Hello! Trying to make my one lure for the trappingseason this fall. Used to by commercial lures from the US, but it's not longer aloud to ship them over seas. There is no professional luremakers in Norway, so I have to rely on my self. ( You have to excuse my writing and language. not used to wright english )
Trapping for marten. Are going to use castor as an important ingredient but thought I would use meat for the main base.
I have rotted down a mix of moose, roedeer, and beaver meat. Started to get pretty runny. Have now added Sodium benzoate. hope the smell would appear sweeter by some time.
what do ya think? would this be a usable base for my lure? (Glands are not possible to by either)

Best regards from Norway

I'm not a Martin trapper so I can't help you too much. But for our coyotes and foxes our native deer species make an excellent base for a bait or lure. One thing you might consider is saving the glands off the inside of the back legs of your moose or deer (we call them tarsal glands here). The are very attractive in a lures for coyotes.

Welcome to trapperman Norway!

Thank you, "Yes sir"! , and thanks for the answer and tip on the tarsal glands. Planing to make a lure for red fox as well, with the same base. will try does glands sometime.
Not legal to sett traps for fox and wolfs in Norway, except from big live-catching cubbys for fox, lynx and wolverine. Most foxes are hunted at night by placing a bait and wait them out. A god lure cud help dragging them in and add some extra appeal to the main bait.

Do you have mink in Norway? Their glands ought to make a very attractive lure. I would save all the glands you could from mink, martin and wolverine. Although the wolverine glands might have the exact opposite reaction than what you're wanting. I have read that a chunk of rabbit fur or wing off of game bird with a little skunk essence was and excellent attractor. Any meat type of bait ought to work very well when the temps start to drop.

Yes, we have mink. They are in fact North American mink that was brought to Norway in the 50s for farming fur. Many escaped and they are now considered as a problem to the native birdlife. especially for the costal wildlife. Wolverines are strictly guarded by the state, and very few license are given each year. No wolverines in my area.

I often use birdwings from black grouse, capercaillie, or a pis of hare-skin (rabitt) in my marten traps. We do not use skunk in Norway. There are no skunks here and animals here do not respond mush to this smell is my experience. ( I have tried skunky lures from the US ) Castorbased lures seems to work better over here. Beavers are common in southern Norway, so the smell of castor is a more natural i guess? For bait my absolute favorite is honey. Heather-honey from the woods is the best. rich and aromatic and low water content. I have always wondered why no one seems to use this for bait in the US? I would assume that 90 % of all the martens caught in Norway, is taken by honey-baits. Martens over here are very shy, and can often be hard to catch. No foot holds type traps are legal. Conibear , belisle and so on, are legal if they have two springs. 120 is the smallest we use. Personally I prefer 160 for marten. ( Scandinavian martens are slightly bigger then the american marten, and a little darker in color )
Thanks for tip and answer "wormbobskey"

I don't have martins in PA i'm afraid, but we have other similar carnivores. I know a lot of people have good results from using muskrat meat, porcupine meat, groundhog meat, tainted mice, deer meat sometimes tainted, bobcat meat and fish. Some sets may only require a visual attraction as the main lure, such as a bobcat, so all you have to do is hang some fur or feathers above your trap so they jump for it, but that's just one set of many. Beaver meat and muskrat meat are what I think a martin would like, but as I said I don't have much experience with them. If you can get a trail cam you should test out some lures and baits. Over hear especially in early fall predators like fox's for example will seek out sweet foods, so honey, fruit, or jams/jelly's would sometimes work as a bait. I like honey and it's one of my go-to lures around here, so I have a lot of faith in it. Back-strap molasses might work well, its very sweet and sticky and would be great for mixing into some ground meat or fish or used on it's own. Good luck on your trapping ventures, just remember bait and lure is an aid, a helping hand. Location is key, good location + good bait or lure = results. Just like fishing.

Thanks " Keeper of the Coons" , no doubt there are plenty of baits there will catch martens. I have also caught marten using only chicken eggs. Raspberry jam with a little anis oil, and loganberry oil also works very well as bait. I often combine the raspberry jam and honey, and use a bird wing as an visual attractor. Location is key, always. But I still think it's important to have a god lure at the sett. Hope my base will turn out fine, and my lure will do the trick. Going to be a call-type of lure.
Earlier i used "Sable oil" by Big sky lures. It worked very well, but its not the same quality any more. When Fuller Laugemann maid them, they where very god.
Carman's Canine call, and Tom Krause's 40-bellow, are also god lures here in Norway. I guess that Dobbins Backbreacker would do well also, but have never tried it?
Anyone now what the Sable oil is made off?

I have shipped our lures to the UK without problems. My local PO guys helped me with correct papers.
Does Norway have different rules?

The rules where changed when the Chronic wasting disease for the first time was detected in our country. Now it's forbidden to ship any content with animal content in. I think this is also a rule in the US. Only exception is Canada. I was told from a person working for the F&T trading post, that they cud not ship any animal content or lures outside the US.
A few shops in Norway do still have some commercial lures in stock, but not the ones I want.
Interesting to make my own lure though.

any sweat jelly/jam mackerel sardines fish oil castor anis vaseline vanilla mixed in a base. I've never been a fan of rotted down meat for fisher or marten. add some type of antifreeze for water lines.

Hopefully your stinky concoction works out well for you but if you find yourself looking for a different base try sheep’s brains . I’m sure with chronic wasting and mad cow disease getting any other type brains might be a problem but I don’t think sheep’s brains would be an issue. Grinding them fresh and then adding the smells you want “ honey , castor, mink gland “ may be better than tainting. You may want to do a batch each way and see what works best .
Good luck,
Don

Many people here in the US are having good luck catching marten with fish - perhaps something to think about as you develop your base. Love to see some pics from your marten catches in Norway too!

Can you access seal oil in Norway?? In the past, seal oil was used as a base, however no longer in the US. Perhaps another option for you.

We visited Norway in 2013, what a wonderful country and people. I even saw an otter in the harbor in Tromso which was fun to see.

Best of success.

Try some SFE (Synthetic Fermented Egg) and then a sweet bait fruit based with peppermint added for call. SFE is synthetic and should be shippable. Good Luck let us know how things work.

Skunk is used a lot here guessing you don’t have them in Norway skunk grease and skunk essence makes a nice paste lure even in places without skunks in the area.

Try some sun rendering of the oils to get a bit of a taint smell to it, heat rendered fat to me will make better natural bases but heat rendered are more of a ingredient to me.

Heat rendered skunk oil on right before it separated sun rendered on the left. The same can be done with badger fats. The badger fat will taint the skunk will not.

Skunk grease after separation process.

Separated heat rendered skunk oil.

My sun rendered skunk oil looks just like your heat rendered stuff Law Dog.

How’d it end up black?

Sun rendered badger comes out darker also we must have more sun here? LOL

The black gets a nice taint to it that I like the heat rendered is more mellow.

Rich Mellon from trapping inc has a homemade lure with just Vaseline for the base then jam any kind is good and a once of pure skunk essence.
He has a youtube channel where he shows how to make that.