CHAPTER XII.

BAIT METHODS FOR WOLVES.

Many of the sets used for coyotes are equally good for grey wolves, providing that one uses a trap sufficiently strong to hold them and almost any set that will catch the wolf is good also for the coyote, but there are some which are especially good for the grey wolf and we give here some of these methods.

One of the most successful is the following: Somewhere on the wolf's route of travel find an unused trail and selecting a well defined portion, set two traps close together as shown in the diagram. Have the jaws of the traps parallel with the trail so that there will be no possibility of the wolf's foot being thrown out by the rising jaws, and so arrange them that the pans will be about twelve or fourteen inches apart. The traps must be attached to drags of some sort, stones or iron drags, which must be buried, along with the traps. Great care should be used in setting so as to leave everything as nearly like it was before as possible. No loose dirt should be left lying about, and no tracks or signs of human presence should remain about the setting.

Two more traps should be set in a similar manner, somewhere on the trail, and from fifty to one hundred yards from the first two. The traps should be left setting some four or five days before placing the bait. This will allow all foreign odors to pass away from the setting. A large bait should then be placed midway between the two settings, and close beside the trail.

On approaching or leaving the bait the wolves are almost certain to walk on the trail, and while they view all signs of disturbance near the bait with suspicion, they will be less cautious some distance away. In other words they will not be expecting danger so far away from the bait.

When looking at the traps, one should go on horseback and avoid dismounting near the traps or bait. In placing the bait one should, if possible, go on a wagon, or if more convenient, on a horse, and should drop the bait in place without stepping down on to the ground.

If desired a single trap may be used at each setting but as the length of step of the timber wolf is from eighteen to twenty-four inches, it is better to use two traps, for the wolf is likely to miss a single trap. The method will be found to work well in all localities and is as good for coyotes as for wolves.

Another very popular mode of trapping the grey wolf is with what is known as the square setting. This set requires four traps and they are arranged in the form of a square.

On a smooth sandy spot of ground, dig a hole about six inches deep and having attached the chains of all four traps to the stake, drive it in the hole until the top is below the surface of the ground. The traps should have the regular short chains and they should be arranged in the form of a square each about twenty inches from the stake. The traps must be bedded down, or in other words, they should be set in holes dug for the purpose as previously described and should be neatly covered. A narrow trench should be made for each chain and they must be covered also, so as to leave no sign. The bait should be fastened with wire to the top of the trap stake and the hollow beneath it may be filled with sand. The wire must not be visible and if a bird, rabbit or any small creature is used for bait, it must not be skinned or mutilated. When baiting with a piece of beef mutton, horse-flesh or the flesh of any large animal, it is best also to leave the skin on, as a skinned bait is likely to make the animals suspicious.

If the animal's suspicions are not aroused, it will approach the set unsuspectingly and attempt to raise the bait, but when it finds it fast, it will step around some and is almost certain to step into a trap. It will be very likely also to land in another trap after it commences to struggle, and there will be very little danger of it escaping.

Many of the trappers who use this method use only three traps at a setting and arrange them in the form of a triangle. This is good but we believe that the use of four traps will give better results.

One trapper fastened his traps to iron pins, about 10 inches in length, and used this pin as a stake. The captured animal could easily pull up the stake but the entire bunch of traps would act as a drag, and it could not go far through the sage brush without getting fastened up.

One of the best methods for both the timber wolf and the coyote is what is known to trappers as the "cut bank set." All over the western country, along the water courses and wash-outs, will be found straight cut banks, sometimes overhanging. Select such a bank from 5 to 7 feet high, and if you can find two bunches of cactus, about 16 or 18 inches apart, on the top of the bank, this is the place to set the trap. If the cactus can not be found growing this way, place some there, being very careful to give it a natural appearance, so that it will look as if it had grown there.

The trap should be staked the length of the chain from the edge of the bank, and the stake driven out of sight. Set the trap about 20 inches from the bank, if for coyotes, and about 26 inches, if wolves are expected, and directly between the two bunches of cactus. Cover the trap nicely as per instructions on a preceding page, and fasten the bait between the cactus, on the very edge of the bank. When properly set, the animal can not reach the bait without stepping on the trap. When caught it immediately leaps over the bank, and as it can not get back, will be unable to make use of its strength in struggling, and will seldom escape. Another thing that speaks well for this method is the fact that the fur of the captured animal is always clean, which is more than can be said of those which are caught in traps set and staked on level ground, where they can struggle and roll in the dirt for hours, and sometimes days.

