Marten
 

Got access to some new area for yotes an owner says they have some marten around was curiose was people preferred traps for marten are have seen the odd fisher around so was wondering if a 120 or should go more towards 160

120 is plenty. Fisher is a quota animal

Ok thanks sorry forgot to mention this is in sask from what I see in the regulations doesn’t look like fisher are on quota in my area will double cheak with co tho to verify any tips on lure for marten

marten
 

Good bait/lure combination for marten is a good chunk of fresh beaver and dab of marten magic paste on nearest tree. If there is a marten in the area you will get him in your 120 trap/box combination.

Good to hear I’ll look at ordering some marten magic an will hafta go set some beaver traps round up some bait

You can buy beaver carcasses from Mikey if you need bait.

I’ll be able to get some beavers actually just put a order in for cpl dozen traps Marty

Who makes tHat marten magic been looking on dam beavers website also can’t find it

I used Forsyth lure and works great.

Good to know trapper mike will giver a shot see how I do

Barnes lures makes the marten magic. Or take 8 oz of vaseline gently melt it and add 1 oz of skunk essence to it. Done.

marten
 

Just as mentioned can make your own marten lure, but Halfords in Edmonton always carries Barnes lures.

Ok thanks guys for the info will put it to use an see if I can get one or two for the stretchers what size mesh do you guys like to use for the back of ur boxes

Smaller mesh will keep moles from eating your beaver bait. However a weasel will stick his paw through almost any size mesh and pick your beaver clean.

Yea that’s wat I was thinking hard keep them weasels our most of the times

When I was trapping 110s were legal and they were my go to for Marten.

If there were Fisher around I'd put a few 220 sets in key places.

110s would take the female Fisher well enough but were unreliable on the old males. That's not to say they never worked, just that the 110 didn't have enough width to hit them right if they triggered the trap with their nose.

With modern traps I'm sure 120 would be fine for Marten and a 160 would do well enough for Fisher. However I'd check the regulations before making sets.

Last I trapped only certain traps were approved for certain animals.
I don't know if either would be allowed for either animal.

As near as I can see trapping these days is less about what works and more about keeping the anti's off government backs.

I believe 110’s aren’t legal for marten anymore.

That is right.

It's why I stated that they were legal when I was trapping.

I ended up settling with a dozen Bridger magnum 120 gonna make some
Boxes this weekend hopefully if don’t get to busy setting yote baits an fixing our pig shelter before winter sets in here in sask

I don't use my 110's any more but I thought they were still legal for mink...
Have to check regs but I don't do mink either...

One more question to pick your marten trapping minds lol when building your boxes how much space around trap do you guys like I have 120 I want to say their five inches wide curiose wat size to make opening of boxes

MINK/MARTEN/FISHER BOX, For a 120 Magnum Trap, LDL or Belisle
Dimensions: For 5/8 or 3/4 inch lumber or plywood
Bottom 8” x 18”
Top 8” x 14”
Sides 6 ½” x 14”

Inside Dimensions
Width: 6 ¾ inches
Height: 6 ½ “

I used 5 1/2 inches because that is the width of a 1x6.
Never had an issue with that width.

I also did not use a plywood box for Marten.

My boxes were 1x6 base with sides and top cut from one piece of cardboard and stapled on to the base.

Or I used a running pole set I posted pictures of on another thread.

I would have switched to 90% pole sets if I had been able to prefect the trap holder but the bottom fell out before that happened and I had to take full time work to support a growing family and never went back to wilderness trapping.

They were so much easier to make, maintain and check then boxes and they offered two chances to catch instead of one.

They had other advantages as well but that's for another thread.

Best to design your marten boxes with good tapper from back to front. Eg; 7" down to 5". This way they are stackable and take much less room on quad or trapper sled. Thus can carry many more in one load.

Was looking at the tapered design for the hauling aspect in planning only running at most maybe 12 boxes but probly run lil less so I can swap traps out once it gets cold this is more just a learning curve for me to try an get one or two just to learn

I’ve used the plastic boxes you can buy at halfords and been very successful with them. Work good for marten and skunk.

Have a buddy who buys those stacking plastic mail boxes and cuts slits in the sides to put the trap in. That way he can stack the boxes and carry the traps in something else. I've never tried it as I built my own boxes out of 1x4 and 3/8 plywood. A million ways to skin a cat!

12 boxes is a small amount. Honestly, do what is economical. Use some scrap board plywood or whatever is kicking around. If you catch any marten plan on $30-$50 per animal so do the math on what makes sense.

That's what lead me to the cardboard idea. I could carry 40 or so in my 2' x 4' sled box.

The bases stayed in place year round so I only had to transport them once.

The pole sets needed only an axe, a can of spikes and a spool of hay wire.
They also stayed in place year round and could be reset in half the time a box set would take.

Yea 12 isn’t much but just testing the waters an learning how to go after em I work for a mill in sask here so the boxes are made out of all the wood the lab test for quality control so all free four ft by four ft of wood for free I’m not running a trap line in the bush I know there’s lots of marten out there gonna be trapping on the edge on the farm land along the rivers and creeks where I run my yote baits