Coyote Getters

I have a number of old Coyote Getter's given to me by a friend of mine before he passed. He was an old government trapper who killed a lot of coyotes with them.
They are very simple. A tube holds the firing mechanism. A .38 special case loaded with cyanide was placed inside the head that was screwed on top. The head was wrapped with various materials (cotton, wool, canvas, fur etc.. of the trappers choosing) and coated with bait. The Getter was buried with just the baited head above ground. When pulled it shot cyanide in the roof of the coyote's mouth.

They were cocked by inserting a tool to depress the firing pin spring and lifting the trigger.




These have been illegal to use for many years. They were replaced by spring-loaded versions (M44) for governmemt trappers. I have never used either.
I know there are some Trapperman members that have used M44s. I was wondering if anyone here used the old getters or M44s would share their experience with them.

Great tool to use! I hear that the USDA is no longer using the M-44. Too risky anymore with everybody recreating everywhere nowadays with dogs. I still have some of the old 38 cartridges but not the guns. I Have some m-44s also. The m-44s are much quieter when pulled by the coyote. Im not sure if state or county control fellas are still using them.

I had some
They aren't selective about what they kill.
Got them from the guy that made them in Pueblo CO. At the time they were still used overseas and may be today.

I have some in inventory owned by old Coyote Getters !

When a M44 or Getter was pulled was the coyote usually found pretty close? How far did they go? Was there a noticeable difference because the M44 was quieter?

I agree they are too risky to use because they are non-selective and pose unacceptable risks to dogs and other non-targets. I just think they are neat collector items because of the historical part they played in mans attempt to control coyote depredation. If anyone needs one for their trap collection feel free to PM me.

I have a bunch of the units that my Dad used to use. The coyote was usually less than 100 yards from the " gas gun". Sometimes they missed the load in the mouth and escaped. Smaller critters were usually pretty close to the gun. It was a real adventure to tag along in the 1955 era when he set them, usually during the winter. The cyanide shells were shipped by Railway express and we picked them up in a small town that the Union Pacific passed through.

My great grandpa had a herd of 100 sheep. He used those gitters and killed enough coyotes to keep his sheep. Then in late 70s they were outlawed. Three years later he sold all of his sheep.

Its dumb that we can no longer use these.

There are still some states that allow use of the M-44's. I've never heard the sound of those loaded with a .38 special case, but have heard plenty of the spring activated 44's. Just a light thump sound. I imagine a much quieter sound.

If set properly, which is counter sinked in the ground, as described in Major Boddicker's book, it would be rare to see a coyote go over a 100 yds. 90% of them are 25 yds. or less from the device.

I have been around them for a long time.

Nice pictures and info crowheart...thanks.

I was licensed by the state of Wyo. to have and use them.

Very nice brochure Crowheart. Thanks for sharing.

The 38s are diffrent then the newer m44 have only handled a few of the old getters . As far as m44s Have found them 10 to 300 yards away on m44s
And they are very selective. 26 use restrictions on them most of it is common sense stuff
Sighns on each entrance to the property and 2 sighns by each device in spanish and english
They are a good tool

Crow heart, Trav and any other guys that have used them...do you have any commercial lures that worked better than the rest in the Winter? Or did you use them mainly during Spring/Summer? Thanks

I've used M-44's for 35 years. If set properly to get a direct pull most are found within 30-40 yards, many a lot closer. Despite the common narrative by the antis, they are INCREDIBLY selective. Its extremely rare to take anything not a canine. You will take a lot of the incidental fox (but its been my experience that a lot of them just chew on them and don't pull it) and any domestic or feral dogs running the country. Never have taken cat despite running a ton of them in cat country. I can recall two coons in the past 35 years and maybe a skunk or two. That's it.

You certainly have to avoid setting them where they might be encountered by ranchers dogs, bird dogs etc.. As Travis mentioned there are numerous federal restrictions and sign posting requirements. Honestly to the point of being ridiculous.

I occasionally have a rancher give me a box of the old 38"s that Grampa had sitting in the barn.

MChewk, there are several commercial lures that I've had success with both winter and spring. Ogorman has several and Carman's Trails End has always been a favorite of mine. Others include Odon's Crow Creek and Grahams Bonanza Mild. Carman's Canine Call is an excellent additive to many different base's. Most very popular trap lures and baits perform very poorly if at all on M-44's since they are designed to elicit different reactions than "getter" lures. Any lure that doesn't trigger the coyote to "bite and pull" is worthless on a getter."

There are far more effective tools to use during the summer months.

Great incites and information Chris. Thankyou.

I've found many out west in the desert area when coyote calling, signed and no sign's with body parts and still operable with out signs
Figured it's when the sheep herders move their herds around and them using them, doubt that responsible users would just leave them lay forever !

As has been said here just another tool to use. They had us do a lot of paper work when in use and make you put out the signs on all gates on the fields. I believe that there was more people using them than they knew. Ogorman had some baits that work good, one was Goverment call and I think that the other was just called m-44 call. I use a 2 1/2 inch across cut off drive shaft and cut a hole down a couple inchs to put the gun in to have just maybe 1 inch up so the coyote would not pull from the side. You sometimes would get one coyote and another one would come along and dig the gun up and take it. We did not have many fox here and if one did get it the eagles would eat it very fast. I knew some of the old trappers that was around in the 1080 days And that stuff would clean out the coyotes very good.

Thanks Chris....good info on lures and crowheart again great info....thank you
Guys, I think I already mentioned this in one of my columns but....many years back I remember showing up to a trapping convention
and an old government trapper was selling out. I was looking at a few his #4 NH traps and he saw my interest and walked over and
started talking about his 30 years as a govt. coyote trapper out west. He shot me a price for the #4s and said that he was trying to sell
ALL of his gear. I did a quick survey of what he had and said, "What do you want for it all?" "Give me $200.00 and it's yours."
I about spit my gum out as I saw that he had at least a dozen #3 and #4 NH traps along with some 3N traps, a 5 gallon bucket of snares, several dozen rebar stakes
and a few dozen Mike Ayers stakes, a garbage can full of baits and lures and urines, etc...I said SOLD. In that mix of stuff were some getters and M-44s, extra heads, parts
I was enthralled about the history of these tools and re-read Boddicker's M-44 book for more info. Like a dummy I traded the getters and M-44s after a few years of having them
up in a box on a shelf. It is always cool to consider what the old wolfers had to work with back in the day and these tools were an important item in their "tackle box"

Easy to sell at a cheap price when the taxpayers footed the bill for the gear.

MChewk, If you can find a book, Coyotes Perdators & survivors by Charles L. Cadieux He diid alot of work on coyote control. If a person just knew how many govt. traps just walked away and not just small traps but bear traps!

quote=danvee]Easy to sell at a cheap price when the taxpayers footed the bill for the gear. [/quote] lots
Of private applicators