Spencer uses his high-powered rifle only as a last resort, but has needed it on several occasions to save his own life. pencer is the only paid Wildlife Services employee in Lane County, a narrow corridor that stretches from the crest of the central Oregon Cascades through the Willamette Valley to the Pacific shore. Surveying a field of relocated sheep near Fern Ridge Reservoir, he complains about the limited cooperation he receives from ranchers. "They’re supposed to call me when they move their stock to new fields," he says, shrugging a forest green jacket over his broad frame. "I’ve got snares out there, and sheep can get caught in them." What most upsets Spencer is the lack of foresight by ranchers, because adequate fencing can greatly reduce the number of coyote kills in a pasture. When fence lines interrupt fixed territories, coyotes will generally burrow under them where the grade dips or jump them where they are not tall enough. But repairing fences so coyotes don't have room to dig or installing an electric or barbed wire "trip line" just outside the fence can prevent almost all burrowing and leaping. "They’d rather lose a couple thousand dollars in lambs to coyotes than repair their fences," says Spencer, shaking his head. But with Wildlife Services around to take care of the predators, why pay several hundred dollars to improve fences? Ranchers have come to rely on the agency as a vital part of their businesses. "We lease our fields, so we can’t put up permanent fencing, and we move the herds around a lot, so we can’t use guard dogs," says Cleve Dumdi, a Lane County sheep grower who has used the program for several decades. "I don’t know what we’d do if we didn’t have Spencer." Most likely Dumdi would hire private trappers, which is legal, although they sometimes use illegal means. "I’ve heard of private trappers ‘salting the field’ with meat soaked in anti-freeze," says Spencer. "Ranchers will do anything to protect their livelihood. If that means putting out poison and eradicating everything — dogs, cats, birds, hawks — they’ll do it." "It’s much better to do it the legal way," says Dumdi, who had to hire a trapper in the early eighties before Spencer worked for Wildlife Services. "These experts can catch the target coyote and save our sheep." Wildlife Services experts keep in touch with the National Wildlife Research Center in Colorado, which studies lethal and non-lethal livestock protection methods. Ranchers are required to tell Spencer when they move their flocks so he can remove active traps from the area. Repellents such as scarecrows, sirens and lights often deter coyotes for several months, but the animals usually adapt and continue to visit the area. Removing dead carcasses from fields may be as effective in reducing coyote predation, but ranchers and field agents often harbor traditional ideas on removing carrion. "I’ve heard that it helps to get [carcasses] out of the fields," says Spencer, inspecting two M-44s near a dead lamb being used for bait. "But a lot of these guys like to leave them at the edge of pastures so coyotes will feed on them and leave the herd alone." Further misconceptions surround using guard animals such as dogs, llamas and mules. While such methods appear to be effective in protecting livestock, misinformation and ranchers’ resistance to change have prevented their large scale acceptance. When speaking of guard animals, most Wildlife Services agents immediately point to situations in which they didn’t work. "I’ve seen lambs killed by donkeys, and dogs and llamas that didn’t mind coyotes," says Stan Thomas, district supervisor in Roseburg, Oregon. "For every success story, we have a lot of folks that found that it simply cost them more livestock than it ever saved." And dogs are drawn to the same traps, snares and M-44s used to kill coyotes.