TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 195 



come. These 50,000 sheep would 

 be worth $500,000. 



There are some people who 

 claim that the coyote does good by- 

 killing jackrabbits and pesti- 

 ferous squirrels, but the majority 

 of farmers agree that this good is 

 no comparison with the harm 

 done to the sheep and poultry of 

 the small farmer. Only when oth- 

 er food is scarce will a coyote 

 pick on a jackrabbit, because 

 when the coyote undertakes to 

 round up a rabbit he has at least 

 one hour's good chase before him. 

 A rabbit will sometimes outrun 

 a coyote, and very seldom can he 

 be caught in less than an hour. 

 Sometimes it takes several hours. 

 This sort of subsistance is too vig- 

 orous to suit the coyote, and he 

 will select easier prey if there is 

 any chance. 



The rabbit is said to have 

 ceased to be a pest everywhere, 

 excepting in the desert districts 

 of Umatilla, Klamath and Crook 

 Counties, and along Willow Creek 

 and other small creeks of Morrow 

 County, and possibly a few others 

 places. In these places the rabbit 

 does damage to alfalfa and grain 

 and garden truck. It is said a 

 coyote can do more damage to a 

 small farmer in 15 minutes than a 

 rabbit can do in an hour. 



In recent years sheerimen caused 

 a genefal uprising against the co- 

 yote, and have devised various 

 means of destroying him. Most 

 of these campaigns have been par- 

 tially successful. None have 

 brought about the destruction of 

 coyotes desired. The most com- 

 mon means of exterminating co- 

 yotes is by means of poison, traps, 

 dogs and hunting. 



Poison Menace to Dogs 

 Poison has been a failure be- 

 cause of the fact that as many 

 valuable sheep dogs are killed as 

 coyotes. Usually when a piece of 

 poisoned meat is put out, the best 

 dog on the farm or in the sheep 

 camp goes and gets it, instead of a 



coyote. Some sheepmen have been 

 successful in killing hundreds of 

 coyotes, by scientific poi'soning 

 processes, but success is rare. In 

 these cases, poison has been placed 

 on spoiled meat, eggs, or prunes. 

 It is said that the poison system 

 has resulted in the death of as 

 many dogs as coyotes. 



The coyote is too wise for traps. 

 He has a very keen scent, and is 

 extremely sly and wise. It is said 

 that he has the gray fox beaten 

 for cunning. An example of the 

 failure of traps is recited by Mr. 

 Smythe of Pendleton. He says 

 a man in his neighborhood once 

 dragged the carcass of a horse in- 

 to the brush and carefully placed 

 traps closely togijther all around 

 the carcass. The traps were all 

 carefully covered, so that there 

 was no sign of any disorder in the 

 morning the man found that the 

 coyotes had torn the horse's car- 

 cass to pieces and cleaned off all 

 the flesh without getting into a 

 single trap. There must have 

 been a large pack of the animals 

 at the scene, and not one dis- 

 turbed the covering of the traps. 



Traps so laid about the body of 

 a sheep that it would seem impos- 

 sible for a coyote to get near with- 

 out being caught are averted by 

 the animals, and still the sheep 

 is eaten. It is only occasionally 

 that a coyote will get into a trap. 

 They are caught only when in- 

 genious methods are employed to 

 deaden the scent of the steel jaws 

 of the trap. 



It is only in recent years that 

 dogs have been brought into the 

 fight against the coyotes. This 

 method has proven the most suc- 

 cessful of all. After much experi- 

 menting sheepmen have got the 

 proper kinds of dogs now ahd 

 they are killing off thousands of 

 coyotes annually. Coyote chasing 

 takes a dog which is swift and 

 savage. The coyote has a system 

 of snapping which puzzles most 

 dogs and unless a dog is trained 



