White Pine news. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1920-1923, 1923-04-08
WILD LIFE STUDIES
ON TRAP LINE

uEVER SEE a coyote take charge
L of a flivver and run IT, asked
the Ely trapper, with a chuekle,
well. l didn't see it and the coyote
didn't run the %flivver, either, but II
took charge and the fellow who a
been driving it rave the coyote the
wheel and beat it.
1T was my coyote, at that. but l
did not happen to be there. nave
forgotten the mans name, but he
was driving his car from his mine at
Georges canyon to Tonopah. This
was in the fall of 1919. After cross
ing the summit of that spur OF the
Monitor range on the old road be-
tween Stone Cabin and San Antonio,
at a point about a mile west OF the
summit I had camped by a deep
wash under some cedar trees. Lcav-
ing the next morning, | had set 4
trap and baited 1t by the road lead
ing into the. camp.
people often kick because 2 trap
per sets his traps in the edge OF the
road. There is a rcason 1t Is be
cause the coyote follows the wagon
or automobile tracks and in walking
by a setting may only turn its nose
and take a Whit of the air emanating
from the bait but not move its feet
out of the track, yet there Is a chance
that one foot may be lifted over a
few inches in smelling the bait. For
this reason I nearly always place my
traps within two inches OF the mar
gin of the wagon or automobile
tracks. That means that the coyote
when caught is right in the road and
makes the passing vehicle either turn
out or gets out himself To let the
rig pass. IL IL Is a big and pugna
cious one, as this one was. ii will dc
the former.
This one held the road and the
wash was so deep that the car had &c
slow down and pull out IN low gear.
and twenty feet more II was abreast
of the coyote. II was after shutdown
and commencing TO get dark. but thu
driver saw the trapped coyote and
failed to open his throttle, so his en-
CINE died. The instant IT did thai
the coyote bounded into the sea
from the right, the trap being ON tn,
north and right side of the road. tn,
car headed west. and that driver wen
headlong out in the sagebrush 10 tn,
left. After he got out the coyote
did, too. then the driver went II
front TO crank the flivyer. No NOR,
had he approached TO take held o
the crank than the trapped coyote
came after him viciously there. II.
chain radius being just sufficient t,
reach either the seat or the crank. 81
the driver was up against 1t. Hi
car was In complete possession %
the animal. He did the next thinl
he thought of. which was 10 gathe.
a cedar club and beat the brains on
of my coyote. and IT there and thei
died.
Had he been a skilled tfappe
and student of animals and peltrie
he would merely have tapped |
DIlHhl1 vi TIC HViht vi ~ w.
stunned II into l~nsensibility for
time and allowed II TO live until
could have come and saved its hide
As it was other coyotes came am
tore 1t to smithereens. That was III.
year of high priced skins. mine ay
eraging for the fall and winter 81
each, hence that fellow took jus
s13 out Of my pocket. At that
only blame myself and not him. 70
Itrappers alone are supposed to know
these things, and that flivyer owne.
could not be expected to walt there
until | came the mex day and be de
MED the use of his Ger.
But there is another practice q
many persons, who think they have
done something smart. of coming vi
TO a coyote in a trap and killing II
when IL Is not molesting them in an,
way, and letting 1t lie until the trap
per comes. | have had men. with M
intent TO steal the hides and onl,
having in mind a false humanitarian
idea or a desire to be smart, follow
my trap lines from M end to an
other and kill every animal there
sometimes eight or ten in a string
That practice has cost me many Z
dollar.
As | told the readers of tn,
White Pine News in a previous issue
a trapper must not visit his trap,
every day. else he will catch nothing
for animals of the wolf genus viii
not go up to a trap when 1t has beer
visited for from two to four days
by man. For that reason the inhu
manity OF sometimes leaving M an