PREDATORY ANIMALS IN THE WEST 337 



take the trap off will never be forgotten. Moreover, by 

 the time she was discovered she was distinctly "on the 

 prod" and had to be roped and tied down before she 

 could be relieved of her unwelcome burden. Her tongue 

 was badly lacerated but she eventually recovered. 



Scents. Many professional trappers use scents of 

 various kinds to attract animals. Several scents are 

 manufactured and for sale by druggists and others, but 

 the average trapper makes his own from some formula 

 to which he ascribes great virtues. 



One of the commonest methods of making a scent is 

 by taking a wide-mouthed bottle like a fruit jar, and 

 placing in it a piece of beef or meat of almost any kind 

 as large as one's fist. Set the bottle in a warm place, 

 out of the rays of the sun for two or three weeks, until 

 thoroughly decayed ; keep the top on to retain all the 

 odor from the decaying meat, opening it occasionally to 

 let the gases escape; then add a quart of sperm, or 

 neat's foot oil, or any animal oil that is available. The 

 oil made from half a dozen fat prairie dogs is unusually 

 good for this purpose. Skin them and try out the fat 

 in a fry pan; to this add one ounce of pulverized assa- 

 foetida and one ounce of castoreum or the common 

 musk, sold in drugstores for perfumery. Oil of anise is 

 also good. 



Many trappers take the bladder from a female coyote 

 or wolf and use its contents in the mixture, believing it 

 unusually attractive to the animals. Bottle this mixture 

 and use it in a smaller bottle when needed. After setting 

 the trap scatter the scent about the place by means of 

 a little stick or straw so as to get it on the ground near, 

 but not directly on the trap, as the first thing an animal 

 does is to roll in the scent and thus it might set the trap 

 off and not get caught. 



