So if you have no limit on check times for a foothold, what do you do when the weather gets too bad to run the line. I could see where you might have a cat or similar in a trap for an extended period.

I don't know any trappers that use foothold for lynx in my area.They were always historically taken by snares.Snares and some by bodygrips when they became available.The foothold traps that have passed for humane live hold for lynx are the 3 softcatch the footsnare and 3 laminated.As far as I know Lynx do not chew on their feet when restrained.This I believe is why foothold restraining traps passed for them.The footholds available for marten as restraining traps did not pass,and no improved footholds were worked up because trappers had developed more efficient methods,so there was no push by trappers to have them.
In the south footholds are used but must be checked every day,regardless of weather.

Bodygrips equal taints.

All the high number ( 100 plus ) marten trappers in my area use the #1 or #0 foothold and I consider that pretty darn efficient, there's only two of us that I know of that use any conibears here. Maybe it's not as cold there but here our conibears freeze to the fur which means we have to bring the trap back to thaw before we can remove it so you have to carry a bunch of extra conibears around which is extra weight and takes up extra room which is why I don't use the conibears as much. Footholds I can take the marten out, reset it, and go so there's no extra stuff or weight, that's pretty darn efficient IMO

18 misses means 18x150 (just using a convient number) = $2700 missed out on, that's a lot of traps overpriced or not

I have limited experience with marten but I have had more damage to marten caught in body grips than footholds on leaning poles. The other disadvantage is having to carry extra 120's around so can reset after you have a catch.

Im not a fan of being forced to use "approved' traps, and make no mistake we WERE forced. I said as much to Dave Bewick at a meeting one time. There are 100s of Alaskan marten that were caught in footholds right beside ours in every sale......but we were told we needed to go with the new traps or the EU wouldnt buy our fur.....

Good thread. FT hard to argue with your success! Lots of good info here, thanks to Bushman for starting it! After all marten is our 'money' animal.

Birchcreekkid, in my neck of the woods 100-marten is average.......high number trappers will put up 250 to 300 every year. Every one of those trappers use 120s .....we have no choice. IMO a #0 or #1 foothold would be ideal with a box....but cant go there.

Dirt, I have never had a marten taint because of a bodygrip....not even in snares....they are froze solid. Yes we do have to carry extra traps.....a pain but you get used to it.

I try my best to manage my numbers based on age, male / female ratios......I have found the best way for me to do this is to go hard til Christmas......maybe a bit longer if things look good. The only way for me to do this is to use sets that are fast......wiring flower pots to trees or using chainsaws to cut boxes in trees just takes to much time. I build permanent boxes every spring.....some day my lines will be filled with them.......then look out

I don't know about this whole high dollar bodygrip missing more marten than a low priced bodygrip, but we are talking marten ( not the mental giant of the wilderness ) they will likely be caught in the trap the next check or a nearby set. Since I don't use cubbys that marten can climb on the side of or sit on top maybe misses are related to marten stepping on trap springs( especially if they have two to step on ).

I'm old. I trapped marten with #1's and #1.5 for many years before I converted to bodygrips. I even kept using them after the law change because in truth there's little enforcement. But eventually I totally switched over to bodygrips and I wouldn't go back to footholds even if i could. So all I can offer is I've spent decades using both styles and prefer bodygrips. As for hassle of packing extra traps because they're froze on the marten for me that's standard operating practice. I'm always moving sets or making new ones so I have a dozen or so with me at all times.

I never double up at sets. Makes no sense to me. I'd rather put the second trap at a different location and increase my odds. I rarely see two marten tracks travelling together and if one rolls by while another is hanging, I'm in their territory and I'll nail them next time.

It's probably hard to be totally unbiased but my preference has always been a horizontal box on a elevated pole. I find the harvest % highest for those. I also believe a deep box with the bait secured results in less misses. In the slow motion video I've seen of traps in action marten are usually caught on the way out not the way in. They are very fast. My bait size is about the size of my fist.

I used flower pots for one season and didn't like them. To flimsy and broke when it was real cold. I couldn't find any that fit over the trap like shown above. Hard to beat the commercial $15 plastic box that stack so nice.

Yukon I hate those Sauvineau's. Too powerful… overkill on marten. I have a dozen and use them when i see fisher. Tough to depress their springs by hand and the trigger fills the hole box. But I guess thats why you like them. I use to string light wire across trigger mainly for incidental weasels but have gone away from it.

With respect that's all any of us have…our opinions, and I'm happy to hear everyone's. But I have never had a marten damaged in a bodygrip by any brand trap. I've also never heard of it from my fellow local trappers, so why are you having issues? Perhaps you're damaging them trying to take them out of the trap when frozen? I can relate lots of stories of damaged legs and feet on marten that are caught in footholds, plus many live marten waiting to be dispatched. I don't lose any sleep over dispatching fur but at the same time I take no pleasure in seeing a marten that was in distress hanging by one leg waiting to freeze.

