CHAPTER XIII.

SOUTHERN BAIT METHODS FOR COYOTES.

If there are many methods of trapping the wolf, there are still more for catching the coyote, for it is a far more common animal, and while its range is over a smaller area of country, it is found in far greater numbers than the grey or timber wolf.

If there is any difference between the two, the coyote is more cunning and wary than the wolf, but the fact that wolves do not care for dead bait and the proportionately small number of the animals makes the capture of them more difficult and the catch very much lighter. All of the methods given for the grey wolf are good for the coyote, and in addition we give here the methods of various others, from all parts of the Southwest. The first is from Mr. Vasma Brown a noted coyote trapper of Texas.

"In the season of 1903-04, I commenced trapping about November 25th, and stopped about March 1st. I used seven No. 2 Victor traps, but consider No. 4 a better size. In the ninety-six nights that I trapped, I caught 182 coyotes, 4 skunk, 12 opossum, 3 coons and 12 cats. I only trapped for coyotes, but these other animals came along and got caught. Had I been trapping for skunk, opossum and wild cat, I would have caught about 200 of each, but their pelts were not worth more than 10 cents each."

"I took a piece of fresh meat and dragged it along a trail for about a mile. About every two hundred yards I set a trap. I scratched a hole in the ground just the size of the trap, put it in the hole and covered it up with a piece of paper and sprinkled dirt or sand upon it entirely concealing it. For bait, I cut some little pieces of meat and put about six or eight around the trap and then went on and set my other traps. I never failed to find two or three coyotes in my traps. My biggest catch in one night was six coyotes and one coon. I never use any scent. Fresh pork is the best scent that a person can use. I tie my traps to a log or a piece of brush."

"In the spring of the year, I have many calves and some hogs killed and eaten by coyotes. A calf about six months old, is the finest kind of bait for a coyote. A few years ago I saw a coyote kill a calf and as soon as I could, I put a 38 Winchester bullet through him. As many coyotes as I have caught in steel traps, I have never had one dig up my trap. They are very easily caught."

"In the winter of 1903 and 1904, I raced with a friend of mine catching coyotes. Our trapping places were about five miles apart, and there were just as many coyotes on his place as mine. I used seven No. 2 and he used nine No. 3 traps. He also used scent and I used none. When the day came to count and see who had the most hides, I had the most by one hundred and three coyotes, besides twenty-one other hides. He used scent and the animals were not very hungry. The scent they found on a suspicious place, made them shy, because they could not see what it was."

"If you will all think about it, it is plain enough. If an animal is hungry and sees a bait he is going to eat it whether it looks suspicious or not; and if not hungry and he sees a trap with bait, especially if he has ever been caught and gotten away, he will not bother it. The slyest of all animals have been caught in the most simple way a trap could be set, because they were hungry. My brother and I used to, and do now, catch coyotes at the carcass of a dead animal with our traps as unconcealed as you can set them. We always have had good success. We catch about one-third of what comes around."

"In the fall of 1895, my brother found the carcass of a dead horse. He set three No. 3 Newhouse traps at the carcass, and when it was all consumed, he had thirty-six coyote hides. His traps were set on the ground. A person could see them on the top of the ground at one hundred yards distance. The coyotes were very hungry and they cared for nothing but the flesh of the dead horse. They stepped everywhere, and on and in everything. Hunger makes an animal easy to capture."

The ease with which the coyote of the Southwest may be captured only goes to prove our statement in a previous chapter, that there is a great difference in the nature of the animals found in widely removed localities. It is certain that the coyotes of the Northwest could not be captured in uncovered traps. There is also, as will be noted, a great diversity of opinion regarding the value of scent. In parts of the country where the animals take bait well, scent is seldom used and would not be as successful as in other parts.

"I trap on a small scale, but enjoy it more than any other occupation," writes a New Mexico trapper. "I intend trapping on a large scale next winter. It is mostly skunks, coyotes, badger and occasionally a fox and coon."

"Some of the brother trappers complained of wolves being hard to catch. There are very few here, but I can catch a coyote almost as easy as a skunk. I have caught lots of them. The best place to set the traps is on loose plowed ground or a sand bed, or anywhere you can conceal the trap so another person couldn't locate exactly where it is set. A cow trail is good. Setting it in grass is no good.

"I dig out a place in the ground just the size of the trap, and so the pan will be one-fourth of an inch below level, then set trap, put in place, take a piece of stiff paper (not too stiff), large enough to cover jaws, and place over jaws; then cover one-fourth inch with fine loose dirt. Brush the ground down smooth so it will all look alike. It is best to have two or three traps set at one setting, so you will catch him by more than one foot. When caught by one foot, they will soon sever their leg by jerking and twisting."

"Another pointer, when you catch a coyote at a setting, don't move your traps away, but set back in the same place, for the more you catch at a setting the better chances you have to catch more. I've caught six coyotes in one setting within the last two weeks. That isn't extra good but they are scarce here."

"By all means, don't pile up brush, stones, etc., around your traps when trapping for coyote. It doesn't make any difference how much the coyote scratches up the dirt, others will come back to the same place. I use most any kind of meat, such as rabbit, chicken and sometimes a coyote carcass until I catch one; then I seldom use any bait, for the scent left by the one caught attracts others."

