I was asked if I had some pix to show how to tell various relative ages of marten: Figured more that one might be interested so here's some illustrations.

Adult: no visible bone on the top of the head.



Yearling: 4-7 milimeters of bone showing ; approximate.



Young of the year: 11-13 milimeters of bone; appx.

I didn't know that was how they were aged. Thanks White

Well remember this is just a way to tell their relative ages. Need to cross section a tooth to get the precise age.

Interesting. That is a good bit of info.

I had seen this before and couldn't remember which was which.

I understand but that is a nice quick way to reference what your taking on the line.

Yes it is. Pretty easy to keep track of your age/sex ratios that way.

Thanks Ken.

The is the best piece of information I have seen in a long while. Did not know that at all. Do you mind if I put that on the Canadian site with thanks to you White ?

Go right ahead Ron.

Thank you White, it is done. PM me with some information as to photo credits, where info originated etc. I would like to put this in the next issue of the BC Trapper Magazine.

Folks this is what makes these trappers forums special, useful educational information like this.

It also has the potential of being good for the trapper and the resource. If you can maintain a healthy population, you can trap it indefinitely as long as some external event doesn't intervene. Right now something is going on in my area at the very least and maybe over a larger area. If we had no baseline of what our populations were in the past, we might come to the wrong conclusion about what is happening when things change for a year or two.

can the same "procedure" be used on other critters?

I have seen the same thing in mink and fox. Wolverine all seem to be fully developed by trapping season. A lot of it depends on development of those muscles by chewing. Ever notice how young animals have a rounded skull? The chewing over time, and bone development squash the skull into a flatter, longer shape the older an animal gets. Also the sagittal crest grows larger because that is the point where the temporalis muscle attaches.

100% of my marten catch this year was adult female.

How many was that? Something tells me it was single digits.

1, but I realized the male to female ratio was bad so I pulled the trap.

And none to soon either.

Very good and important info here, I hope all the young trappers read and understand this.

(Old Retired Guy)

I believe that part of the skull is called the sagital crest. As the animal ages the crest developes more. An old marten actually has a crest at the rear of the skull.
I gave all my skulls to Audrey Magoun the last year I seriously trapped marten(90-91). She gave me the oldest one, all cleaned up and had a tooth aged from it. 13 years old.
mt

Great info, I'll definantly use it next year to help keep track of my population. I sure wish I still had the 2 I caught this year so I could start my inventory. They were both males so I guess thats a good sign.