Mr. Ira W. Bull, official hunter for the U. S. Department of Agriculture, and now located on one of the Colorado forest reserves, writes as follows:

"It would be hard to make an estimate of the number of coyotes and wolves in this section, especially coyotes, as there are so many of them and they seem to be getting more numerous every year. There are not so many grey wolves, but still, enough to do a lot of mischief, as they kill stock and move on, hardly ever coming back to the carcass for the second meal.

"My method of trapping varies according to conditions and time of year. When I set with small baits, I first select a smooth open place, and cut a hole in the soil the size and shape of the trap. I set the trap in the hole and cover carefully, fastening to a stake or toggle, concealing by covering with dirt. I cut the bait in small pieces, probably 40 or 50 in number, and scatter around the trap, leaving everything looking as natural as possible. With a large bait, say the whole or half the carcass of a horse or other large animal, I set the trap in the same way, but use 2 or 3 or even 4 traps at the one bait."

An old time trapper writes as follows: "Water-sets are the best for wolves if the animals are cunning. The proper way to make them is to take a boat--don't walk along the bank but simply load your boat with lots of bait, such as beef head, shanks, entrails, or sheep that have died or have been killed by wolves. Start down the stream, looking for small sand or gravel bars lying just above the water and a few feet long. When one of these is found, run your boat up to it and leave a beef head, a quarter of mutton or such like, and then proceed on down to the next bar and bait it in the same way, keeping on in that way until the bait is gone.

"The wolf is very bait shy. It will take bait that it finds along streams more readily than on land. In a few nights after placing your bait, you will find that the wolves are working on it and have made trails down the bank of the stream to the edge of the water. You will observe that they all take the water at the same place.

"Now load your boat with plenty of bait as before, but this time take also a good supply of traps, the proper size for wolves, and a supply of clogs similar to fence posts. When you come to the bar, supply it again with bait. Fasten your trap to a clog, set the trap at the edge of the water in the trail and allow the clog to lie the full length of the chain, downstream in the brush. Splash water on the clog to wash it, and also on any brush you touch. Continue thus at the baited places, and you will be surprised at your catch, if you have never trapped that way.

"As for wolves getting scarce in the West, there are some places where the large wolves are decreasing. The coyote is becoming more plentiful every year. They are the worst of the two among sheep and small calves and colts. The sheep men on the desert are paying $40.00 per month to the trappers in eastern Oregon for wolves, besides boarding them and allowing them to keep the pelts. Some trappers are making as much as $150.00 per month. It is almost impossible to poison wolves in this country, but I can trap them successfully several ways."

One of the Minnesota trappers gives the following experience: "In the fall a man brought an old horse to give us for chicken feed, and after butchering it, we hauled the insides, head and feet out into the field along with some manure. After a few days we found that wolves were eating it, so when we butchered the next one, we dragged the insides around and put them in a little gulley and spread manure around; then set two traps, No. 3 Newhouse on both sides of the gulley and three traps down in the gulley near the bait.

"We set these traps on Monday, and on next Thursday father saw a fox running away from the traps, and found it had sprung one without getting caught. I think 4 or 5 wolves came around on Friday night, but they didn't get caught either. I moved one of the No. 3's nearer the bait, and on Friday father bought two No. 2 1/2 Newhouse otter traps. One of these we set where the No. 3 had been, and the other about six rods west of the gulley. We set the two No. 2 1/2 on Saturday morning. On Sunday morning on our way to church, we drove by the traps and found a wolf in the new No. 2 1/2 and a red fox in the No. 3 that I had moved up near the bait. These two traps were not over ten feet apart. On skinning the fox we found marks as if he had been bitten. It weighed 8 1/2 pounds and the wolf weighed 34 pounds.

"The wolves kept coming every other day. The next Friday we found another wolf in the same trap that the fox was caught in. On Friday of the next week we had another wolf in the No. 2 trap. On the next Thursday there was a wolf caught in the other No. 2 1/2 otter trap which was set six rods from the gulley, and that was the last one we caught up to February 15th. They don't seem to come around here now."

A Wyoming trapper submits the following: "I send you herewith a photo of a female grey wolf which I trapped in the spring of 1908; this wolf weighed 62 pounds. I caught her in a No. 4 trap, and when I got to within thirty yards of her I shot her with my 33 Special Winchester.

