I know alot of people use beaver and fish for marten.
Has or does anybody tried or use squirrel or chipmunk?
Any thoughts?
Just getting a few in the freezer this year and was thinking of using them for more than fox & coyotes.
Thanks

While I am not sure why it wouldn't work as bait, I have had hanging marten cannibalized but never a squirrel. I stack squirrels on top of the box and the only thing to ever take them was a lynx. I find that boxes that catch a squirrel are almost guaranteed to catch a another. I now will often move a box that catches a squirrel 50 yds or so in an attempt to avoid having another plug it up.

Never had luck with squirrel. Breasted out bird carcasses worked very well for me, with beaver also being good.

What JBS said is also my experience.
Flying squirrels are the worst.Catch one in a box and almost guaranteed to catch the rest of the family group especially if you toss it in the box for bait.
Moving the box a hundred yards or so can make a big difference in squirrel catches.
Recording what your boxes catch over a couple seasons can allow you to cull boxes that catch squirrells and keep the boxes that catch multiple marten.This makes your line more efficient going forward.
Marking the box for catches is a quick and easy way to record the catches of squirrels and marten when developing new lines.

I've caught marten with half a squirrel in a mailbox for bait.

Not sure it matters, you get them to the cubby and theyre gonna check it out.

My first marten was in a box baited with a patch of squirrel fur and a dab of Marten Magic in the fur. I prefer beaver, but all my skinned critters wind up as bait.

This!

i used beaver, but more important i believe is location , cant catch what's not there

Rule #1.
Best sets and bait will catch SFA if there’s nothing there. If your box is where they’re moving, you can probably use whatever you want.

I think I’ve mentioned this more than once. Screw the best sets, best traps in the world, best lure. Set location and you’ll connect. Most study trapping, but I’m not sure why more don’t study their target…….too boring I guess……lol

After freeze up the amount of bait makes a big difference when marten trapping according to in depth studies developed and overseen by Milan Novak working with professional production marten trappers back in the late 80s and early 90s.
Also box configuration made a difference between a visit and a catch.
Use of lure or no lure made no difference.

Beaver does not dry out as fast.

I found that study, but can only read the first page. I’ll have to see if my kid can get it with her U of M ID. If she can, it looks like I’d still need permission to share it.
Be nice to have it in writing.

Set on sign, location is important,red meat,roadkill venison works, or beaver, sac oil at base of tree. I have always set in the vicinity of tracks. Limit is two here so I don’t participate if I have to go out of my way very far to do it. Last time I targeted marten, I set on sign with 120 mink boxes and was done in 3 days…one check, and was near a cat jackpot in both instances.

All the trappers that participated got a copy of each of the 3 conclusive repots compiled by Novak and the other 3 bios.

Was this an Ontario only study? OFMF might be able to find something?

Geraldton Hearst Kapuskasing and Cochrane.,I forget the number of trappers but they were all big numbers Marten producers,Like Paul Millette Guy Desrodier.and Robert Stitt,all working on their own lines.It was Robert who gave me his books from the study when he went to trap in the Yukon..
Buy Desrosier developed his LDL b 120 marten trap as a result of that study-still the preferred marten trap by professional Marten trappers.

Cool, you still got them books?

Ruffed grouse parts feathers legs, back and head neck...

Anyone interested in the studies Boco is talking about, they’re available at jstor.org
Best $28 I spent in a while……lol. Downloaded PDFs of a bunch of cool trapping studies. Don’t forget to cancel in a month as they will keep billing if you don’t.