Another trapper from Texas, writes, "In trapping for coyotes, there are three lines to be looked after with the eye of experience, viz: The where and the how of setting, and the bait. Beds should always be located between either hiding or feeding districts. In passing from one to another of these districts, coyotes follow in the main, the same route, and the experienced eye can soon locate a good place for a trap bed. These spots may be far apart or they may be near each other. The past season I had two not more than three yards apart. Failing to get such a location, the trapper traps by chance and catches by accident. After a rain the trap bed should be torn up and sunned awhile. Fresh sign is suspicious. Four traps make a good bed, but I seldom use more than two. Traps and chains must be well hidden and the ground left as level as would seem natural."

"If the traps are so fastened as to hold the animal to the spot, that bed is lost for that season. I prefer small pieces of worn out machinery, rusty iron, weighing ten or fifteen pounds for clogs. Then comes the most important matter of all--bait. In this I have deviated from anything I have ever noticed in guides. I use unrendered beef fat. Leaf fat is good, but I prefer what is commonly called gut fat. If taken off without too much care, it is best. Hung up and dried it lasts indefinitely. This dried article I cut up in pieces from the size of a pea to the size of the end of my thumb, the smaller the better, and scatter around over the trap bed, say 10 feet square. If the bed is in short grass, this baiting is better. The bait must be carried in a bag for the purpose, and must not be touched, in any case, until the traps are set. With traps well disinfected this is the slickest cheat I have ever seen worked on a coyote."

Some of the northern trappers will probably smile when they read of the following set, but the fact that it is used extensively in the South, proves that it is a good one for that part. It was contributed by one of the Arizona trappers. "There is plenty of small timber here, so the first thing I do when I find a good brush to wire the bait to, is to cut a drag about three to four feet long and about three or four inches in diameter about the center of the drag. Cut a notch on one side and in the center of the drag. Wire the ring of the trap chain securely to the drag in the notched place with about two lengths of hay baling wire. Lay the drag on the ground on one side of the pen and cover with brush. The pen would be brushed up all around about 18 inches high, except the entrance."

"I make a 'U' shaped enclosure about four feet long with bait wired to bush in the farther end. The pen should be about a foot wide inside of the brush. Dig a hole just inside the entrance of the pen for the trap, which set lengthwise, and cover even with the surface. Also be sure and cover the trap chain. Instead of cotton under the pan, I use a piece of canvas that just fits inside of jaws and put over the pan and cover all with sifted dirt from the hole until level with the surface. Place a stick across the entrance so that when the coyote goes up, if he wants to get the meat, he will have to go over the stick. It should be about eight inches in front of the trap. This keeps him from digging in the trap."

"Now fill in on both sides of the trap between it and the side of the pen with small brush or twigs so as to guide his foot into the trap. Do not put the twigs on the trap where you want him to step. I guide his feet right into my traps that way. Always lay the bait on the ground in the pen, wired to the brush or stake in rear end, as coyotes will not enter pen if bait is hung up. I use horse meat mostly, but sometimes rabbits and beef. Hawks and ravens are bad on rabbit baits, and cattle paw the traps up if set with beef."

"I set my traps from one-fourth to one-half mile apart, and use a fresh rabbit or fresh piece of meat and drag from one trap to the other, when making my rounds. Also spoiled fish scent is good for a trail. I never use gloves to prevent human scent in setting traps, and I consider it nonsense. After the first night a set has been out, almost any coyote will go into the trap. I use No. 14 Newhouse traps, and when they catch they never let go."

"I never set traps at a large carcass of a horse or other animal, for when one does when the coyotes come there to feed and one of their number steps into a trap, that generally settles it for the rest of them, and they will not come back. Set traps from one-eighth to one-fourth of a mile all around the carcass and bait with meat from the carcass is a good plan."

"I visit my coyote traps daily if possible, as they should not be left in the traps to frighten others away that would get caught, if the trap was set, and seeing that coyote in trouble, they will be very shy about coming up to the place afterward. I ride horse-back looking after my traps, and am able to get over a good deal of ground in that way."

Another coyote trapper from Texas gives the same method, and adds: "For bait take cracklings from either lard or tallow. Heat them in a skillet and when hot, cut up some garlic and drop in, but don't let it cook too much. Put the mixture in the pen the same as any other bait and see how it works. It does fine here, but it might be that there are so many coyotes here that they will eat any old thing. The best thing about that kind of bait is the buzzards will not bother it. I have tried it for coyotes, skunk and badger, and it is good for all of them."

This is the mode of trapping employed by a party from Southern California: "Now a word about trapping those cute little coyotes. As every one has his way of trapping for them so do I. The best way to catch anything that walks on four legs is to make a fool of them. Some people may think that is 'hot air', but I know better. The way to fool an old coyote is to take a fresh sheep skin and drag it, you riding, on a horse, for a mile or so in the hills near where your man is in the habit of going, (now be sure you do not touch it with your hands), until you find an open hill not too high. Have a stake there beforehand and have your traps set. The traps should be left lying in the sheep pen for a week before setting. When you get to the stake, hang your pelt on it, so when the wind blows the pelt will move."

"Mr. Coyote will be sure to find the trail you have made and will follow it until he sees the pelt, and then he will walk around it for a night or so, but he will not get too near the first night or for three or four nights, but he will be sure to get there after a while and try to pull the skin down, and he will forget about the traps and everything else, and he will be taken in just like all the other suckers."