Marten & Fisher Trapping

[Big Grey Wolf]

Guys, how are your marten numbers looking so far this year. We are finding very low catch numbers for this time of year relative to previous years. We have lots of logging and oilfield work this year on line. Also theory is low snow and possibly marten able to catch lots of redback voles and mice, may not need to move much. Anyone else having slower year.

[Flight01]

I am waiting till December before I start this year. There are healthy grouse, squirrel and mice/vole numbers this year. I imagine marten and fisher will do alright. The no snow is likely an issue.
When we did have 4" of snow earlier I went for a walk , weasel tracks and only a few marten tracks. Fox and coyotes seem to be on the rise on our line.
Don't despair , snow will help a bit if we get any .....

[nube]

Set my line the last couple days. Checked the first 15 boxes after a day and a half and had 3 weasels is all. I have yet to see a marten track. Tons of coyotes and a bunch of wolf tracks. The wolves will be in for a surprise in the next few weeks..... lol

[D4l3k]

We had 2 Martin, 1 Fisher, 1 weasel and 2 squarrels on 40 boxes the first 2 days, we are up to 60 boxes now and havent got anything for 2 weeks, no even squarrels, which is really strange for this time of the year for us

We also figure no snow they aren't traveling, and we caught the animals that were very clos, wee tested out a couple different lures to see if we could bring em in

We got some snow up there now so hopefully something is hanging tomorrow

[Big Grey Wolf]

We also have good lynx numbers this year on line with higher rabbit numbers. lynx possibly raising hell with marten and fisher.

[nube]

Lynx will be good for a couple years. I suspect they are getting to the high of their cycle in the next year or 2. Rabbit and grouse numbers seem to be high so the lynx should do well for a few years.

[The Spruce]

Man you guys need more pictures.

[Flight01]

Nice fishers. On your way to a full quota already.
I've thrown out a few sets just as a feeler wide spread on my line. I'm just not seeing tracks
Hoping to get some tracks laid by December 1. Then it's Lynx time and I will start throwing out some marten boxes to fill in my time till some sign starts showing up. Lots of mink and weasel sign so I'm not in despair but really want to find some marten.

[uke hunter]

At 52 marten and 2 fisher so far this year. Checking again tomorrow night. Marten numbers are strong on my line this year.

[savage21]

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[savage21]

seeing a very healthy population on my line this year


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[uke hunter]

Picked up another 9 last night. 61 for November....and still 2 months to go! Good luck to the rest out there!

[D4l3k]

Originally Posted by uke hunter

Picked up another 9 last night. 61 for November....and still 2 months to go! Good luck to the rest out there!

how many boxes/sets do you have out ?

[uke hunter]

120

[Flight01]

Nice!

I'm a junior. Still learning a lot.
Setting my goal at 4 wolf, 6 Lynx, 6 fox , 6 fisher, 20 marten, 12 mink, 4 otter, 30 weasel , 12 beaver (mostly for bait as the furs haven't been worth much)

Let's see where we get.

[nube]

Did my first check today. Its been 7 days. 45 boxes roughly. caught 13 marten 13 weasels and 2 squirrel. That seems pretty good to me. Wish it was like that every trip

[Flight01]

Originally Posted by nube

Did my first check today. Its been 7 days. 45 boxes roughly. caught 13 marten 13 weasels and 2 squirrel. That seems pretty good to me. Wish it was like that every trip

Yeah I'd say that's pretty good. Using beaver as bait? Marten lure?

[Camdec]

Originally Posted by nube

Did my first check today. Its been 7 days. 45 boxes roughly. caught 13 marten 13 weasels and 2 squirrel. That seems pretty good to me. Wish it was like that every trip

Curious as to distance between sets. I trap a fairly small area. Trail about 3 miles. Currently have 13 boxes on a 1 mile stretch. Picked up two marten so far in the past week and half. Any thoughts as to whether boxes are too close or not? How many linear miles are you setting 45 boxes over Nube?

[nube]

Originally Posted by Camdec

Curious as to distance between sets. I trap a fairly small area. Trail about 3 miles. Currently have 13 boxes on a 1 mile stretch. Picked up two marten so far in the past week and half. Any thoughts as to whether boxes are too close or not? How many linear miles are you setting 45 boxes over Nube?

My line is 7.25 Townships. This year I am truck trapping for the most part. my plan is to rotate and trap an area every 4-5 years. I basically have 3 years in now and have 3 areas and still have lots of area to figure out.
If I have a line or a road I will trap I place a box every 500 yards. From what I have been told that could be crowded at 500 yard but like I said I am still new at figuring it out. My first year I trapped them all out real bad I think but hopefully if I hit it every 4-5 years it will replenish itself and I won't wipe them out? It's real hard to figure out if you are over harvesting or not. I would say if you got 13 boxes in a mile that is way overkill.

