Below, you will find an explanation of the various methods employed by ADC agents to "control" predators.
 

Aerial Gunning

Or, shooting from an aircraft, is frequently used for what
 ADC calls "preventative" coyote control - gunners kill large numbers
          of coyotes in a certain area BEFORE livestock even arrive.
Thousands of coyotes and red foxes are slaughtered by chasing them down and shooting them from helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.

Leghold Traps

Leghold traps (ADC's trap-of-choice) work by catching the target (OR NON-TARGET) animal by the toes, foot or leg with a tightly-gripping metal trap, usually chained to a stake in the ground.
The trap may be lightly padded. Trapped animals suffer severe
injuries, exposure, thirst, and hunger.

Conibear traps are a special kind of "quick-kill" trap designed to crush the body and kill the victim. They are primarily
used for water animals such as beaver and muskrat, but they have been used for others.

Snares

ADC uses two types of snares, which are not differentiated in the statistics. Foothold snares are designed to catch large animals by the foot and hold them. They pose less of an injury risk than legholds, although there
are still problems with exposure, etc.
This type of snare is used mainly on bears and mountain lions, and
occasionally coyotes.

The other type of snare is a killing snare, which is designed to catch an animal by the neck and strangle it.
These snares also catch animals (both target and non-target) around the body, with lethal results.
These are used to catch many types of smaller animals and coyotes.

Cage Traps

Although cage traps may seem innocuous, it must be noted that the majority of animals ADC traps in them are killed, NOT released.
ADC uses cage traps primarily for "cosmetic" and liability issues
in urban areas. The traps are often left unchecked for weeks.
A variety of cage traps are used with the most common
being made of wood and heavy wire.

Shooting (Spot/Call/Shot)

Many predators are killed by calling and shooting, which is the use of a call making a sound resembling a prey animal to lure predators
in close enough to be shot. Others are simply shot outright.
"Spot" refers to using a spotlight to shoot at night.

Compound 1080 in Livestock Protection Collars

Compound 1080, whose chemical name is sodium fluoroacetate, is a tasteless, odorless, colorless poison which is especially lethal to canines but is extremely poisonous to all mammals, including humans.

In the past, large chunks of meat were baited and left out where they killed any predator or scavenger that ate them. At present, the only legal use of Compound 1080 is in "livestock protection collars" (LPC’s), which are
rubber bladders that are filled with a water solution of 1080 and placed around the necks of sheep or goats.
However, ADC employees have been convicted in the past for illegally trading in Compound 1080.
In 1990, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service discovered illegal trade of LPCs and Compound 1080 to be common among those with access to them.
There is a widespread belief by federal investigators
that a black market for both still exists.

Coyotes normally attack sheep by biting them in the neck.
When a coyote punctures an LPC, a few drops of the poison enter
the coyote’s mouth. The remainder drips onto the wool and into the torn flesh of the target sheep (which invariably dies) and onto the ground or plants where the sheep is attacked.

The poisoned coyote can take hours to die.
While in most species 1080 kills by causing ventricular fibrillation
or other cardiac problems, in canines death is preceded by vomiting, convulsions, severe abdominal pain, staggering, whimpering, and drooling. The meat that poisoned coyotes vomit up is extremely toxic to
scavengers.
In the days when 1080 was used to bait carcasses and frequently poisoned dogs, the vomit from one dog sometimes wiped out whole packs of hunting hounds.

While ADC is required to attempt to find poisoned coyotes,
less than 10% are ever recovered.
These carcasses serve as poison bait stations to scavengers,
as does that of the dead sheep, which under regulations can
remain on the range as long as a week.
In addition, the collars are often punctured by barbed wire or
vegetation, or simply fall off the sheep.

