PREDATORY ANIMALS IN THE WEST 339 



several trails and roads, as the coyote is specially fond 

 of following down a trail in the soft dust and coming to 

 the scent will immediately turn off and take it up. 



Make drags so they can be followed the next day, and 

 you will probably pick up a dead animal or two. Some- 

 times the animals will drop inside of ten feet and again 

 they will go a long distance. It is due no doubt to the 

 condition of the animal's stomach. If the stomach is 

 full when the poison is eaten it acts much slower than 

 when it is empty. 



Where domestic animals are likely to be caught the 

 baits should be dropped at certain places^and carefully 

 gathered up the next morning by count, to be sure none 

 is left out. It is almost impossible to get a mountain 

 lion to take a bait of any kind. A young colt is the 

 most attractive bait to it. If a foal can be found freshly 

 killed, by poisoning it in various places and also making 

 a few baits from the flesh and dropping them on and 

 near the body, one may catch the lion. But it is very 

 shy and wary of either traps or poison, due probably 

 to its exceedingly keen sense of smell. 



Prairie Dogs. These may not be called predatory 

 animals in any sense of the word, but as they are a range 

 pest and do a lot of damage each year to the stock in- 

 terests they may as well be considered under this head 

 as anywhere else. Probably there is no other animal in 

 the region west of the Missouri, that attracts more atten- 

 tion from those new to the country than these little 

 animals. Yards of rubbish have been written about 

 them; how they divide up their residences in the earth 

 with owls and rattlers; how a village of them is a sure 

 sign of water below the ground, because, forsooth, "they 

 must have water and so dig for it." Certainly it is true 



