6 CIRCULAR 2, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



strong enough to counteract any scent later adhering to the setting 

 cloth and likely to arouse suspicion. The dirt removed from the 

 hole dug to bed the trap is placed on the setting cloth. The trap is 

 then dropped into the hole and firmly bedded so as to rest perfectly 

 level. 



Instead of using digging tools, some hunters bed the trap where 

 the ground is loose, as in sandy loam, by holding it at its base and 

 with a circular motion working it slowly into the ground even with 

 the surface and then removing the dirt from under the pan before 

 placing the trap pad to be described later. An miportant advantage 

 of this method is that there is less disturbance of the ground around 

 the scent post than when tools are used, for the secret of setting a 

 trap successfully is to leave the ground as natural as it was before 

 the trap was concealed. A double trap set, as shown in figure 1, B, 

 may be used and is often preferred to a single set for coyotes. 



The trap may be left unanchored or anchored. Either draghooks 

 may be attached to a chain (preferably 6 feet long) fastened by a 

 swivel to the trap base or to a spring, and all buried underneath, or 

 a steel stake pin (fig. 1, A and C) may be used, attached by a swivel 

 to a 6-foot chain fastened to the base or a spring of the trap. If a 

 stake pin is used, it should be driven full length into the ground 

 near the right-hand spring of the trap, with the trigger and pan 

 directly toward the operator. Anchoring the trap is the preferred 

 method, because animals caught are obtained without loss of time 

 and because other animals are not driven out of their course by one 

 of their kind dragging about a dangling, clanking trap, often the 

 case where drag hooks are used. 



The next stage (fig. 2, A and B) is the careful burying of the trap 

 and building up of a so-called shoulder around and under the pan. 

 This should be so built that, when it is completed, the shape of the 

 ground within the jaws of the trap represents an inverted cone, in 

 order to give a foundation for the pan cover, commonly called the 

 "trap pad." The trap pad may be made of canvas, of old "slicker 

 cloth," or even of a piece of ordinary wire fly screen cut into the 

 shape shown in figure 2, A. The trap pad to be effective must 

 contain no foreign odor that might arouse the suspicion of wolf or 

 coyote. 



In placing the trap pad over the pan and onto the shoulders of 

 the dirt buUt up for carrying it, the utmost care must be taken to 

 see that no rock, pebble, or dirt slips under the pan, which would 

 prevent the trap from springing. With the trap pad in place (fig. 

 2, A), the entire trap is carefully covered with the remaining portion 

 of earth on the setting cloth (fig. 3, B). 



Cover traps at least half an inch deep with dry dust if possible. 

 It is well to have the covered surface over the trap a little lower than 

 the surrounding ground, for a wolf or a coyote is then less apt to 

 scratch and expose the trap without springing it. Furthermore, the 

 animal will throw more weight on a foot placed in a depression, and 

 thus is more likely to be caught deeper on the foot and with a firmer 

 grip. All surplus earth on the setting cloth not needed for covering 

 the trap should be taken a good distance away and scattered evenly 

 on the ground. 



