After this year, I have officially decided that I do not like horizontal or even sloped poles on my line. With all the snow they are out of comission in a day or two. And, since I have never observed a refusal on a vertical pot, I am just going to stick with them. I never cut poles, but if I found a naturally occurring spot I would set them. No more. Something to keep in mind if you have very heavy snowfall.

Hi Jason, welcome. There is a post titled Swing Poles where they are discussed.

we ahve not had a problem with the horizontal poles, and that is why we built the boxes, never had a trp in operble in all the snow. the good thing is that it seems to limit the female catch as out of over 40 only 3 have been females.

The problem that I have had with nonvertical sets is that they straightup drift in. It is crazy. Even ones at an angle. And if for some reason the wind is not blowing then it builds up on the pole. Not a big problem if pole is small, but I had sets on naturally occurring sloped trees and six inches of snow pretty much blocks out the pot. But, as Ted pointed out on the swing pole thread, my situation is pretty unique. Not too many places are cursed with 30 feet of snowfall in a winter.

Were do you guys get your beaver? do you trap the or buy it? and if you buy it were can i get it?

We had lots of marten this year and I set out everything I had - including a few Bionic traps. They are probably the most humane trap and practically fool-proof because of the position the marten has to have its head to pull the bait on the trigger. Their disadvantages outweigh this though. They are expensive, bulky and you have to carry another tool to set them. You can only get a small piece of bait on the trigger which the mice can clean off in a hurry and dries out quick ( I used squirrel legs - the right size and tough so easy to hook on the trigger)I mounted them on a piece of 2X4. My main use in the past was to carry a couple that I could tack to a tree where I was snaring squirrels - if I had a marten stealing from the snare poles.

nice
i notic alot of ur marten are really dark

Here's my old stand-by. Wing hanging for bait with a smear of lure.



another view of same set;

White, I can't remember? Is that a #0 or a #1? That is exactly how I caught mine this year....I'm still pumped.

from Alaskacajun


Here's a pic of a leaning pole with a chunk of muskrat for bait and using a #1 jump on the pole.... Asa Lenon provided the lure it's pretty strong and if the wind is right I smell the set before I see it!

From Top Jimmy

Here is a set that works on the ground and then swings the marten up off the ground when he gets caught.







It is good for those marten that won't climb to a bucket.

-TJ

Question from SE_ALASKAN
TJ- how did you attach that pecker pole to the tree with loosly tied wire? and is it attached to the tree in the middle or 3/4 of the way down for a pivot point? have you ever tried attaching your bait to the triggers of a 120 ?

Answer from Top Jimmy
Loose wire is how it was done there, as it is faster to set up. That set takes a lot of work to get up compaired to a lean to pole or box/pot set, and any time you can save is great. I have heard of guys drilling out a hole and then using a nail in there as well for a swivel point. The swivel point is about 1/3 to 1/4 from the tip of the pole (I haven't heard the term "pecker pole" since I left Wrangell by the way!) with the heavy end of the pole in the air. You want all the weight at the back end so it will swing up the marten. And like Recondo said, you will take more females with this set, so be careful not to over do it.

I have not tied anything to the coni triggers. Takes to much time when making sets and I would rather have them focus on the bait past the trap so that they shoot in and get suit cased instead of just one bar getting them. I want them D.. E.. A.. D.. Dead! I don't want them struggling the trap at all.

Posted by Rick Phillips
Piperniner, this is one of my marten stretchers. I make them out of lath, actually. You have to pick through the bin and get good straight ones without knots. I cut them 36" long and use the waste part to make the spreaders. I cut the slots in the spreaders with a router, but you could just bore a series of holes and dress the edges with your pocket knife. I use 1/4" bolts with a wing nut on the active side.

I use the same stretchers for both males and females; just make a mark at 4" wide on the spreader for females and 4 1/2" for males. I like to pin the tail out flat, so I slip a piece of thin cardboard under the tail to bridge the gap in the stretcher, then press it flat under a piece of window screen.

This is the rack I made to save myself some space in the fur shed. If I caught as many as Takotna, I'd need two of them .

Posted by Family Trapper
Lots of marten sign and wolverine also.

A bit frustrated however as sets I had check after the 4 day Christmas Break only yielded 2 females. And about 7-8 walk bys.
Dang I hate that. They just wouldn't climb up and have a look even. Pretty frustrated. Talked with Takotna last night for a long time. He sees it too.
Man in Montana I would never see a marten go by a set.
Rick do you experience that in Idaho?
Sure does dampen the enthusiam.

