What do you want and what have you come to rely on in a marten lure?

I like skunk, and a lot of it, in a base that is waterproof and does not freeze. I make my own and it has quite a few other odors, and a base that has a permeating odor of its own, but the skunk in it is powerful enough to smell at 50-100 yards with a human nose. All that being said, I tested a marten lure of Bob Jameson's last year, and it didn't have any skunk I could smell, had a minty, sweet odor to my nose. (the wife certainly liked it better) and it is the only marten lure I have tested that performed as well as my own concoction.

After you get an odor they like, in a form that is waterproof and freezeproof, my next preference is a sticky, smearable lure. I like to take a stick and dip up a gob of lure and smear it on the tree above the box or pot, and have it stick there without running. That is quite a ways behind the other requirements though.

A large chunk of good bait in the box is what works here.
I never use scent lure for marten.
Location of boxes on the travel\dispersal routes is also more important than a scent lure when targeting dispersing juveniles as opposed to resident marten.

Best lure is catching another marten and having it loose it's bladder and glands when it dies. Like Boco said, location is more important.

I agree about location mostly but also a good lure makes a difference IMO.

For years I used Tingley's Black Magic mink lure. Very sweet and mild.
Straight sable oil works great as well.

I do NOT want skunk in my marten lure but I like it in wolverine sets

This is all good input! Keep it comin guys! Thank you all!

For me lure can make a difference. Have had good luck with Mountain Marten n Sable Oil. Good bait is more important tho.

I use Gusto and Sable Oil. I use a dried duck wing and dip the feathers into the bottles. The wing is my attractor and lure holder. I pull the wings at the end of the season and store inside the deep freezer until next season.

I have used Magnum Marten, Mountain Marten, Skunk Junk, etc. But Tim Caven got me into all this trouble so I keep using his Gusto. I prefer it over the other pure skunk and Vasoline lures. I have a ton of bears, so no lure on anything but the wings. The boxes stay at the same location for many years.

Gusto has all the other smells not just skunk and that works for my Marten. My numbers increased after adding Sable Oil. Now those two are all I use for lure. I use them together at every set.

Smearing the Vasoline works great on a Marten trap line if you use footholds and no boxes. Just smear it each trap check and the smell will open up again. But bad idea around bears and boxes.

I am the opposite of White17. I want Skunk in my Marten lure but I do not want skunk anywhere near my Wolverine sets. My wolverine see a lot of traps and know Marten sets better than I do!

My bait is half a duck carcass and has a loud odor inside the box. Mice work the box constantly. Sometimes I will add Sable Oil inside the box, just smear it on the bait just a little.

Okay Mr. Kelley, please make us a killer Marten lure now that you know all our secrets.

Ok Super Wide. I will do just that!

I'm with most of the others on this thread, location and a good chunk of bait do the most for me, but a good, loud lure helps. I have had almost no success with getting marten to enter my boxes unless I had a decent sized chunk of bait for them. Yet I know a guy who catches 50-100 marten a year and uses only lure in his boxes, no bait. Sometimes different things work for different people, in different areas.

Super Wide, I generally pull all my boxes every year, if not the bears will get most of them. Always assumed it was the smell of bait soaked into the wood of the box, but maybe it is the lure smeared on the tree above the box.

Had someone with different boots taking my grouse wing attractors so changed to bait only and small thumb size rotten moose fat/scrap and no lure and didn’t miss a catch.

The only bait I use is feathers hanging.

As mention above location, along with sable oil if you can find it. Does anyone know if Fuller Laugamans Sable oil is still being made like Fuller used to make it?
I don't like skunk, imo, not really necessary, just stinks up you and your gear.

Sadly Waggler its doubtful if it is made to Faller's high standards since the new owner took it over .

don't use much if any lure. stinky bait works well. Atractors help.

I tried all kinds of lure when I first started trapping marten, most with little to show for it. But when I was introduced to Gusto, it was a gamechanger. My early years were trapping trails off the Juneau road system, and they had been heavily trapped for decades, but Gusto increased my take by several fold.
Gusto was my go-to for gulo from the start, and when I branched out into true wild area trapping, I never looked back and continued with gusto. Both marten and wolverine continued to fall to gusto, and a nice hunk of beaver meat and/or a puff of sea duck skin, feathers attached, of course, was my bait of choice.

When I was really going after marten airplane trapping I only made pole sets, foothold trap. Bait was mostly stinky beaver. Raspberry or strawberry jam on the pole and aged seal oil also on the pole. 3 years of good catchs but the population crashed the last year.