THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 



TRAPPING TIMBER WOLVES 



The Best Method of Dealing with the Most Wary and Destruct. 

 ive of Our Predatory Animals 



By BEN S. PATTON, 

 Deputy Game Warden, Estacada, Oregon 



In trapping wolves there are two methods in general use : 

 (1) Trapping with bait; (2) trail trapping, with "blind sets" in 

 trails and runways where wolves are in the habit of going. To 

 be successful in trapping these animals one should be skilled in 

 both methods and have a thorough knowledge of the habits of 

 wolves. The greatest source of failure with the average trapper 

 is that he has only a superficial knowledge of both the methods 

 of trapping and of the habits of the animals. He fails to appre- 

 ciate and take into account the wonderfully acute sense of smell 

 and sight that wolves possess, and of their cunning and suspicious 

 natures. A wolf is quick to notice any unnatural object, or any 

 disturbance of the natural order of things. They seem to under- 

 stand fully that man is their deadly enemy, and their keen senses 

 are always on guard against his approach or against any contriv- 

 ance he may set for their harm. 



Bait Trapping. 



Trapping with bait appeals to the unskilled in such work. 

 But it requires more than setting traps around bait of any kind, 

 or around a carcass that may be found in a suitable place. 

 Wolves have the greatest suspicion of any meat found in the 

 woods, or of a carcass of any kind not of their own killing. And 

 anyone setting traps at such bait expecting wolves that come 

 around to blindly step into them Avill have plenty of time to 

 revise his ideas before he gets one. Ordinarily their suspicion 

 is aroused the first sight they get of bait in any form, and their 

 keen sense of smell is brought into play to locate anything of a 

 harmful nature that may be around. Even if a wolf is driven 

 by extreme hunger to eat bait where there are traps set, it will 



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