Seeing a lot of sign like this.
1 Old Track but since the Christmas snow, 2 a little snow in the track and 3 was just there. Better be in my set when I come back.


After the walk bys I started giving them everything I had.
Beaver, grouse, flagging, sable oil, tainted eel/glycerin. A darn varitable smorgishboard.!! I have been putting my beaver in the orange bait sack mess they use for commercial fishing. Holds the bait nice and I think the birds will have a harder time getting it all. Works nice to hold the bait in buckets as well. Frozen beaver is hard to wire. $.15 a foot.


These are both females.
Are they young of the year? Is the one on the right maybe a yearling?


With the marten being finicky I started to set plant pot sets at about a foot off the ground with a tip up. Pretty easy set up and should swing them up about 7 feet.
I will post picts next time of them before and after.
Hoping that they will go into the low sets better. I found a great supplier for the plant pots if you guys need any.
I have been using the 300's. I know Dusty suggested the 400's but the ones I got ended up being smaller for some reasons I won't go into. Anyway they seem to work great. The trap fits into them just right. The corners of the trap hold onto the conibear. I wire them onto the tree also. Your conibear holder needs to hold them out away from the tree however. I am making s like Dusty showed. Had a hard time finding steel so I went to the dump and took the sides off a stove. Just the right guage and it cuts with a sheet metal cutter. I will post some picts when I get the process down.
Plant pots

Posted by Trailblazersteve
Len,sorry to hear of your "marten luck".I am real interested on how you do this year.Good luck!Can't tell by the pic to well but it looks like your leaning pole is at a pretty steep incline which I don't think is to big of deal but it also looks like your bait and trap are pretty high off the ground,might just be the pic.I too commited to a certain type trapping marten this year and am pleased with the results.I am using the paper box's(trimmed and slotted),110's and using fish and muskrat for bait.The fish seems to be working better then the rats.I was using Lenon's marten lure but found it to be to weak with the cold temps so I phoned him and he suggested that I try his fisher lure which contains alot more skunk.Started seeing great results the first check after using it.I am mounting the box's on bent or leaning trees and also on top of big broken tree trunks.None of my box's are higher then 4 feet off the ground.I figure as long as the marten are off the ground I'm ok.Only lost one to a fox.The 110's are working great but I did have one marten alive.I'm positive that he was "just" caught because it snowed that night and I seen his fresh tracks going to the set.Been using a strip(2-3') of red tape tied a few feet away from the set.

Posted by Family Trapper
Thanks Steve. I will give Asa a call and get some of that Fisher lure. I have some Gusto and mixed it with my tainted eel. Guess I will have to try some straight. Man I hate that skunk. Scared to get it on me and have to live with myself in a tent.
Right now I am trying to figure out the fastest way to get sets out. I really want get them to hang high from fox. I might try just putting some buckets high and wiring off to a branch to hang them. Save cutting a tree to tip up. I have lots of country but having a hard time getting a lot of sets out in a day with conditions as they are, new country, portages to cut, and all new lines to prep. But what a great job!
Sat phone is awesome.

posted by Trialblazersteve
I would think that gusto should work fine.Mayby your sets are just a little high.I'm catching males and females about equally.I'm not in the best marten country and have a set every 300 or 400 yards on a 7 mile loop.I'm catching one or two a week.Took me a while to get all the sets in place because i have to snow shoe the whole loop.I can pack 12 (6x6)of my box's on my frame pack and they are already baited and have the coni in them ready to set.Just snowed 2 feet yesterday so I'm not to thrilled about checking this weekend.But on my other line the cats are realy starting to move!!

posted by famly trapper I am setting a bit high but they seem to either climb or not climb. Something out there has to get there attention to investigate. I would like to have a 1000 tainted voles for bait.

