Posted by Rick Phillips
All right guys, Bushman brings up a question I'd like answered. Joe Mattie's video recommends that you pin the hind legs on the tail side of the board so they make the back look longer. Bushman says to keep them on the belly side. Gimme some debate on this. I always pinned them on the belly side up til this year, but have all of mine pinned on the back now. Actually, part of the leg wraps around the edge of the board and is on the belly side, too. Have I screwed up? HELP!

Reply from Kusko
Rick, I do the same thing. Pin them on the edge. Also, good tip via Dusty through FT on putting them upside down. The hair really like to stay standing. I show a couple of friend my marten yesterday. #1 they are astounded just for the sake of never seeing one and another guy asked me who tanned it for me (it was still on the board) :).

reply from Takotna
I do like kusko and Rick with marten also.

Reply from Dusty
My marten all go on 4" wide 3/4" thick boards. They look a LOT better on the thicker boards, according to the fella that writes the check. I believe Interior marten are a bit bigger than elsewhere in the state, so perhaps this doesn't work for all of them.
I pin hind legs against the tail, as does everyone I know. That said, Alaskans are notorious for doing strange things to fur, and perhaps NAFA doesn't like that.

Posted by Family Trapper

If you have sap try hand cleaner on it. My favorite sap remover.

Question by Rick Phillips
Well Ken, how do you like those coni's for marten now?

Answer from White17
Well Rick I have mixed emotions. I like the fact that they dont bang around and mess themselves up. I like the weather proof-ness of the set and the bird proof aspect of it. I don't like the packing extra traps of course and I really didn't like the edema and hematoma that the trap caused. Is that normal ? These 110's did not kill. Only one was dead when I found him. When skinning them, there was a lot of fluid at the strike site. This might be because they didn't expire right away.

All that said, I do plan to use a few more on my line next year. Maybe an old dog can learn new tricks. Think I'll go with the 120's however.

Posted by Kusko

I have a little plan for next year's marten that I am going to try since there aren't very many camp robbers (and marten ehehehhehhe) in my neck of the woods. I am going to bring my own 8 foot poles along to speed up my set making process. I'm going to get a bunch of 2 by 2's that are 8 foot long and have them almost ready to go. I'll just add a foothold, nail it to the tree, put my wing up and be gone. I didn't have any fox problems this year, no wolverine and lynx weren't hungry enough. I think I can have a set up in about 2 minutes.

Posted by Rick Phillips
Ken, I used 110's for one season and said never again. Like you, I had problems with them not killing quickly, and the way I was using them they were hard to stabilize. I have a friend who uses them all the time and likes them. He uses wooden boxes and has a piece of square wood screwed to the bottom to clamp his traps on. It holds them nice. Dusty obviously likes them. To each his own. I've got my system down to where it works well for me, so will probably keep doing it unless I find something radically better.

I seem to remember you were going to try some differant lures for marten this year. Did that happen? If so, do you have any recommendations?


I did use some Dobbins Klondike Call that Paul had doctored up with a bit more skunk. It worked just fine on Marten and was long lasting as well. I could smell it at 20 below when I was within 6 feet or so. I'm sure the marten could smell it quite a bit further.

Answer from White17
I also used some Dobbin's Backbreaker. This worked well on marten also. In fact I would say they prefered the Backbreaker over the Klondike Call but both worked just fine. I would like to see the Backbreaker in a liquid rather than a paste form though as I like to use a squeeze bottle to apply lure rather than a stick. The Backbreaker got pretty thick (but always useable) at low temperatures. One could say that with Backbreaker you will be Dobbin it all over the trees to attract critters. (Hows that for an advertising slogan ?)

Otterman those are very nicely handled marten. I've never used a split board for marten. How are you joining the nose of the two boards? On larger stretchers I used wire or pipe banding across the top. On a small board for a marten I could see that being a problem with the hide drying to the connector,

As for those marten that pass by your sets,try an experiment next year. Keep your weasel carcass and use them in your marten boxes. I've seen good results. I believe that martens can't resist robbing a weasel cache and the scent of one lures them in.

I don't use two piece boards for marten but on my larger boards (wolf, wolverine, otter) I connect the nose of the board with a dowel. I Make a one piece board, then drill a 1/4" hole all the way through the nose part from side to side on the edge. Next I run the board through the table saw. Fit a 1/4" dowel into the hole and cut it off at the outside. Works well keeping the board the width you want it.

Bushman that wasn't my post that was one I moved to the archive it is Rick Phillips and those are his marten. I am sure he will be glad to answre your questions

Some excellent ideas on the split stretchers. Thanks

this is double shot