Is there room for the trigger to lift and fire? Picture looks like it is tight to the lid.

Those are nice looking boxes that you built. Well thought out with the fitment of multiple trap sizes and bait retention.

Not to redirect your thread, but I have an aversion to driving nails or screws into live trees. Reason being is the amount of sap that they will weep is crazy, and I go out of my way to keep pitch off of my fur at the sets.
Something to consider, drill two sets of four holes through the bottom of your boxes to wire them to the tree or pole. This also allows them to swivel a bit when bears smack them around during the off season.

Yeah it pretty much wedges in there, I bend the edges so it gives it a little bit of spring pushing against the box. I cut a hole in the middle to so I can put my finger inside and pull it out.

Hey viking, I know the picture doesn’t show it that good but there is room for the trigger to engage. I push the trap in til there’s a bit of room on one side and I’ll bend the springs up towards the trigger so the bottom jaws are touching but the top still has a gap.

Weekend update:

Still rough country out there so it's pretty slow travelling. I got some more sets out and picked up some more fur. Didn't seem like there was a whole lot of action with the warmer temps this week. I'm expecting more volume this week with the lows dipping into the negatives. I've been using a lure with a strong lingering sweet smell which seems to be doing a good job so far. I'd alternate using the sweet and then a skunky lures when I first set and found the sweet was doing better. My brother and Junie gave me company this trip and it was a good day out in the country.

An update on the experiment:
The boxes are still undefeated against the poles 3-0. The poles were nice and dry with no snow this time. There are 3 more sets that I added to the experiment. I think it's just a matter of time that we'll see out hanging off a pole. But so far the boxes are on a hot streak.

Nice marten

That is a pretty neat design you got for your boxes!

good eyes Viking
Field modifications; a little run with the chainsaw tip cuts a grove so that the dog can rise to overcome this problem

Overdue update:

I got a couple checks in since my last update. Both my best checks so far.
Wednesday I went out on a chilly below zero day. I had plans to fill some gaps between sets and brought more boxes, but somewhere along the line when I was swapping traps with fur in them to empty traps I lost the bit for my impact driver. This was my very first ride with my brand new snowmachine and remembered I had the tool with a phillips head on it. I went to my next set that had a marten and went to use the tool to release the trap. The head on the tool snapped off the instant I applied torque to it. The day was getting longer and I figure I won't set any more boxes now that I'm out of tools drive screws in. I had to use the back of my axe to remove the washers holding my fur filled traps the rest of the trip.
Yesterday I went out and freshened up my sets with some lure and made sure the bait was still good. I was able to get a few more sets out also and it was just a gorgeous day.
Good news for all the traditionalist trappers keeping track of my body grip vs foothold experiment. There was one set that a marten had preferred the foothold over the box. On another set, the box had an unsprung trap dangling with no bait inside and next to it, a marten caught in a foothold. This week the boxes barely came out on top with a 3-2 record, making it 6-2 on the season.

An interesting set I made that paid off.

One of the double sets. You can see a marten had went up the pole and snapped a snow covered trap.

Beautiful sunset on the way home.


A great first ride on my new snowmachine. Love these 4-stroke widetracks. I got rid of my previous one, same exact model that I put 12,000 miles on.

Nice catch of marten

Good catches! Look at all those marten tracks under that double setup!

I am with you on the Expedition 4strokes. I have a wide track and a SWT both with the 900 ACE love them.

I've always told myself I'd buy a brand new sled someday, and then always end up putting money into my boat instead. Maybe next year...the old powder special is gonna have to carry me through another winter lol

10 marten in 1 check? How many traps you check? You need to get more traps out. Those 10 are something between 500-700 bucks. That will help pay for a new snogo!

Great catch. What do you need the impact for, as to switching out traps?
I had my coni's rigged with cable, and a snap/carabiner to the anchor on tree.

Those of us who earn our living on a power saw greatly appreciate you. I can't tell you how many beautifully ground chains I've annihilated because of a nail or a piece of wire left in a tree. And the trapper in me totally understands, the timber cutter in me wants to hit that guy with something heavy lol

So for now I've got a screw and washer securing my trap chain. I've got some swiveling clips on their way I'm going to start using. They're the same ones on the savageau's that clips right to the spring. As for the screws and nails in trees, you guys must understand I'm in an very remote area. I take my traps and boxes back after every season. Most of the timber I tap into are in a burn area so they are pretty dry.

I used to make boxes with a long end to put a screw through, which worked pretty good. But when I started making tapered boxes that nestled, I went to drilling a hole in the box a couple inches from the end. I just sink a screw halfway into the tree and then hang the box on it by the hole i have drilled, then drive a screw tight at the mouth of the box, this holds the box tight to the tree and the one it is hanging on through the hole keeps it from moving. Works great and is faster to put up, plus I can cut all pieces the same length when making the boxes and they nestle well without a long side.

That's a good idea bearcat, might have to try a few that way.

Update time:

Things have really slowed down for me this week after having such a good week before. There's hardly any sign anymore and there's just no action. It'll be interesting to see what happens after this weird warm storm were having now. High winds, almost 40 degree temps and rain. I'm hoping after it cools off again that the marten start to move around again. I got a few more sets out over the week but nothing crazy yet. No pictures this week, and no marten in the double sets for the experiment.

Well dang! Time to move and change your target species maybe! Probably losing snow, eh? South river?