Marten / Fisher Location and Bait/Lure advice

[Desert Eagle]

I didn't want to get off topic on the other thread. I have been a Jr on a large line for about 5 years. My area has not been trapped much in the last 8 years. I have set out boxes every year through much differing areas and never seem to have much luck. I picked up probably 5 marten and 2 fisher over the past 5 years.

I have set in mixed forest with old growth, super tight spruce and pine with lots of blow downs, new reforested area about 15-20 years old. And I'm sure many others... not sure why my catch percentage is so low. I use plastic boxes with beaver typically, and some sort of lure such as marten magic or Forsythe fisher/ marten lure. I tried adding a bunch of chicken fat to some of my bait last year and got quite a few weasels but still no luck on the others. Any advice on what to try differently? My Sr gave me some home made lure to try that is a secret recipe. Sure is nasty looking smelly stuff, had it out at 7 sets and still no takers in the past 2 weeks.

[nube]

Do u have marten thee? See lots of tracks? You may not have a good marten area. I have used a lot of different stuff and find my lure works just fine. Skunk essence and melted vaseline mixed.
I like Muskrat, duck and liver for bait.

[Flight01]

Where is your line? Does it have lots of industry activity? Current logging?
Lots of cut lines and few patches of old growth?

The reason I'm asking is because the line I junior on hasn't held much marten sign. My line is sliced and diced by cut lines and two new pipelines, 5 gravel pits and some logging last year and the year before. Large intact old growth doesn't exist. I did find a decent run of jackpine that has been marked to be logged this upcoming year.
I too have been all over this line , I'm not catching much. Last year was 2 marten and 2 fisher , 3 mink and a bunch of weasel.
The thing is I didn't find much marten sign at all. I have travelled to a new area this year and still not seeing much.

Maybe our lines don't hold many marten or we are at the absolute low end of the cycle. It's not the fact I haven't caught marten that bothers me , it's just the lack of sign. My senior pretty much only trapped beaver and rats with the odd weasel and mink. He hasn't targeted marten in over 15 years and said there weren't many back then. So where are they?
Maybe just not around.
If you were seeing tracks but not catching then I'd suggest changing up bait and lure and box positions. But if you ain't seeing sign of marten then I really don't know what to say.

Some others may have tips. I am just gonna keep exploring and hoping to find some pockets. I have been in many different terrains and will keep trying to find them.

[jim summit]

Marten are very easy to catch, but if there are no tracks you can't catch them. Much of the prov is poor marten country, and logging and oil field takes away more of the good areas.
The RFMA's in my area used to produce 100+ marten per year, 20 years ago, but logging has taken much of the good timber and now guys take 1/4 of that per year.
Up in the Caribou mountains the forest is mostly untouched, trappers are still taking 100+ marten per year.

[Desert Eagle]

I am in the West and North of Rocky Mountain House area. There has been lots of logging and oilfield. Cutlines everywhere. What is the best type of terrain to look for tracks? I'm guessing around old growth the most?

There was mention that there must be large lots of trees, how large should it be to target Marten? I have a few spots that are very large, but there are numerous cutlines. I will see if I can get on the sled and find some tracks.

How about for targeting Fisher, I set lots of sets previously in area's with lots of rabbit sign also. Assuming this is where we should have some fisher activity. I am hoping to get out more and find some pockets of both.

Thanks for all the help!

[sourdough doug]

IMO, old growth is not a prerequisite for large martin #'s. Pine are OK if you have squirrel #'s but with spruce/poplar mix you can also have squirrel but also more bogg that hold mice in the grasses. Martin are what they are and WHERE they are. Not hard at all to over harvest and slow to recover..

[ROAD HAMMER]

Hey my trapline is north west of Rocky to maybe we are trapline neighbors my line is #866

[KegRiver]

It is possible that you aren't close to their preferred travel routes.
They don't go just anywhere.

What we used to do to pull them in from off our trails was we would hang half a Beaver carcass from a stout limb, well above the ground.

The birds would pick at the meat and make a lot of noise and disperse the smell and that would draw fur from a mile away or more.

I went one step further and made that into a set along the lines of the old Fisher snare pole set.

I posted photos on another thread here but the basics of it was; I'd nail one end of a dry spruce pole about ten feet long as high up a good tree as I could reach. There needs to be a second tree, within ten feet of the first tree.

Then I'd drive four 3 inch nails in the top of the pole about 1/3 from one end of the pole and another 1/3 from the other end.

You need the nails to form a square roughly as wide as you can make it and the width of the set jaws of a 220 or similar conibear.
Then you set a trap so that the jaws clamp onto the nails just below the nail heads. If done right this will hold your trap firmly until it is triggered but release it when it fires. The trap chains are wired onto the pole below the trap.

Next I wire half a beaver carcass to the middle of the pole and I drive a nail into the second tree at the height of the nail holding the other end of the pole. Finally I lift the free end of the pole onto that second nail and wire it in place so it can be easily removed but it won't jar loose.

This creates a horizontal pole set just above head height above the ground with the traps and bait well out from the trees.

I only used this set the last couple of years I trapped. It worked well but needed further refinement. Mainly for the trap holding system.
I am working on designing a wire trap holder system for this set but other things keep delaying development.

It worked well enough. I caught several Marten, a few Fisher and the only Wolverine I ever caught, with this set.

[Ivan S]

Originally Posted by nube

Do u have marten thee? See lots of tracks? You may not have a good marten area. I have used a lot of different stuff and find my lure works just fine. Skunk essence and melted vaseline mixed.
I like Muskrat, duck and liver for bait.

There are no marten, that's the problem. Nubes got it right and I would add buying lure is a total waste of money.