26 WOLVES IN KELATION TO STOCK^ GAME, AND FOREST RESEEVES. 



DIRECTIONS FOR USE OF STRYCHNINE. 



For wolves, place 4 grains of pulverized sulphate of strychnine 

 in a 3-grain gelatin caj)sule, cap securely, and wipe off every trace of 

 the bitter drug. The capsules should be inserted in a piece of beef 

 suet the size of a walnut, and the cavity securely closed to keep out 

 moisture. The juice of fresh meat will dissolve the gelatin capsule, 

 hence only fat should be used. The necessary number of these poi- 

 soned baits may be prepared and carried in a tin can or pail, but they 

 should not be touched with naked hands. Old gloves or forceps 

 should be used to handle them. The baits may be dropped from 

 horseback along a scented drag line made by dragging an old bone 

 or piece of hide, or may be placed on, around, or partly under any car- 

 cass on which the wolves are feeding, or along trails followed by the 

 wolves. Partial concealment of the bait usually lessens the wolf's 

 suspicion, while some kind of scent near by or along the trail insures 

 its attention. 



The gelatin capsule will dissolve in about a minute in the juices of 

 the mouth or stomach. A'VH^ien the strychnine is taken on an empty 

 stomach it will sometimes kill in a very few minutes, but when taken 

 on a full stomach the wolf may have time to travel some distance 

 before dying. In exj)eriments on dogs the animal usually becomes 

 helpless in one or two minutes after the first symptoms of poison, and 

 dies five or six minutes later. 



TRAPPING. 



Most of the wolves trapped are less than a year old, generally 

 spring pups caught the following fall or winter. After a wolf has 

 reached his third year and run the gauntlet of traps, poisons, guns, 

 and dogs, its chances of dying of old age are excellent. Around the 

 dens I found the old wolves especially wary, and so suspicious of 

 both traps and 23oison that I was utterly baffled in attempts to catch 

 or poison them. Scents and baits made them only the more sus- 

 picious. This may not always be the case, however, for old wolves 

 are sometimes caught when the pups are still Avith them, though 

 large enough to leave the den; and, moreover, wolves vary much 

 in habits, disposition, and intelligence, so that, though one refuses 

 to be trapped, another may prove an easy victim. 



TRAPS. 



For wolves nothing smaller than a No. 4 double-spring trap with 

 heavy welded or special wolf chain should be used. If the trap is 

 to be staked or fastened to a stationary object, the chain should have 

 a swivel at each end ; if to a drag, one swivel next the trap is enough. 

 A wolf will bite and break an ordinary flat steel chain, and will 

 break any ordinary chain that is allowed to twist and kink, if it is 

 fastened to an immovable object. 



