Arizona republican., 1893-01-25
TRAPPING COYOTES.
A Difficult Way For One to Make
 Living.
Setting Traps In the sierra Foothills Unwelcome Guests That Are Plenti- ful-TraitS of the Western Terrors-
 Talks with an old Hunter.

George Peck is an old-tlmer, havlng
 come to California some time in the
 early fifties and has had the usual eX-
 perience of fortune and misfortune,
 mostly misfortune. He has lCng since
 quit hoping for strike" and is now
 wandering, poverty stricken old
 chap, keeping himself as much as pos
 sible out of the way of the world,
 never looks at book or paper, mines
 ''at odd spells" and hunts the greater
 part of the year. Lately he has been
 trapping along the Yuba, and has
 pitched his tent on little flat known
 as the Keystone.
 There arc no valuable furs to be ob-
 tained in the lower foothills, but the
 coyotes are numerous on the Keystone,
 and as the state pays bounty of five
 dollars for each scalp an expert trapper
 can make enough to keep body and
 soul together and have alittle left over.
 But he must be an expert The gaunt,
 hungry, snarling coyote is more diff
 cult to catch than fox, and hls habits,
 likes and dislilles, runways and noe
 turnal prowlings must be learned by
 the trapper before he can expect to take more than an occasional scalp.
 The Keystone is a favorite yelping ground, and the rugged hills, with
 thick undergrowths, chaparral, cliffs
 and caves that abound along the Huba
 at that point, furnish cozy retreats for hundreds of coyotes, foxes, coons, pole cats and now and then mountain cat or lynx. The bobcats are perhaps the most numerous, and as they arc not suspicious, prudent animals, relying upon their Offensiveness to carry them safely through life, are great nuisance to the trapper, who must, when he has caught one, thoroughly disinfect his trap, not a pleasant or easy task in the hills where water is scarce and deodorizing mate rials not easily obtainable.
 "Coyote" Peck, as he is called, thoroughly understands the habits of coyotes. When l met him, q week ago, he was crrrying four traps on his back and doing his best to keep out of sight behind clUmp of manzunita bushes. At first he was surly and gave short re- plies to all my queries, but persistent efforts thawed the iciness of his man. ner and he asked me to accompany him and see how coyote trapping was car ried on.
 It was quite early in the forenoon, and tho canyon down which we picked our way was yet cool. On either side were jagged, rocky steeps, gashed with innumerablc cracks and crevices in which many nocturnal creatures were probably asleep. In the dust one could see the tracks of coons, foxes, coyotes, bobcats, rats. mice and beetles.
 "They prcvS on one anOthcr,' said Peck "Thcr's thousands on thousands O beetles we're, an the coons an foxes an bobcats is great fer sich things. They's in the rocks now"
 "Do you catch tine coons?"
 "IIe, he! l should say do. Thcy's no hardcr to catch than atunks. You catch one by the end of lis littlcst toe an he'll jist get right down an stay there looliin' at his toe an studyin' the trap, an like as not he won't be through studyin' when you come in the mOrnin' Coons is easy, an foxes ain't hard, but they ain't wuth nOthin' to me, so generally lets the coons lay, an the foxes, too, 'cept in the winter when it's real cold. Then the foxes hides is wuth thirty cents apiece. They's no good till the fur's on, see?'
 We traml | on for half an hour, and then, leaving the canyon, crossed little rilgo "aare the undergrowth had been burned away and few scrubby pines and oaks clustered about little spring. Handing me his traps, Peck stole cautiously ahead with his rifle and a minute later made rapid shot at something sitting in the shade not far away The animal shot was jack rabbit
 "I nearly allus giIs one here" said the old man. "They's the best kind of bait for coyotes. I've tried venison an beef an all kinds of meat. but jack rabbit beats 'cm all. Coyotes is very particular about their vittles You'd think chicken would be better, cause coyotes is awful rough on chickens when they finds 'em in a coop, but 'tain't so The coyotes knows that chickens is domestic fowls, an when they sees one a.hangin' by its legs on tree four or five miles out in the woods they list looks at it in suspicious way an scz: What you dom out yere, any how?' an they goes on. They knows a chicken ain't got no business hangin' by it's legs to tree in the woods. But they knows a jlck belongs in the woods, and they don't never seem to think there's anything crooked when they finds a jack hangin' by his legs. A jacks their natral food. for sure. That's why coyotes is sich powerful Whenever they catch a jack theys got to earn him fust, see?"
 As Peck talked he gathered his traps and the jackrabblt together, threw them over his shoulder and trudged on again. We had easier walking now, and it was not long before another hare started up in front of us. Peck dropped his traps, and as the jack, which had not been much frightened, loped softly { ID the hill shot it dead. It was fine shot and well worth praising, but the