Marten trapper. You mentioned using rasberry jam I think one time. I was maybe going to take some and mix it with glycerin and see if it got there attention. Some kind of aromtic sweet smell maybe. I am going to keep trying things until I get something that drives them crazy!!!!

posted by Loel
Len, I made up some lure using raspberry jam and some caster.I also watered it down with glycol to keep it from freezing. The first two years I used it it worked great. This year I couldn't get the marten to break stride for it. So I went to gusto and I am having some luck with it. The berry mix also works on lynx. The caster gets them in.

posted by trapperjoeAK
Marten Trappers: Do you seem to see less marten movement during periods of heavy snowfall? It seems reasonable to me, and what I am seeing on the line certainly seems to reflect it; but I was wondering if others though so too.
posted by Loel

Joe, last weeks check was a good one for me. The marten were moving good on my line. I think it has more to do with the temps then the snow. In my area at least. With it being real warm, 28 above, they were moving good.It is normaly about -20 up there. One of the ones I cought last week was still warm to the touch. I pulled it out of the 120 and reset it. I also had a marten come through on the way back out.

posted by Martentrapper
Yes I did talk about jam, Len. I used to put it on the pole, bout half way up. It also attracts the voles, which could help attract marten.
No seal oil? I've used that on the pole also. Maybe you need a better visual. Try some sets without the pots. Maybe a combo of trap and snare.
I once flew into a lake on the Inoko R. country. Had the same problem. Couldn't even catch the marten in ground cubbies. Flew in there around 4 or 5 times, walking around the lake, making sets. In about 3 weeks, with lots of sign, only ended with 2 marten!
They say in the minchumina country, marten won't climb. Trappers there use ground sets. Or some do.

Posted by Family Trapper
I have a question for experienced marten trappers.
In my quest to find a faster set to construct. Will marten climb birch as readily as a spruce. Seems I spend more time than I would like clearing limbs on the spruce for my buckets sets with tip ups. And the black spruce don't have limbs to tie to to get them to hang away from the tree. I have passed up a lot of birch thinking the spruce looks much more inviting to climb up. I know they could climb a birch with out problem but I don't want to give them any excuses to pass a bucket that is 5 feet off the ground. The birch gives me a good lateral limb to tie off to a lot of times.
posted by Rick Phillips
FT, are the marten going past the birch tree? If so, I'll bet you could set on it with good bait and the marten will go after it. I've caught marten on lodgepole, spruce, Douglas fir, Alpine fir, cottonwood, and even aspen. One of my most productive sets is on a dead aspen leaning into a live one. I've caught from 4 to 7 marten at that place for four years running. Shoot....he doesn't plan to sleep up there, he just wants whatever it is that smells so good. Just my opinion, and that and a couple of bucks will get you a Pepsi most anywhere.
posted by Takotna
Ftrapper, in my years of trapping when they don't want to climb don't waste your time figuring out why beacause to this day I don't think anyone has figured it out Just keep setting for when the weather changes or they get hungry your ready, I think you'll be in for a surprise check soon by the sound of all the sign your seeing now. PATIENCE
posted by Trailblazersteve
Len,you got me thinking about the tree thing and I have sets on all types.I even like to find big broken tree stumps and lean a pole to it and mount my box on top.I caught 4 in one such stump.Thought I might have found a den because I caught a big male,female and 2 juvi's.But after thinking,I have caught almost all of my marten this year on big leaning birch,8-10" dia.Arctictrapper posted some pics of some marten he caught on a big birch that crossed a creek so I agree with Takotna,I mean he is the marten master,that they either will climb or they won't.I think alot has to do with hunger just like cats.Very fustrating when you see cats tracks walk down a trail within inches of a stinky cubby with wings tied all around and he never skips a beat.

Rick: if you dry those marten nose-down they'll fluff up a little better and generally be worth a bit more $$.

A bit frustrated however as sets I had check after the 4 day Christmas Break only yielded 2 females. And about 7-8 walk bys.

Bummer. Sometimes, they just won't climb and you have to go to ground sets if you want to catch marten. Only having females climb to the sets combined with them not seeming to be very interested in your bait makes me think that maybe you don't have all that many marten around. 3 sets of tracks in the same place makes me think you just have picky marten tho....

Generally, the massetter muscles do approach the sagittal crest as they age, but the ONLY (mostly) accurate aging method is pulling a tooth.

I really think lure, as it applies to marten, is more effective for trappers than critters. If you can smell it, they'll probably check it out.

question from Family Trapper
Question marten trappers.
I am going to be prebaiting a bunch of pots with the beaver meat. Something I was thinking of doing was after I bait and stack, I was thinking of leaving the pots in a warm place for 3-4 days and let the meat get a little tainted. Smells more for sure.
Since the meat has not been frozen they won't leak blood like thawing bait would. I put butcher paper on top of each piece of bait to keep them from sticking to the next pot.

Do you think the tainting is a good idea vs the fresh and frozen beaver meat?

Reply Martentrapper
I think it is a good idea. More smell, but still tasty to a marten.
Have you tried the jam?
mt