is made by chopping fine, equal portions of raw beef and fish and allowing same to decay in a covered vessel. After it is thoroughly decomposed, add an ounce of assafoetida dissolved in alcohol to each pound of the decoy. Animal matter of any kind should never be allowed to decay in a tightly closed vessel, as the gases may cause it to burst, but it must be covered so as to exclude the flies. The above scent is claimed to be very attractive to both wolves and coyotes and we know that the trappers who used it made large catches, one of them having captured over 200 coyotes in a single season. This trapper states that if the perfume of the skunk is added to the decoy, its attractive properties are greatly increased. This scent may be used in connection with bait, or without, as preferred.
One of the northern trappers recommends a scent made by chopping fine, equal parts of rabbit, skunk and muskrat flesh, with a couple of wild mice added, and allow to decay in a jar. The jar should be about 2/3 full and after it is decomposed a half ounce oil of anise and a quantity of skunk scent is added, and the jar filled with goose oil. This is the recipe as given but we can not guarantee it to be attractive.
Many of the old time trappers claim to have scents which will draw a wolf or coyote a half mile, or more, to the trap. Those who make such statements should always be regarded with distrust for the chances are that they only wish to sell the scent or the formula. In nine cases out of ten it will be found that the scents are worthless. One of our old time friends wrote as follows:
"I have tried several so-called patent decoys with very indifferent results. The only scent I care to use is the urine from a female wolf or coyote killed in running season; sprinkle a drop or two on bush, stone or ground near traps, but not on bait. After catching one coyote at a setting I never trouble to bait again as the urine and droppings will serve to attract other coyotes better than any bait. Have caught 6 at one setting, 5 of them with no other bait than the smell of the ground defiled by previous coyotes. They will come a long way to scratch and urinate on same spot, and seem to lose some of their caution."
Another successful trapper makes practically the same statements and his views are appended.
"After catching one wolf or coyote do not use more bait as the scent is strong enough to draw all that comes near. I do not use any patent decoy or scents, as I consider them useless for any game. The only scent I use is what I make myself and then only from February to April. In the summer I gather up four or five bitch dogs and as fast as they come in heat I kill them and take the organs of generation and pickle them in wide mouth bottles with alcohol enough to cover. I sprinkle a few drops on a stone or bush, stick in center between traps but use no other bait. This is also good for fox.
"The above method is the same as I learned it from an old Hudson's Bay trapper, Peirre Deverany, who was born in 1817, and had trapped all thru the British possessions and the Rocky Mountains and with whom I trapped for several years."
We find that many of the professional trappers condemn all scents except those which they, themselves, use, but as there are a number of successful ones using different scents it proves that there are numbers of good decoys.
"I use scent a good deal, but make it myself," writes one man who follows trapping continually. "The mating time is the best time to use it and the matrix from a female wolf in alcohol is very good to use. Put a few drops on a bone or stick of wood near the trap, say ten or twenty inches from it. If you have two traps set near each other, put the scent between them."
With regard to bait the grey wolf prefers horse flesh to beef. Colts are also preferred to old horses. It is the same as regards cattle; the calves and yearlings are invariably chosen. In the timbered sections where there is very little stock for the wolves to prey on, venison is perhaps the best bait. Antelope, jack rabbit, and in fact, almost any kind of flesh is good if the wolf is hungry, but the bait in all cases must be strictly fresh. Unless food is scarce, wolves seldom return to the carcass of a victim, but they do so occasionally and some are caught by setting traps in such places, especially in the North, during winter when the animals are hungry. If possible they prefer to kill their own game and it is that which makes the trapping so difficult.
The same baits that are recommended for wolves are also good for coyotes, but the coyote is not so particular regarding the condition of its food and will eat tainted flesh, greedily. They are very fond of mutton, prairie dogs, badgers and sage hens. As with the wolf, horse flesh is a favorite food. One of the southwestern trappers claims that they like fresh pork, in his section, better than any other food.
It will be an easy matter in almost any part of the country to keep the traps baited as the ranchmen and sheepmen are, as a rule, willing to furnish animals for bait. As a general rule, we advise the use of scent sets and blind sets in spring and summer and bait sets in fall and winter.