wondering what's kind of bait marten like better between meat (beaver) or fish in cold weather

I would stick with meat.....especially beaver because it still has an odor even in the cold

Probably prefer red meat baits. Tho have caught hundreds of marten with fish bait. Usually it comes down to what you have the most of.

Dry rot fish

I have tried both over the years and for my area beaver meat is the best.

I have tried both over the years and for my area beaver meat is the best.

Beaver.

I use b’ver meat because it’s easily accessible. Always start my season catching a few. Cut a bunch of pieces off the carcass and what’s left is a good wolverine bait. Tried salted herring once. It caught 1 marten.

Beaver

Beaver also.

Grouse less breast’s, moose/bear fat rolled up in soffit screen Pre wired about size of your thumb. Tainted to the point you can barely stand to smell it..lol. Dried split fish tainted and beaver didn’t work well where I trapped and I was a died in the wool beaver trapper…lol
I also used just a grouse wing and lure no bait worked well until someone (human)started taking the wings!

Beav.

Snap, grouse here too. I would make 4 baits or more from a carcass. Duck was also better than beaver. Marten here don't climb often where I'm at either.

I think FT was a grouse guy too. Made a lot of small baits like you mention Larry.

Grouse or rabbit is ok before it gets real cold.Same with cheap sardines or fish oil.
After the cold sets in a good sized chunk of beaver in the box works well.If it gets frost dried on the outside I chop it in half and its giving off the smell again for a week or more.
After that i change it out for fresh chopped beaver,and throw the old chunks in a snow hole beside my trail and snare it up,or collect it up and add it to a jackpot for cats and fox on down the line.
Moose butcher scraps is real good too,and beef scraps from the butcher is also top notch if you can get some.
Never heard of pork being any good,but never tried any pork butcher scrap.

Salted bait was worse than useless even the small mammals wouldnt touch it.The only thing it attracted was the odd moose come in to lick under the box.
Never had much luck with fish(suckers) here for marten.
Sucker chunks are good mink bait in late fall early winter.When mink prices were good way back we would net,trap or snag a bunch of suckers during the spring runs and freeze up a bunch in burlap bags for mink sets in the fall.

Oh yah a meal and bait, can’t beat it. Better than any chicken!


The year we went to the ground because they weren’t climbing we got 25% more. Our version of a tip up!

Beaver works good here, I prefer it tainted for marten. Never tried fish, but fish oil with skunk essence makes a decent lure. We can't use game birds here, so never tried grouse. Used cougar meat once because I was out of beaver, it worked but I don't think as well as beaver.

I ran mostly tip ups, Occasionally I would have a windy week between checks and get noses dried to the skull. Got a lot of mink in those sets also

I used to say beaver, because every meat eating animal loves it, and it is available. But now I would have to say number one is duck and grouse carcasses hacked into a few pieces.

I know old timers in Washington who trapped in the 1930's through the 1950's used a lot of salmon scraps. They used salmon for two reasons, it worked okay, and it was more readily available than beaver at that time. Trappers were not allowed to trap beaver in Washington until 1963, prior to that time only State government trappers were allowed to trap beaver.

When they used salmon, they would generally fold the chunk of fish (often a little ripe) inside a piece of hardware cloth and then nail the packet to the inside of the notch in the tree that contained their trap. I still occasionally find remnants of these old sets. The hardware cloth protected the bait from birds.

Being that we are forced to trap beaver in Ontario, we normally only use that.

Have been out with trappers in the NWT and Yukon that used fish and caught marten no problem.

I like to use a call lure at the set in the winter. Gusto is my go to if I buy any, started making my own lure and have good success with it.

A good fisted size chunk of beaver works for me.

80% of the time fish head, fanned out dried duck wing on a swivel and a dab of Paul’s Skunky Backbreaker. 20% just the wing and lure ( fish head finally has gotten robbed ). See no difference in success. Completely convinced, and will soon be trying, 100% setting with wing and lure only.

Side note- I’m letting my line rest this year as the lynx, fox cycles are low ( rabbit crash ) so I’ve been focusing on trail and trapper cabin maintenance. While building a bridge over a troubled creek last weekend I ran into extremely fresh wolverine sign. It tore up a set where I caught a big one last year and peed at a few places 20 yards from set. After completing my bridge I made a run to one my my T cabins and grabbed a couple of #9s but had no bait. Ended up crunching up a couple of cup of soups and scattering some moose jerky around the set. See what happens..