'Sorry to continue this hijack of your marten thread yukon254, BUT..
I just gotta say that the ravens have become really bold here since the burn box went into operation at our town dump. Their local 'cafeteria' was suddenly closed down.
Now they go into enclosed containers to tear open garbage bags and strew the contents over any open areas.
They DO avoid anything that looks like a net though. We throw a light netting (normally used for keeping birds out of fruit trees) and they leave garbage alone that is on the other side of that.
'Makes me wonder if that could be used on a trap line without discouraging the target animal as well.........

OB, the same thing happened here, when we built our burn box and started useing it all the ravens moved right into town

I propose a "Raven Stamp". Then we could have a good old fashion shoot! Think of the possibilities!
Ravens unlimited, Raven banquet and auction, limited edition prints, etc. ad nauseum.
That said, I HATE THEM.
I have not had much trouble with them on the trap line, thankfully, but day to day, they can be a serious pain in the rear. That's another thread, altogether.

Interesting thread.One thing Ive seen a few times here is marten hunting and catching bats on dead snags.Was watching one flaking bark off the tree quite high up then snap something up.That time I didnt see what.Another time different location I had the binoculars on watching when I saw that it had caught a bat that was hiding under the dead bark.have seen them foraging like this a few times since.Told a bio once about that behavior,he didnt believe me seems he never read it in a book
I too also get my fair share of raven problems.They will pull a trap and clean out the bait.They also reconize my pickup and will start to gather when Im unloading the snow machine.We have a no closed season and a limit of 5.Remington 17 is mighty fine medicine for raven.
Dan'l

"Told a bio once about that behavior,he didnt believe me seems he never read it in a book" That is a common affliction among some bios.

Well, checked the first marten sets of the season yesterday. Only had 13 out, both flower pots and newspaper tubes. ZERO!
A first, I think. All the tubes had vole/shrew nibbling the bait. Don't think they can climb the slick sides of the pots.
Some of these sets have been annual producers for years.
I am having grave concerns for the marten pop. here.
Any S.E. Alaskans here having similar issues?

Same here but I don't have alot of marten either. You would be surprised how well a vole can climb. I actually watched a vole shimmy himself down a piece if FISHING line to munch on a wing before at a lynx cubby. I was so amazed. It stayed on my mind the rest of the day checking traps!

I may have a solution. See "Rat Zapper".

So far my checks have been slow on the marten end of things. I have about 45 sets out for marten so far and picked up 4. Thankfully the otters have been keeping me busy in the fur room with some mink in the mix. Right now I am trapping the beach fringe, but am considering hiking in to higher elevation in the AM and setting up high also. All depends on my mood in the am. This is my first season here, so I cant really say if its up or down. I do have reports from a friend on the island that the pop is well if your up in the 500 to 900 foot zone. Time will tell. Awesome thread, I sure learned alot here.

AK Viking-

I had the same problem with voles last year on my line. I would see them running all over the place while I was hiking my line. It sucked because the marten wouldnt climb trees at all. I'm still getting my line in this year but will report back with what I observe after the weekend.

Jake

Jake, good to hear from you again. Started thinking youd gone North! Good luck this weekend.

AK Viking-

Yeah I was up North for most of the summer but came back to work down here this fall. Yeah I look forward to getting my line back in again and seeing whats been going on up there.

Do you notice a high population of ermine with the high vole population? I seemed to have a ton of ermine last year when the voles were everywhere.

Jake

Well, from my line it's official: Marten are in real trouble. Ran the main line two days ago. Had 18 sets out for marten. Zero catches since Dec. 3rd. Loads of weasel sign, as well as squirrel, vole, shrews, and even a hare. Not a single marten track.
This area, a line of about 3 miles, has what I would consider pretty good surrounding area to re-supply what I take, which is typically 8-12 marten per year, though last year I only took 4 due to extreme snow conditions(pulled the line after only 10 days/2 line checks).
Son and I will be pulling everything out this weekend and will not set it at all next year, and perhaps the year following.

Yup, I caught THE marten down the Bishop trail and pulled out. On the way back two guys going down to set it up. Too many people playing the game in Juneau and not enough room. The new elevated trap regs while a good thing, will be the coup de gras for the marten here.

I hope not, as I was the one who pushed that through. I would think that all the un-trailed areas and wild country "behind" us would provide enough refugia for marten to spill over/into the areas being trapped. I'm afraid there is somthing else contributing to the lack of numbers.

AK Viking-

I think alot of the marten population was hurt in the first couple of super hard winters we had. There might not have been a good crop of juvy marten born those years because of the bad weather. Plus there were high marten prices those years and there was alot of pressure from trappers. Just a thought, because I have been seeing marten sign in places that werent hit as hard by the snow a couple years ago. I probably wont be hitting my line as hard this year as in the past because I want the marten population to replenish quickly.

Jake

TTT
Was doing some routine searching for info and.....
Wow this is packed with good Marten info.