The Coconino sun., 1923-08-24

originally. been set. | also dropped
little oil on the pan so that it would
further excite her curiosity. ther
I proceeded to set three additional traps
! horizontally with the one with which
she had tampered The next morning
! / found the old female. had gotten
! her by the elbow with No. IA trap
This coyote had only stubs where her
front feet should have been. She had
been caught in traps twice before and
had gnawed her feet off in order to
escape. Yet, she could not resist the
temptation of digging out traps.
"The coyote is a very destructive
animal, very cruel and very cowardly.
He will usually pull an animal down
and commence eating upon it before
the prey is dead Sometimes ne Will
tear out the intentines of sheep or
pig while the animal is still alive. The
damage accomplished by coyotes IN
Arizona far exceeds that of any other
of our predatory animals. This is
because of their great number, and
they are distributed throughout the
state wherever livestock is raised.
These animals are also very destruc-
tive to poultry, and one coyote will
frequently hang about the vicinity Of
chicken yard until he has killed the
entire flock, providing he himself is
not killed before the total annihila-
ton of the fowls is accomplished.
A Difficult Task
Trapping a coyote is rather diff
ficult task. / do not believe there is
any man living who can hide trap
from a coyote When he is trapped,
this is accomplished merely because of
his curiosity. This, however, does not
hold true with young and inexperienc-
ed cayotes which may walk into a
trap not knowing that there is such
a thing in existence.
There are several bats used In
trapping coyotes. The best, however,
is. that taken from the coyote himself.
Rotten fish and zinc valerate is very
good, and occasionally one will catch
a coyote with a meat bait.
Poison Best Remedy
''The most satisfactory and humane
way of destroying coyotes is by the
use of poison. The animal is not diff
ficult to poison if one is careful not
to get any of the poison on the out
side of the small meat bait. One
should use a bait not larger than a
small walnut, one that he will gulp
without chewing. Fat is by far the
best material for bait. However, it
is usually necessary to have larger
piece of meat in order to attract a
coyote from a distance, also to drag
the meat about over the ground,
where the coyote will encounter the
trail and follow the drag, picking up
the little bats that have been dropped
en- route.
''The most common bait used by the
service and by stockmen is that made
of pork fat. The hack fat of pork is
taken and cut into small pieces about
three-fourths of an inch square, and
three -eighths of an inch thick. In this,
after q small incision is made, Is in
serted one-grain strichnine alkaloid
tablet. The coyote win live but few
minutes after the poison takes effect
and naturally does not suffer so much
as if he were to stay in trap all
night, and possibly all the next day.
How to Find Dens
"Den hunting is also used in the
country Of coyotes. Hunters locate
dens by getting out early in the morn
ing and late in the evening and list
ening for the coyote to howl. They
will usually howl near their dens late
or early.
"Dens are usually made by digging
in the ground in the side of an ar
royo Sometimes coyotes take pos
session of badger holes. Ordinarily.
the coyote chased into a tunnel, viii
go in for about two feet and then turn
facing the entrance, in order to pro-
tect its young from any outside in
truder. These animals will move their
young from one locality to another
when the location of their den is dis
covered by human being. 1t is not
necessary that you do any excavating
about the place. If you merely step
up to the hole and look it over the
mother coyote will move her young
ones, sometimes for distance of ten
or twelve miles.
SuckIe Their Young
"There is common belief among
people that the coyote does not suckle
her young, but feeds them partially
digested food disgorged from the par
ent. This Is entirely erroneous, as we
have observed by taking several moth
ers and keeping the puppies with them.
Her milk glands are not so large as
those of dog, but they exist just the
same.
"As a means of getting the young
coyotes out of a den, piece Of barb
ed wire long enough to reach to the
farthest part of the den is the best
method. When you twist the wire
round and round several times, the
Barbs will, as a rule, catch in the fur
of the young coyote and he can thus
be dragged from the den.
Coyotes have litters. of from eight
to ten, and the young are usually born
between April / and May, according
to the locality"