The price of traps is a moot point if you're serious and intend to be in this business for long. Even one $50 marten pays for both trap and box and every marten you catch after that is gravy.

A couple things( that may or may not be important to some)to take into account,here a footrap would be out of commission with snow,I would not leave an animal alive in a restraining trap for an extended period,that just does not sit right with me-or the general public who are very concerned about humane trapping.So that means inefficiency for me.With a killing trap I can run more lines if I choose with 3 and 5 day checks allowing a larger area to be trapped .Checking traps every day is a waste of time.Of all the marten I have sold that are caught in the strong bodygrips I have had no damages in my account receipts.Older weaker(and illegal here) bodygrips cause damage.Studies were done by the Fur Institute of Canada in conjunction with the auction houses to determine if the newer stronger bodygrips caused fur damage-it was negligible.Strong bodygrips cause damage to weasels in the extreme cold if you are not careful handling them.
Bears only bother boxes here if you dont drop your bait when you pull your trap,very easy to do with vertical boxes opening down.Just snip wire and the bait drops out.

X2

T4E, I think geography might have a lot to do with it.....probably more than we realize. But if you use conibears enough you will see that there is a difference.....price means nothing.....its the triggers. When Im setting 80-miles of line I dont have time to fiddle with the triggers. In this country you might only get one shot at a marten before they move on or die......misses are costly. I can set a 2000-5 and be confident I wont miss a marten. That single fact alone makes them worth the extra few bucks.....as for conibear doing more damage......nonsense. Sure if you try to force a frozen marten out of a bodygrip you will damage the fur.......If you use them right you wont have a problem......I think yukonjeff addressed that issue when he said most top lots go to Canadian trappers.....all of those marten were caught in bodygrips....every single one.

Everyone has their own preferences based on their experience and I think every area is different....but make no mistake about it.....Canadians take a pile of marten with bodygrips.

A lot of great opinions here, but I'd love to see more marten sets and explanations on how to rather than this.

Or maybe just read their pelt handling manual.

My biggest knocks against footholds used in classic pole sets is that:

1) I don't think the sets hold up as well in super heavy snow areas. This isn't a problem if it puts sets out of commission once or twice a season, but if it is every single check its no good. I might have a tendency to use too big of poles though. (I started wondering about this some years after rejecting poles.)

2) Cutting or coming up with poles can be a lot harder than you would think in certain terrain. Funny as this sounds, it is very very applicable in some places.

3) They are at least somewhat more prone to birds.

Those are the only reasons I don't use them. I definitely believe that they have less refusals and will catch marten that will walk by a plant pot vertically on a tree. I am seriously considering running poles to my plant pots, but then you have some of the same issues as above and am unsure if it is worth the time and effort. It is complicated by the fact that there is so much snow on our line that you often don't get good opportunities to see marten tracks and observe set behaviour. I have not used footholds in boxes except on the ground targeting mink. (Have caught marten in them of course, but don't like ground caught marten for all the normal reasons although in my area rodents chewing on critters is not much of a problem, snow burying ground sets much bigger problem.)

Obligatory, this is my opinion for my area.

I would love to run horizontal boxes with poles seems like a lot of the advantages of both. How snow resistant and bird resistant do people find these? (Although at this point I might still run plant pots because I have set them thousands of times and am very used to them and my system is set up for that.)

This thread reminds me of the FHA or NAFA threads that pop up from time to time.lol.

I run boxes with #1 jumps exclusively. My boxes are cut as 7" rips of whatever plywood or 1x material is around for grabs. I have tried a variety of trap types and set types. I like the small undersprung traps for the light weight and quickness to rig and set. I went down the path of standardizing my sets and never looked back. Not into the body grip vs. foothold debate.

Here is another style that has it's merits. An old trapper down in Bushmans neck of the woods makes these boxes. They have a seperate compartment for bait that nothing can get too. The pluses are you only have to bait them once a season ( other than scent) and the marten stays in the box. This almost guarantees zero pitch or mice problems....downside of course is the box itself......large, and expensive to make. I got a bunch for free and I do like them........no misses with them so far......

Have any other pictures?

Am not a big time marten guy but here's my fav. the one that has a marten in it

And I have to say I now know what it feels like to see tracks going to a set and they do nothing but circle the dang thing

I take the lath and nail it to tree, this one I didn't drill holes in the lath and it split, that's why box is crooked, but that happened after trap went off.
May try some of the horizontal boxes with a #1, cause where am at snow or freezing rain will put a running pole out of commission pretty fast
Lots of good info here
T4E was all those in one year? One thing about it there is no doubt you earn every penny you get