Re: Marten die offs
[Re: rick olson]
#7099242
12/21/20 10:00 AM
12/21/20 10:00 AM
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Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 832 Labrador, Canada
crosspatch
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 832
Labrador, Canada
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Sometime between the 1910's and 1930's, depending on where you were in Labrador marten died off over at least half the territory. Excluding the barren areas we are talking over 50,000 sq. miles and probably into some areas of neighbouring Quebec. There were a couple of generations of trappers here who only heard of marten from the old timers. When the marten came back, starting in the 70's, most people around saw their first marten then. Back in the day there were too few trappers and the Innu Indian families trapping to make a difference to the marten. Something went thru them and it took about 50 years for them to come back. By the mid 80's they had completely repopulated their former range here. Since then, depending mostly on pricing, we have taken up to 6,600 marten a year here. Our marten were in every top lot, at either NAFA or FHA, either auction had for decades. We have a lot of big dark marten with better quality fur besides colour and size.
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Re: Marten die offs
[Re: rick olson]
#7099290
12/21/20 10:54 AM
12/21/20 10:54 AM
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 2,686 Alaska
drasselt
trapper
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trapper
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 2,686
Alaska
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Up here marten can be prone to move. Here today, gone tomorrow. When I see that I assume there are just small pockets of them, not a good high overall population. When the overall numbers are high they don't just disappear like that. A crash in the food base drives them down. Here the food base is voles.
you can vote your way into socialism, but you will have to shoot your way out.
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Re: Marten die offs
[Re: Northof50]
#7099917
12/21/20 08:56 PM
12/21/20 08:56 PM
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Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 832 Labrador, Canada
crosspatch
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 832
Labrador, Canada
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Stomach contents Friar Tuck were ?
Crosspatch you got that right, know of several Labador people that tell of their grandparents leaving the traps in the trees to return when the marten returned. Just to think of all those #1 newhouses just blowing in the breeze and the others wrapped in oil cloth and by the third rock cairn past the big rock. Exactly the old people used to talk about their marten paths they called them. Lots of traps left on them never be seen again nor the paths ever walked again.
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Re: Marten die offs
[Re: rick olson]
#7100904
12/22/20 03:24 PM
12/22/20 03:24 PM
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 35,618 McGrath, AK
white17
"General (Mr.Sunshine) Washington"
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"General (Mr.Sunshine) Washington"
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 35,618
McGrath, AK
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I have no control how our state figure out what they think the season and limits should be,I don’t believe that most are dying of old age mostly a 50/50 on adults and juveniles.I have friends that work out in the big woods all summer and they saw many,many martens,now they have seemed to disappear,most of the local trappers are saying and seeing the same thing????? The tough thing about what you describe is that several people may have seen the same marten or have seen the same marten several times. Pretty hard to get an accurate idea of what the population is when using that standard. When things are "normal" on my line I can take around 10 marten per mile of trapline between November and February. When things seemed to be at their worst for population numbers I timed the interval between sets of tracks from a Cub. This was probably 2011-12. I was seeing a different set of tracks about every six minutes. So if you're traveling 60 mph, that means about 6 miles between sets of tracks. This was a straight line and by no means scientific. The habitat changed also of course. Nevertheless, I am convinced that that was a very low marten density at that time. By the way, if your population structure is 50/50 adult to juvenile I would suspect you have problems already.
Mean As Nails
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Re: Marten die offs
[Re: rick olson]
#7100946
12/22/20 04:24 PM
12/22/20 04:24 PM
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Joined: Sep 2015
Posts: 178 Maine
AndrewM
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Sep 2015
Posts: 178
Maine
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This summer we had a bumper crop of martens now with snow covering the ground 4-6” they are almost nonexistent,do they get distemper or something like that ? Fisher get canine distemper virus. I would guess that marten can too. I know of one state that had a fisher die-off at least partially attributed to rodenticides. I don't know the details, but post mortem testing showed lethal levels. I would guess that those animals probably ate mice or rats that were killed by poison, and then died themselves. Just a guess though. We had a bumper crop of marten this year too but they seemed to hold up well through the fall. We had a very dry spring.
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Re: Marten die offs
[Re: Rusty Newhouse]
#7101425
12/22/20 09:47 PM
12/22/20 09:47 PM
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Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,148 AK
bfisch
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,148
AK
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Years ago I asked an older more experienced trapper why the Marten at times seem to disappear, he answered with a chuckle "The wind blows them away". It all makes sense now!
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Re: Marten die offs
[Re: rick olson]
#7101547
12/22/20 11:33 PM
12/22/20 11:33 PM
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 46,945 james bay frontierOnt.
Boco
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 46,945
james bay frontierOnt.
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I always see marten chasing rabbits in march when the crust is on.When the snow crusts marten cannot get below the snow to hunt voles,so they chase rabbits. The Cree word for marten is Wabushstan which translates to Rabbit chaser,from their habit of being seen in march chasing down rabbits.Large male marten have no problem chasing down a rabbit.I have watched them a bunch of times.They are relentless,the rabbit will dodge and weave,the marten with his little short legs going full speed goes directly in a straight line always keeping his eyes on the running rabbit.The marten runs down the rabbit on the crust,and grabs it right behind the neck with its teeth,and wraps itself around the rabbit.The rabbit goes stiff in about 30 seconds,Paralysed I suspect from a bite to the spinal column.Then the marten will drag the rabbit to cover. Out of all the times I have seen marten chasing rabbits it has almost always been larger male marten.I dont believe the smaller female marten are as successful at rabbit hunting. In years when the crust is hard I would suspect any female marten would have a hard time sustaining body fat at that important time of year and likely results in a lot of reproductive failure due to low body fat and the blastocyst being re absorbed.
In the past a lot of late winter beaver trappers in northern Ontario would stockpile beaver carcasses in old growth parts of their line where female marten den to help increase the carrying capacity of their lines at this important time of the year.
Forget that fear of gravity-get a little savagery in your life.
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Re: Marten die offs
[Re: rick olson]
#7101602
12/23/20 01:02 AM
12/23/20 01:02 AM
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Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 7,051 MB
Jurassic Park
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 7,051
MB
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I picked through the stomach on a Fisher ONCE and told myself not to do that again. That smell was bad! Had deer hair inside. I’ve never picked through a Marten stomach but watched them catch mice or voles while deer hunting and also video taped one eating a rabbit. I seen one chasing a rabbit one winter too. Not sure if he caught it though. It’s rabbit city here though.
Cold as ice!
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