[KegRiver]

I don't know about historic numbers, I do know that when my dad came to the Peace country Marten were a major income for some trappers.

Dad came to the Peace country in 1933. But he didn't learn to trap Marten before they all dissapeared. In fact he never saw one until 1965.

By the time I was born in 1954 there were no Marten in the area. Everyone I know figured they got wiped out by the rabies plaque of the mid 1950s.
Or by the poison that was spread everywhere to stop the rabies spreading south.

Both Marten and Fisher were non existent when dad moved to the homestead in 1948.
He told of catching his very first Fisher in 1960, the first anyone in the area anyone could remember seeing. Only one old trapper even knew what it was.

Keep in mind that back in the 1950s there were no roads and no cutlines in this area. Trappers did all their trapping on foot, or with dogs, pack or sled and some with horses. And they followed water courses for the most part.

And there were also no beaver and thus much less small game for predators. On top of that rabbits, (Snowshoe Hare) cycled from overpopulated to next to nothing every ten years.

I think all of this slowed the return of the Marten and Fisher which prey heavily on Snowshoe Hare.

The first I heard of Marten in the area, my foster brother caught one in a Mink set. It's all anyone talked about for the rest of the winter. That was in 1965.

Dad and my older brother caught their first Marten in 1966, I caught my first Marten in 1968. I had caught my first Fisher in 1978. I had been away from trapping, going to high school in Wetaskiwin.

I know the Rabbits haven't really cycled in years. The last rabbit plaque I remember was in 1981.

I think that fragmentation of available habitat and oil and logging activity has adversely effect both Marten and Fisher populations. I know there seem to be less of both now then there was in the 1980s. But I suspect that fragmentation of habitat would also insulate some populations from these fluctuations.

It would be interesting to hear how trappers around Hay River are faring this season. I know that the Hare population up there is at or nearly at peak. This summer when were up there fishing we saw hundreds of hares every evening that we drove the roads up there.