HINTS ON COYOTE AM) WOLF THAFPI.VG 6 



trap. It is cunning, and as it matures from tlio yearling stage to the 

 adult its cleverness at tunes becomes uncanny. Individual coyotes 

 also possess this trait, particularly old animals that have been 

 persistently hunted and trap|KHl witli crude methods. 



The steel trap, in sizes 3 and 4 for coyotes and sizes 4K and 14 for 

 wolves (114 in Alaska), is reconunended for capturing these large 

 predators. Steel traps have been used in this country by many 

 generations of trappers, ami although deemed by many persons to be 

 inhunume, no bcttci- or moiv pi-actical device is yet available to take 

 their place. 



On the open range coyotes and wolves have what are cominonly 

 referred to as "scent posts," or places where they come to urimite. 



The anrmals usuall}^ establish these posts along their 

 Scent Posts runways on stubble of range grasses, on bushes, or 



possibly on some old bleached-out carcasses. Where 

 grouiui conditions are riglit for good tracldng, these scent posts may 

 be detected from the toenail scratches on the ground made by the 

 animals after they have urinated. This habit of having scent posts 

 and of scratchhig is similar to that noted in dogs. As wolves and 

 coyotes pass over their travel ways, they generally stop at these posts, 

 invariably voiding fresh uruie and occasionally excreta also. 



Finding these scent posts is of prime importance, for it is at such 

 points that traps should be set. If such posts can not be found, 

 then one can be readily established, if the travel way of 

 Where to the coyote or wolf has been definitely ascertahied, by drop- 

 Set Traps i)ing scent of the Idnd to be described later on a few clus- 

 ters of weeds, spears of grass, or stubble of low brush. 

 The trap should then be set at this pouit. Any number of such scent 

 stations can thus be placed along a determined wolf or coyote travel 

 way. 



Time consumed m finding a wolf or coyote scent post is well spent, 

 for the success of a trap set depends upon its location. Coyotes 

 and w olves can not be caught unless traps are set and concealed where 

 the animals will step into them. If traps are placed where the ani- 

 mals are not accustomed to stop on their travel ways, the chances 

 are that they will pass them by on the run. Even if a wolf or a coyote 

 should detect the scent, the fact that it is in an unnatural place 

 may arouse the suspicion of the animal and cause it to become shy and 

 nuike a detoiu". Often the fresh tracks of shod horses along wolf and 

 coyote runways are sufficient to cause the predators to leave the 

 trail for some distance. A lone wolf is much more cautious than a 

 pack of wolves running together. 



Travel w^ays of coyotes and wolves are confined to open and more 

 or less broken country. In foraging for food over these runways 

 the animals may use trails of cattle or sheep, canyons, old wood 

 roads, dry washes, low saddles on watershed divides, or even highways 

 m thinly settled areas. Any one of these places, or any combination 

 of them, may be a wolf or coyote runway. Wolves have been known 

 to cover a circuitous route of more than a hundred miles in an estab- 

 lished runway. It is in such country that their scent posts should be 

 looked for. 



Places where carcasses of aninuils killed by wolves and coyotes or 

 of animals that have died from luitural causes have lain a long time 



