Were you certain of it being marten? If any question get some photos. My experience in Montana was the marten never passed up a set. Compared to here it was quite refreshing. I always used a smelly bait paste along with my bait of beaver etc. They usually beelined it to the set. Whats for dinner?
Get under the canopy of spruce or fur trees. Really make for a good protection against snow. # 1 set right up tight on the bait worked well for me in Montana. A quarter to half twist of 16 gauge wire around the trap and leaning pole secured it. I didn't have camp robber problems in Montana. Had to switch to conibear when I came to Alaska just due to jays.
A leaning pole set under cover would work well for you without having to carry boxes or help get more sets out.

Family trapper what kind of smelly bait paste did you use?

Viking and White- I agree with the wind thing. It only makes sense, every wild animal uses its sense of smell. I also don't doubt that it could ever be cold enough to suppress the Gusto, I could smell it today at -10. I pretty much carpet bombed this drainage with 6 sets and the bugger came close to 3 of them. I'm sure he will get into one of them eventually. I have faith in all 6 of my sets in that area.

Boco- right now all i have for bait is chicken legs. My buddy did just get 3 beaver and a whole mess of pheasant, so I will be using fresh beaver by weeks end in at least half my sets. Going to try pheasant wings tied to a limb in front/above my box sets to maybe give a visual cue.
The tacks were mostly straight line, but were in relatively open area. The set he passed twice is 50ft off an old spur road along a relatively open ridge line. Thicker with large spruce, lodgepole, and douglas fir on either side. Once the tracks reached the trees they started to zig zag a little.

I think you'll see an improvement with the beaver for bait.The visual is a good idea as marten hunt a lot by sight.Rub the beaver bait on the tree between ground and box also a bit of castor.

Family- I dont think it passed the set up. I don't think it knew the set was there or exactly where it was. I'm 100% on the tracks being marten. We had a storm blow through night before last and i'm sure the wind was screwy. 5 of the 6 sets I have out right now are on big spruce.

Boco- I don't think he saved the castor, but maybe.

My other 6 sets are going out by Saturday in a different area. Going to try some leaning pole sets and some only 2 feet off the graound to see what I can catch.

Here are the photos I took of the tracks today.

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Yup, that's the critter your after.

Tracks were close to 40inches between strides. Must have been moving out or just really big!

I'm gonna say you're looking at a mink track.

The mink's feet always land in separate spots. The marten's feet will overlap just a tiny bit. Also, it's unusual to see individual toes on a marten track because they are completely furred. The mink toes are not.

White I have to agree that something seems amiss. The tracks are not clean entry and exit. Usually when you see the leading in and out it is typical of a mink. How far from a creek were you?

The creek is almost dried to nothing. These tracks were on a log under a big spruce with almost no snow on it. The first track phot is a different set of tracks.

I did have my first catch today though. It was surreal. Looked at the coni box and couldn't see the trap. First thought was someone stole it, then I looked below the box and this is the result!

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I will be making sure to tie off to a strong enough branch in the future!

Good deal !! Any of those remaining branches above the box is adequate.

The throat patch on that marten is huge! You could always nail the chain to the front of the box so when the trap goes off they just drop straight down, but it will still hang away from the tree.

Way to go Brent!

That's a dandy. Hang in there.

I will have some more pics in the next day or so. I need to decide when I have time to thaw/skin him. He is frozen solid. Had him good thou, right behind the head and just at the end of the ribs. Suitcased is the term i believe???

Very nice. Something else that I always use is a piece of red flagging on each site. It might be enough to catch their attention if the wind is wrong. I caught a marten on just a piece of flagging before. Nothing else.

FT- I have a bunch of pheasant wings im going to tie in front of my sets and see what happens.

Well, set a few more traps today in what seemed to be a good area. Tracks on the ground. Checked my first line and had another male swinding from a branch.
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