THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 



time to miss it. Roots of trees running across trails are often 

 good places, as they are partly in the ground and have an estab- 

 lished place on one side or the other where most all animals step. 

 Trees or logs of any kind across a stream near deer runways are 

 good places to set traps. A wolf will not swim a stream if there 

 is a log it can cross on ; and on one end or the other there is a 

 spot where such animals usually jump on leaving the log. To 

 locate these spots is important, and can often be determined by 

 the lay of the ground or by old tracks. At crossings of that kind 

 is also a good place to set traps for cougar and bobcats. 



The best time for trail trapping is during the running or 

 mating season, which ordinarily is between the latter part of 

 January to the first part of March. However, all the winter and 

 spring months are good, when there are few people in the 

 mountains. 



Making the Sets. 



The skill with which a trapper is able to select locations and 

 make his sets will determine to a great extent his success in 

 trapping wolves. The important things after locating a trap 

 where it is most likely to catch something, is to leave no scent of 

 the hands on it, and see that it is covered sufficiently, both trap 

 and chain. A layer of earth over both is almost necessary in 

 order to deaden the scent of the steel. On top of that, such litter 

 as is common to the locality should be scattered over the spot to 

 make it look natural. Care should be taken not to get any coarse 

 material over the jaws of the trap that will prevent it from closing 

 up if an animal steps into it. A bunch of moss placed under the 

 pan will prevent small animals or snow from springing it. 



To take the scent off traps a number of methods are used. 

 A very old and common way is to smoke them over a wood fire. 

 Some trappers bury them in fresh earth or throw them in running 

 water for several days. Others dip them in a solution of lime 

 water, or a solution made by boiling fir, cedar, or hemlock boughs 

 and such material, to give them a woods-like smell. All new 

 traps should have some such treatment to deaden the smell of 

 the steel. The toggle should be a movable object that can be 

 dragged around to some extent, as fastening to something solid 



Fag-e seven 



