4 CIRCULAR 6, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



the rump, and a third near the back and parallel with the loin. These 

 traps constitute a carcass set and require no lure other than the carcass. 

 Frequently it is well to set a fourth trap 6 to 8 feet away if tracks 

 show the exact route taken by the lion in approaching or leaving the 

 carcass. 



CAUTION. — Trappers should take every precaution to safeguard 

 livestock and valuable or harmless wild animals; and, where necessary, 

 should post signs to warn human beings. 



USE OF LURES 



Traps set along a trail and near an obstruction meant to divert the 

 mountain lion close to a scratch hill are only partly successful. The 

 trapper may, however, take advantage of the mountain lion's keen 

 sense of smell by dropping a few drops of oil of catnip in the center oi 

 the undisturbed scratch hill, as a lure. 



Why catnip is so attractive to members of the cat family is not 

 yet fully known. Experiments have indicated that it produces sexual 

 excitation and also that it has a soothing effect on the nervous sys- 

 tem, similar to that of opiates on man. In some of the larger circuses 

 catnip has been used for years in gentling animals of the cat family, 

 The use of catnip oil in this country to lure members of this family 

 within trapping distance has been remarkably effective. 



When pure catnip oil is obtainable, it should be used diluted with 

 pure petrolatum in the proportion of 40 drops of the catnip oil to 2 

 ounces of petrolatum. Experiments to pi'oduce a catnip lure sc 

 placed that it would be effective over a long period were conducted 

 by the Game Commission of British Colum})ia, and later the writer 

 made similar experiments in the United States. Prepared as follows, 

 it increases the effectiveness of trapping in mountain lion control: 



The petrolatum-diluted catnip oil is smeared thinly over a piece 

 of cotton batting about 8 inches square, which is then covered with 

 another piece of the same size. The catnip-oil sandwich thus made 

 is placed on an ordinary tin pie plate, brown in color, so that the 

 bottom will be inconspicuous against the bark of a tree. A tree is 

 blazed 2 or 3 feet from the ground to make the sap flow, the cut beino 

 made in the shape of the plate. The plate is spiked over the blaze, 

 with the batting next to the tree so that the cotton will be kept moist 

 by the sap. To prevent its being torn out by a bear, the plate should 

 fit snugly into the cut, the lower edge flush with the bark. The 

 bottom of the plate should be perforated with small holes made with 

 a shingle nail, so that the scent will escape slowly. The plate should 

 ber shaded from the sun as much as possible. 



Such scent stations should be placed on trees beside creeks along 

 which mountain lions are known to travel, particularly near deer 

 trails that lead to water. Probably the best places are on trees in 

 narrow canyons, where the chances of successful trapping are greater 

 because of the narrowness of the path along which the mountain lion 

 must travel. The writer has known catnip pans to be visited by 

 mountain lions in such places as long as 6 months after placement, 

 and the game authorities in British Columbia report a lion's visit to 

 a station 10 months old. After the scent station is made, traps should 

 be set, as described later, near the base of the tree. The mountain 

 lion, attracted by the catnip odor in the plate, steps into the trap 

 when approaching the lure. 



