I am a firm believer in Lure at my marten sets, tracks in the snow seem to show that lure helps in my area. I’ve struggled with broken sticks in the lure, marten getting skunks by brush against it, and getting it on myself. This year I drilled some angled 1/8” holes in my boxes and have used these giant Q-tips from Harbor Freight for lure. The bag was $4 and now I don’t end up with all the aforementioned problems. Thought I’d pass the idea along.
For those who wonder, I use a pint of food base lithium grease (Amazon) a bottle of anise extract (grocery store) a few dollops of strawberry jam, and the scent gland contents of one skunk (maybe 6cc’s? And mix it up. Seems to work for me.

Striped skunk? Seems as though that would attract several types of critters! Thanks for sharing.

Good share. Thanks.

Mac

I use Marten Magic. It’s about the viscosity of Vaseline whether it’s 0 or -40…..give or take. I learned to dab the jar on a broken branch where I’ll never go behind the set or to the side. The jar has a big glove friendly lid and I don’t get any on the sides of the container. Stays pretty clean and not get all stinky…..as long as I’m careful….then I toss it on the ledge on top of the RPM/speedo cluster of the sled and off to the next. It’s not in the set but right near it to get em close.
I like your idea though!

I use sticks but use beaver caster right on the bait and the skunk junk up high so critters and myself don't get into it.

I make my own with my own base made out of a mixture of melted lanolin and BTO, it liquifies at about 70 degrees, but at all the temperatures I am marten trapping at it is about the same consistency as the Vaseline I used to use. I just take a stick and smear it into the bark of the tree or on a limb up above the box high enough I won't get it on me or the marten. Eventually I always end up not being careful enough and get some on the outside of the jar, but until then I can stay smell free.

Back when I used Gusto, I got a bunch of pipe cleaners at the dollar store and chopped them in half, I would twist one end around a limb up above the box, leaving the other end pointing straight down, then lift the jar up around the dangling end, dipping it in the lure. Worked much better than dipping in the jar then trying to twist the clean end around a limb without wearing a bunch of lure. Gusto is a good lure, but doesn't hold up to moisture well.

Stripes skunk, yes. Spotted skunk is a bucket list item for me. I got the idea of the lithium grease from Jeremiah Wood on his Trapping Today podcast and the lure formula from Rich Mellon’s YouTube video. Thank you to both of them. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night !

No lure for me.

Same here.
Put jar into branch. No mess.

4" long piece of 1/2" pipe, pvc, pex, whatever, drill small hole in center, nail to tree above set, (or nearby), and use Q-Tip. Put in pipe. Keeps it dry, and odor still wafts out.

i started using q tips several years ago on all animal lures