PREDATORY ANIMALS IN THE WEST 333 



quarter a piece of flesh. To several of these pieces he 

 tied with a light thread about six inches long a dose of 

 strychnine done up in tissue paper. His idea was that 

 the wolf was able to detect the smell or taste of the 

 poison when placed in the meat, but by wrapping it in 

 tissue paper and then attaching it to the bait it would 

 follow the meat down the animal's throat with none of 

 the bitter taste of the poison, and thus get clear down 

 into the stomach. 



When poison was placed in the meat he believed the 

 animal tasted it as it went down and was able to eject 

 it before it reached the stomach. All this time he did not 

 leave the piece of hide or touch a thing that was not 

 absolutely necessary. Having arranged everything to 

 his satisfaction, he mounted his horse, stooped down and 

 took up the piece of hide and left the place. The next 

 morning at daylight we found the dead wolf not fifty 

 yards from the burro. It was the male and the trapper 

 spent three days more locating its partner. She was 

 finally found in a den so situated that after traveling over 

 a trail for some time she could step off onto a rocky 

 ledge and then drop off a little bench to where she had 

 found a lair so nicely hidden that even within ten feet 

 it was hard to see. 



Having located her den he watched from a safe dis- 

 tance and shot her as she came in from a foraging expe- 

 dition with a jack rabbit for her little ones. In the den 

 we found twelve pups, two of which were taken to the 

 ranch and raised on milk. They became the most play- 

 ful of pets. 



These two old wolves were known to have gone 

 twenty-five miles in a night to make a killing. That they 

 were the evil-doers was proved by the fact that with 



