Outdoor Life 4    Outdoor qecreation 
 
)y poison. The set was made near a poison station 
,vhich had been put out by this Biological Survey 
rapper last November (1929), or ten months ago. 
rhis station had been destroyed the next spring by 
)urning the poisoned carcass which served as a lure 
:o carnivorous animals. However, some of the suet 
:ubes, thirty or forty of which the trapper said he had 
;cattered in a circle 20 to 40 feet away from the car- 
-ass, had remained, and the young coyote, which 
)robably had been waiting around for his companion 
'caught in the trap) to come on, had found and eaten 
)ne or more of the suet cubes. I could see where the 
rapper had burned the poisoned carcass. To my re- 
-uark, 'It looks like you missed one of the poisoned 
;uet cubes. The higher Biological Survey officials 
;ay that they are all picked up and burned,' he in sub- 
;tance replied that he would like to see anybody find 
ill the little cubes after they had lain around on the 
;round where they could be covered by gravel, dirt, 
;ticks, leaves, etc. 'If I find any, in looking around, I 
:hrow them into the fire.' 'But you don't know how 
.nany have been eaten by animals or carried away; so 
(ou can't tell whether you get them or not.' 'I'd like 
o see any Government trapper that could find them, 
)r that would waste much time looking for them. I 
)ut out 35,000 poisoned baits that the Government 
;ent me last year, and I would like to see anybody 
ind them. I didn't want to put them out, but I 
M'ouldn't do like some trappers, who say they put them 
)ut and then don't. This fall I have about made up 
ny mind to quit before I will put out any more poison. 
'IF I knew times would be good enough to get a 
job next spring, I would quit this month, and in 
he next two months make as much, if furs are a fair 
)rice, as my whole winter's salary. Poison ain't worth 
nuch except to kill pups, even if they do say it is good. 
have gone after the old stock killers, both wolves 
tnd coyotes, with traps when I was a private trap- 
)er, to get them where the Government trappers couldn't 
,et them with poison and sometimes with traps too. 
"'It sure is a shame the way fur is ruined by sum- 
ner catches. Some of the stockmen think they get 
;ome benefit out of it, but, if we didn't catch these now 
,pointing to his sack of scalps), plenty of poor devils 
Nould this fall, and they need the money. There are 
,our or five different private trappers who trap over my 
ine, and if the stuff wasn't caught out so much in sum- 
mer, there would be more private trappers. With the 
price of fur what it has been the last few years, there 
wouldn't be any more coyotes than there are now if 
:hey left it to the private trappers! These pups that you 
make such a big showing on are not going to catch any 
 
(lose-up view of a male mountain coyote caprureu ar . 
Yosemite Falls, Yosemite Valley, December 31, 1914. The 
killing of coyotes in Yosemite National Park is now prohibited. 
Photo by C. A. Holliger 
 
A grand old sport which is not holding its own where the Poison 
Brigade is at work 
sheep before they are caught in the fall by some private 
trapper.'" Here you have one man's idea of his work. 
Incidentally, this hunter is regarded by the state leader 
as one of his very best men. I think he is, too. For 
one thing he reports all of the fur bearers killed. None 
of mv other Government trapper friends do this. This 
hunter says he can afford to report them because the 
smaller fur bearers were so thoroughly killed off in his 
region, when poison was first put out several years ago, 
that lie doesn't take much except coyotes now ! 
Another Government hunter, one of the high catch 
men in his state, told me recently that his experience 
showed that: "After these fat baits lie on the ground 
for a couple of weeks, they become rancid and, although 
the older coyotes will not eat them, every skunk 
that comes alona will eat them, and the voune 
 
foxes and young coyotes do likewise." 
Implication that the relatively few smaller fur 
bearers which are poisoned die where they can 
be found more readily than the coyotes is not 
borne out by my experience or that of Government 
hunters of my acquaintance. In using poisoned 
baits a relatively larger number of coyotes than of 
other carnivores will be found, even by a person 
who wants to find them all. For one thing the 
coyote is so much bigger than the others that he 
is more easily seen. Secondly, the coyotes in win- 
ter generally do not live in burrows as do the fur 
bearers. When sick or dying from poisoned baits, 
many of the fur bearers disappear in their burrows, 
whereas the coyotes more often die in the open. 
Naturally, therefore, a larger proportion of coyotes 
than fur bearers are found in most cases. 
EVEN so, thirty-two skunks and kit foxes were 
found above ground in one place where poison 
was put out under a Biological Survey killer's direc- 
tion, as against eight coyotes; just four times as 
many other carnivores as coyotes, not allowing for 
the fur bearers which escaped into their burrows to 
 
die. Subsequent investigation in the area where this 
occurred indicates that   (Continued on page 82)