Family Trapper said...

With 80% of the marten traveling right by the same sets that took marten the year before. Same bait, same time of year, same type of sets. Back to the drawing board.


And right there in a nutshell is why I think it's bogus to claim one type of trap or box makes a difference. The only thing that makes a difference is the marten's attitude at the moment.

trapperjoeAK,

What size pots are you using to get the 120's to fit inside. 1gal?

I am going to order some online but I'm having problems finding the dimensions.

Thanks

They are "classic 600"s. Basicly 9" across. Which sounds huge, but one size smaller and they don't fit in my experience. These fit all brands 120's I have including belisles.

Quick picture of fit.

Thanks Joe!

TrapperJoe I'm aware some traps are illegal in Canada but your right as I don't know which are or aren't except I know footholds are illegal for some reason. Personally I think the Canadian companies that manufacture conibears have quite the racket going on as your legislated to use their overpriced traps which IMO are waaaaay overpriced. I have to agree with Family trapper that you have to adapt as every year can be different whether it's different sets, different bait, or different lure and I always use a mixed bag approach so all my eggs aren't in one basket whether I'm trapping marten, lynk, or whatever. Come to think of it don't we already have a Marten trapping thread in the archives??????

Trappers strive for a quick humane dispatch in Canada,to prevent animal suffering.Lethal traps have to pass a time to death threshold here to be acceptable.Improvements in humane trapping standards were started by trappers before animal rights was ever heard of.

"Trappers strive for a quick humane dispatch in Canada,to prevent animal suffering" So pistol packing American trappers like to torture animals because we use footholds???

You asked why we don't use footholds for marten-they do not meet the time to death threshold for the International agreement.
I never made any comment on your use of the foothold for marten.perhaps it is humane in Alaska I don't know.

Perhaps I misinterpreted the way it was said, so are all footholds illegal and which conibears are you allowed to use? Do you have check times ie. every 24 hrs etc.?

Footholds are legal for many animals still , the exception being marten and fisher and raccoon other then dp traps , birch creek the price canadian traps sell for is compareable to the price of American made victor traps , simply put you want North American made products you pay more

Thanks for all the pics guys and Thanks to Brian for starting the thread. Fun and interesting!
I want to disagree with the above quote. Humane trapping standards did not come about until the EU started threatened to ban trapped fur.
That being said, humane trapping standards do have some ability to improve income from trapping. Unfortunately, they also have serious ability to increase costs. Time after time the Canadians on this forum have said they are happy with the changes. Not much point in being unhappy, cuz it was FORCED on you. You don't have a choice, more or less.
Current Canadian trapping regs for Marten do have advantages for certain conditions. Sets using coni type traps are mostly free of birds. Not sure about squirrels. But I certainly hope that the day never comes when US trappers cannot use legholds for marten.
Has anyone tried using pots, boxes, cones, etc. with elevated sets using legholds?
mt

Footholds are used in Canada for many species.They are also tested and have to pass some criteria of acceptable foot damage.There is no limit on check times for footholds or any other traps where I trap.In the south they have to be checked every day.Footholds were given up by most northern trappers here long ago when conibears became available,for ease and quickness of setting and re setting and in boxes they are weatherproof and a dead animal has no chance to escape.Quick kill also means no fur damage,so trappers naturally adopted the conibears for all their positive attributes over footholds.I prefer not to deal with live animals but sometimes it still happens.
I believe in the extreme cold in Alaska a foot trap for marten is humane,but I don't know if they would pass the 120 second threshold time to death required to sell fur on the international market.We do not test them here,I think the US has its own testing program.

That is why I don't trap mink. Why risk a $100-$150 Marten to catch a $30 mink? I tried to find a spot years ago where I could catch mink without catching marten. I set up huge log jams out in the middle of the river bottoms. I caught marten. So much for that.

so where there are no trap check limits you can catch a lynk in a foothold and not check the line for a week or more but you can't use a foothold for marten?? So it's humane for a lynk but not a marten? I understand why some guys use conibears and no the price is not comparable unless the shipping to Canada is that outrages. I use both because there are pluses and minuses to both, I guess I'm just happy to have a choice instead of it being legislated that I have to buy overpriced traps because one kills in 120 seconds and not 125 seconds.

Martentrapper, if you look in the archives wolverinebait has quite a few pics of his marten boxes using footholds for marten. Seems to work well for him...........

MT, I've used footholds in newspaper box for marten with success. I had one that didn't want to got through the conibear, so out of curiosity, I set a foothold. Dead marten the next check.

I doubt any leghold trap passes a 120 second time to death limit. I don't think US marten have any trouble being internationally marketed.

MT

Them marten are sure stupid Dirt,they don't know what a mink box is.
Mink are stupid too,they climb up the tree and get caught in marten boxes-oh well.

I have to correct you Martentrapper.Here is an excerpt from Ralph Bice's book -Fur-The trade that put upper Canada on the map.
Ralph wrote the book in 1983.
"In a few years,all furs will be taken in what might be called humane traps.But it must be remembered that these traps were invented and improved to be as perfect as possible by trappers,and not by groups that live far from the woods,but apparently must have something to complain about."

Here is another quote from the book,made by the late Alex Sheif
"The Ontario Trappers Association has worked on humane trapping to produce better trapping methods.The OTA was involved in humane trapping long before anyone heard of The Humane Trapping Association,and we will field test any trap or method at our own expense"

This was long before the Agreement on international humane trapping standards.Trappers in Ontario at least had moved beyond the old methods long before they were given up in the intrests of keeping the international market open.

Birchcreek most professionals use the best up to date equipment available.
You would have to be some kind of idiot to leave an animal alive in a trap for a week.Legislated or not.

Well lets face it there are idiots out there yes? The logic is flawed that a foothold for marten is inhumane and a foothold for lynk is somehow not. Price does not always dictate The " best " equipment, sure I can buy the most expensive traps and put out less traps or I can buy more at a better price and put out more traps catching more fur which means more money in my pocket and less in the trap manufacturers pocket. Simple economics.............Maybe Canadians are happy only having a few expensive choices but you know us crazy Americans we still like the freedom to choose what works best for us......