"The grey wolf is a powerful animal, and if a person goes too near them when they are in a trap they are apt to escape, and another thing, their feet are so large that a trap generally catches them by the toes. It is nothing uncommon for a single grey wolf to destroy $1,000 worth of stock in a year. This one that I trapped would have in a few weeks produced 12 cubs; just think of the damage which these thirteen wolves could have done.

"The grey wolf is hard to trap on account of being so powerful; they can kill a large steer or other ranch stock, in the shape of horses or cattle, and they like their meat fresh. I had fifty traps out and trapped 17 or 18 coyotes and several skunk while I was trying to catch this wolf.

"Here is the set I use: Find where the wolves have killed something or an old carcass, or find a trail that they are in the habit of using, for it is the habit of wolves to smell around anything they may find dead, and scratch around the same. Dig holes to fit the jaws and springs of your traps, put a wad of paper or wool under the pan of trap, and cover the entire jaws of traps with a piece of paper; then cover over the trap and chain with fine dry horse or cow manure, so that the covering will be level with the top of the ground, and make everything look as natural as possible."

"The accompanying photograph shows a wolf that I caught a few years ago and this is the way I caught it," writes one of the Wisconsin trappers. "First, I took the insides and stuff from a hog and placed it in a clover field and set three No. 4 Hawley & Norton traps around it, covering nicely with clover leaves, chaff, etc., but I guess I must have been a little careless, as a hungry wolf came along, ate what he wanted and scattered the rest of it around without springing the traps; so I thought I would teach him how to do that trick over again, and I took 4 more traps, making 7 in all, fastened one trap chain to the next trap, and in this way strung them out around the bait, fastening the whole to a logging chain that I had concealed under some clover seed hay.

"Then I covered everything very carefully with clover leaves, chaff, etc., and also some of the food out of the hog's stomach, as this food was smelling very sour by this time. I will also add that some of these traps were brand new, while some of them were very rusty, so I took first a new trap and then a rusty one, and set them alternately around the bait, thinking that this arrangement, together with the sour smell of the food, would confuse his nose a little, and I think it did, at any rate, in about a week he came back and got tangled up. He was caught only in one trap as his first jump would, of course, pull all the other traps out of position.

"He was a sorry looking specimen of a wolf, mixed up in all this hardware (seven big No. 4 Hawley & Norton traps and one logging chain), but we will have to excuse him as he "didn't know it was loaded." The best way is to fasten every trap separately, as in this way he may get caught in several traps, or more than one might happen to get caught at the same time, while if they hang together, he will not be likely to get caught in more than one trap, as in his first desperate struggle to escape he will pull the others out of position.

"I suppose it will make some of the old 'war horses' laugh to see that it takes seven traps at one bait to catch a wolf. This is the only time I have had as many as seven traps handy, so I thought I would fix him plenty. I generally use from one to three traps for each set, depending on surrounding conditions."

In addition to the trapping methods given in the preceding pages, there are many others used in the various sections of the country and all of them have some good points.

All trappers make it a point to set a number of traps about the carcass of any animal that has been killed by wolves, also animals that have met death through other sources. The trouble is that in open ground it requires so many traps to guard a large bait, and also the wolves become very wary and refuse to approach a large bait after one or two have been caught there.

For these reasons some trappers set their traps some distance away from the carcass, using small baits, and so placing the trap among clumps of brush and other natural objects that the wolf can only reach the bait by walking over the trap. Others set their traps without bait on any trails that may be found in the vicinity of the carcass, trusting that the animals will follow these paths when visiting the bait.

Some recommend dragging a large piece of bloody meat by tying to the horn of the saddle with a rope and setting traps without bait in the trail. Others set the traps in the same way and scatter small pieces of fresh bait all about.

Another style of setting which is sometimes used is to bury a good sized bait in a trail and set a trap on each side of the buried bait. All of these methods will give good results at times but one should never confine himself to any one method, as the animal will soon learn his tricks and refuse to have his toes pinched. It is wise also when using baits or scents to locate the set to the windward side of the animals probable course of travel as all animals can scent a bait at a much greater distance when passing to the leeward.

No matter what method is used, one must be a hustler and persevering. One can not possibly make a great success of wolf trapping unless he uses a large number of traps, and keeps them in working order and well baited.