Gray-wolf 785 



Poisoning, once quite easy, is now very hard to practise, poison- 

 since the Wolves have learned the smell and dangers of strych- 

 nine. One method is to bore an auger hole into a post that 

 the Wolves use as a 'calling station,' fill it with a mixture of 

 strychnine and tallow, and then over the outside spread a coat 

 of pure tallow or butter. The Wolves will lick and gnaw at 

 this till the poison has time to work, at least in former times 

 they did so; now it seems to be losing its charm for them. 



In early days I have had some success in poisoning with a 

 drag. To do this I would take a lump of meat, or a bunch of 

 Jack-rabbits, and drag it behind my horse for ten miles around 

 the camp. At intervals of a quarter of a mile I dropped a 

 carefully prepared poisoned bait, two grains of strychnine in 

 a gelatine capsule hidden in a piece of liver about two inches 

 square. These baits are carried in a rawhide bag, are lifted 

 out with a pair of wooden pinchers, and are never touched 

 with iron or the human hand. It is well to mark in some way 

 the place of each bait for future reference. 



The Wolves will follow the drag out of curiosity, even if 

 not hungry, and, coming to the juicy bait, they will take it, or at 

 least in olden days they used to take it. Then, again, the drag 

 does good service, the poison is not likely to act before the 

 Wolf travels a quarter of a mile, and he may go a mile, but he 

 follows the drag still, and is picked up later on the line, instead 

 of going off to die in some hollow where he cannot be found. 



Of late, however, the Wolves seem to have got a com- 

 prehension of the device, and are no longer to be easily be- 

 guiled. Though they yet follow the drag, they commonly 

 urinate on the baits and pass on. It still answers for the Coyote, 

 but incidentally gathers in many of the neighbours' dogs. 

 This breeds inharmony. 



Steel traps are more successful because they call for less trap- 

 initiative on the part of the Wolf. One way to employ these 

 is on a drag as though for poison bait. Then at some spot on 

 the line, preferably where two or more trails meet, bury a lump 

 of meat and around that, three or four feet away, several traps, 



