Thinking of making my own marten lure for next year. Gusto works good but is kinda spendy and I would just like to try making my own. Know some of you guys up north make your own with Fish oil and skunk essence. What sort of ratios? I was thinking of making a quart or so using fish oil, probably add about four ounce of beaver oil (mainly because I have a ton of it in the freezer that I've saved up over the years and just use a dab mixed with chopped castors for beaver lure, so don't have another use for it) and adding some skunk essence. Never messed with skunk essence though and don't have an idea of what ratio would be appropriate. And would you stick to pure essence or would the tincture sold at places like MTP be okay. Would you use more with the tincture?

All I ever use is a dab of skunk tincture. Nothing else. A good size chunk of bait too

Don't over do it with the skunk or you will overpower everything else. Imo, add just enough until you can smell that it's in there. Animals have much better noses than we do. Rely mostly on set location and prevailing wind; those two items are most important.

Dont forget when you want to lure an animal that they have more senses than just smell.

I make my own use mice as the filler and the quill glands of the skunk after l pull out the quill. I found just about any type of marten lure works until it gets below -4F after that most aren’t worth a dam. I used a lot of gusto it works in the cold.
I add pure quill if it does smell enough in the cold. Less quill if it is warm.

I don't like skunk in my marten lure at all. It does seem to catch the attention of wolverine though

Marten Magic is about all I use anymore. In our area its hard to beat. Back in 2012 I did some testing for a lure manufacturer. I tried a lot of different lures including some that smelled just like bubble gum. The skunky type lures worked the best. I know a few guys have good luck with rotten fish bait and no lure too.

White, what do you use for lure then? Do you use a sweet lure? I have heard rasberry and strawberry jam quoted as good marten lures but I had zero luck using rasberry jam myself.

White uses chocolate chip cookies.
I use Gusto.

Mix the raspberry jam with beaver castor for a decent fisher/marten lure.

I got a recipe that calls for a pint of weasel glands , can you even trapping enough weasels to get a pint of there glands.

In all seriousnes, I have trapped marten for about 33 years. Have tried most commercial lures, and made my own. Have "tested" lures with every other set, double sets, etc.
As marten go, (and absolutely wolverine!), the best marten lure I have found is Gusto.
I will say that in my country, keeping it dry is good. I have various ways of doing that, but is important.
Other lures will certainly work, but in my experience, nothing else competes with Gusto. And it is not just the skunk that makes it what it is.

Thank you AV. I haven't trapped many of them and mainly used Gusto. Keeping it dry can be a trick here, a lot of precipitation and our normal temps seem to range from 40-0 F. Occasionally higher and lower in the winter, but that would be our normal temps, and it invariably rains or pours the snow at 35 as soon as I relure or make new sets.

like some have said,i have used Raspberry or strawberry jam to save some money and it works. I buy about a gallon of the cheapest jam i can find in either blueberry, raspberry or strawberry or all 3 and dump it into a bucket along with an equal amount of bacon grease and or deep frier oil. I also grind up a half dozen fresh beaver castors and add an ounce of skunk essence(doesn't have to be pure quill for this). Mix it all up really good in the summer with a drill and paint mixer attachment and put a lid on it an throw it in the bait freezer. Because i'm too far north for a good population of beaver i tend to use tainted, not rotten, fish for bait and after -30c your fish tends to dry out and not smell as loud as when its warmer. I find with fish that is mushy rotten i end up with a lot of interest but not alot of commitment from marten though mink seem to love mushy rotten fish. I'll use a small tablespoon of this smeared on the fish and also a smaller amount smeared just outside the trap so they can have a taste. it works for all but the lazy marten.

AV, I have never used Gusto. Is it a really skunky lure? I have never really seen the need for such a loud smell in the moderate temps we have in SE. But then, I've never tried Gusto. My favorite lure is Laugeman's Sable Oil (when I can find it). I usually spice it up just a bit by taking a 16d nail, dipping it into skunk musk and simply stirring what sticks to the nail into a 4oz jar of Sable Oil. I think just a hint of skunk is better than too much; just my opinion.

Pretty skunky, but different than plain quill. Almost garlic under-tones. A little goes a long ways.

For many years I used VE TINGLEY'S Black Magic mink lure !! It was great !!

Then I tried something with some skunk in it. Scared every marten out of the country.

Went back to Black Magic.

Then I tried some skunk musk .......... WORST OF ALL !!

Then I tried Gusto. Just as bad ! Then I tried Paul's Skunky Backbreaker. The wolverine loved it but the marten shied away from it.

So I went back To Black Magic Mink lure ( if you can find it) for marten and Skunky Backbreaker for wolverine

In the late 80s I ran an airplane line lake hopping. All pole sets with footholds. Soured beaver for bait. Seal oil for lure and raspberry jam on the pole. Worked pretty good. Caught a lot of marten, but there were a lot of marten around. The jam attracted the voles and they would eat it off the pole. Maybe that was a benefit. Seal oil, once it gets strong, lasts a long time. I trapped the same lakes, same sets, for a few years. When I showed up in Nov. to reset for the winter some poles would have bear or maybe wolf hair on them from the animals rubbing on the pole. I'm sure it was the oil that attracted the bears/ wolves. If I get back o trapping I'll have to round up some old oil.
mt

A chunk of green dogfish is the best marten lure/ bait in my experience, the more stank it has the more they like it.

Never found a need for any type of lure for marten-tried them all and no difference.What works best for me in my area is a large chunk of bait in the box.
I trap beaver in late fall before land fur so have no shortage of bait.