According to the Predator Project:

"Historically, there has been insufficient monitoring and record-keeping of the LPC. Texas was one of the first states to reissue the LPC and is its greatest proponent. In a report issued by the Texas Center for Policy
Studies ("TDA's Failed Enforcement for Predator Poisons," April, 1995), the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) was found to be keeping inconsistent and contradictory records of LPC use within the state.
The Texas Center for Policy Studies (TCPS) found that:
1) in 1994, TDA did only 50% of the required inspections of LPC
users, and
2) TDA has not done any of the required inspections during any of the last 4 years.
TCPS concludes that without the inspections, the public and the EPA cannot be assured the Compound 1080 is being stored, used, and disposed of properly; and TDA cannot carry out enforcement against misuse of these
dangerous poisons.
This pattern of inadequate supervision cannot be assumed to be specific to Texas as much as it may be specific to use of the LPC."

The Human Effects
Approximately 2 dozen humans, many of them children, have been killed by Compound 1080 since its introduction into the United States.
Children have died from sucking on a paper cup that held 1080 solution
months previously. There is no antidote for cases of human poisoning.
It is clearly a danger to anyone or anything that comes in contact with it.
Compound 1080 was originally developed for Chemical Warfare between 1935 and 1949. The effects, on humans, of compounds such as this are listed below:

"Some compounds damage neurons or inhibit their function through
specific action on parts of the cell.
The major symptoms from such damage include: dullness, restlessness,
muscle tremor, convulsions, loss of memory, epilepsy, idiocy, loss of muscle
coordination and abnormal sensations.
Examples are:
* Fluoroacetic acid derivatives: sodium fluoroacetate (compound 1080),
ammonium fluoroacetate(compound 1081), rodenticides and predator control agents."
The above information can be found in the Physicians Desk Reference
Guide To Pesticide Health Hazards

M-44 (sodium cyanide)

M-44’s are spring-propelled sodium cyanide cartridges.
A small pipe is spring-loaded with the cartridge then pounded into the ground and topped with an absorbent wick scented with carrion, musk, etc. When an animal pulls on the wick, the spring propels the cyanide charge into the animal’s mouth.
The animal usually (but not always) dies within minutes.

M-44’s are primarily used for coyotes, and to a lesser extent red foxes.
They have one of the largest percentages of non-target kills of any device, as any animal that is attracted to the scent of carrion can be
lured and killed.

M-44’s killed 15,542 animals in 1988.
New Mexico and Texas provide examples of the environmental
consequences of these poisonous devices.

In New Mexico, M-44’s killed 1,508 coyotes.
They also killed 3 badgers, 1 black bear, 65 dogs, 62 gray foxes, 48
kit foxes, 2 red foxes, 2 swift foxes (a candidate for the Endangered Species List), 2 spotted skunks, 23 striped skunks, 4 crows and 1 raven, or 286 non-target animals, or almost 17%-and, of course, these were
only the non-target animals actually reported killed.

In Texas, M-44’s killed 6,706 coyotes.
They also killed 3 badgers, 17 bobcats, 1 cat, 128 dogs, 364 gray foxes,
210 red foxes, 2 swift foxes, 93 opossums, 3 javelina, 1 porcupine, 123 raccoons, 11 ringtails, 5 spotted skunks, 140 striped skunks, and 8 vultures, for a total of 1109 nontarget animals, or 14.2%. Of course, this being Texas
where ADC kills more predators than anywhere else, many of these (such as the skunks) were reported as target animals, even though the M-44’s were NOT set out to kill them.
Again, these are only the animals actually reported dead.

Sodium cyanide is extremely lethal to humans as well.
ADC employees and anyone else who places or services M44s are supposed to carry amyl nitrate to counteract the cyanide.
Hikers, children, or others who stumble across such a device
will have NO SUCH PROTECTION!!. (See ADC in the News for the story of the latest unintended victim of this poison)
Cyanide is lethal in minutes.
ADC cyanide guns (which previously were powered by an explosive rather than a spring-loaded charge) have killed several people who
pulled on them.

Denning

Denning is the practice of suffocating coyote and fox pups by dropping burning cartridges of sodium nitrate into the dens.
Before asphyxiating the pups, ADC employees attempt to lure the parent animals away (often with dogs) and shoot them.
If this doesn’t work, they shoot them as they run from the den, or the parents suffocate along with the pups. The pups are also sometimes dug out of their dens and killed on the spot.
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If This Is NOT Slaughter, What is?!!!