As for bait I have used Muskrat, beaver , duck and beef liver. My favorite is muskrat. I can even smell it lol I cut one in half and rub all the guts and stuff up and down the tree and chuck it in the box. 1 rat will do 2 boxes. I tried duck this year. I kept the carcasses of a bunch of ducks I had that were breasted. I cut them in half like a rat and use that. They smell real well and the weasels and marten love them. I also got a bunch of beef liver that was rancid a bit. It works real well too. I find Beaver to be the worst out of all the bait I use.

As for Lure I make my own. I melt vaseline and pour some skunk essence in it. I also have some fish oil I bought that I put in too but mostly to thin it down when it freezes so it's easier to get out of the tupperware container I store it in.
Hope that helps some. It seems to work for me

[Flight01]

For weasel I use mostly table scraps as bait or freezer burnt meat and for lure it's either commercial lure or grouse guts
For marten I mostly use commercial lure and scraps from hunting and any freezer burnt meat. Once I have carcasses I throw a weasel in a box every now and then. I will also milk the weasel's scent gland over the box for added lure.
Good or bad idea?

[sourdough doug]

Originally Posted by savage21

seeing a very healthy population on my line this year


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I know it happens, it has happened to all of us...BUT... I really wish this type of pic was not put out for ALL to see.. WE are being watched and I'm not being paranoid in saying so

[Big Grey Wolf]

Uke with your excellent marten numbers again this year you obviously did not over harvest last year. Do you have much lynx on your line, even if you are not targeting them. We are over run with lynx.

[diamonddave]

Originally Posted by sourdough doug

I know it happens, it has happened to all of us...BUT... I really wish this type of pic was not put out for ALL to see.. WE are being watched and I'm not being paranoid in saying so

I didn't even think that it was possible to catch a Martin like that.... He had to be move 100 MPH when he went into that trap...

[nube]

Originally Posted by diamonddave

I didn't even think that it was possible to catch a Martin like that.... He had to be move 100 MPH when he went into that trap...

I got one the other day that was worse than that but it did not struggle much by the look of the set. I use pans as well and it was set perfect off the notches in the box and everything. All the rest of mine were absolutely perfect. I changed a few things up from when I first started and it is working real good.
I'd be curious as to how fast mine was moving as well. It was a big long box so he must have dove right in airborne style lol

[tomcat]

Originally Posted by diamonddave

I didn't even think that it was possible to catch a Martin like that.... He had to be move 100 MPH when he went into that trap...

There are generally two reasons that happens:
1. The trap is set to far away from the bait, or;
2. The trap springs are set against the back of the spring slots.

When using a horizontal or inclined trap box be it with standard wire or pan trigger, if it is set too far away from the bait the animal sometimes moves through the wire trigger or jumps over the pan and fires the trap with it’s body or hind feet, resulting in a hip catch. With a 120 trap set within 4-6 inches of the bait, you will get a neck or neck and thorax quick kill zone strike virtually every time. This occurs because the animal is stable at the bait, not moving through, and centered towards the trap when it is triggered.

While working the bait in a 14” plus long box with log spring slots the animal will be correctly oriented to the trap, stable, not moving through the trap and most likely mink and marten will be standing with front feet on a pan trigger or moving its head within the trigger wires while working the bait. The fisher will usually trigger either a pan or wire trigger 120 trap with its head movements while working the bait.

When using a horizontal or inclined trap box be it with standard wire or pan trigger, if it is set too far away from the bait the animal sometimes moves through the wire trigger or jumps over the pan and fires the trap with it’s body or hind feet, resulting in a hip catch. With a 120 trap set within 4-6 inches of the bait, you will get a neck or neck and thorax quick kill zone strike virtually every time. This occurs because the animal is stable at the bait, not moving through, and centered towards the trap when it is triggered.

While working the bait in a 14” plus long box with log spring slots the animal will be correctly oriented to the trap, stable, not moving through the trap and most likely mink and marten will be standing with front feet on a pan trigger or moving its head within the trigger wires while working the bait. The fisher will usually trigger either a pan or wire trigger 120 trap with its head movements while working the bait.

[nube]

I have placed my bait closer. In fact I had a trap sprung with nothing but bait the other day lol Got the bait a little too close and the critter got away It works like Tomcat said
Also watch how close those springs are to the end of the slot. That was my main problem before.

[Big Grey Wolf]

Someone posted a good video of a marten entering the box set. He investigated around the back of box, he then came to front and dove through the trap at the bait. Incidentially he never moved after trap sprung, appeared to almost die within seconds.

[Camdec]

Couple marten today


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[expedition]

Nice mitts . Did you make them ?

[D4l3k]

we are not having a good year for martin on our line this year compared to past years

we have almost 80 boxes up and have still only gotten 1 fisher, 3 martin since Nov 1st

previous years we had seen 25+ martin 3+ fishers by this time already