i use the northwoods 155, but if i was buying traps all over again, i would go with the Belisle 160. does a better job on the fisher. last year i ran some sets on the ground, and some in leaning poles. my results were: i caught all my marten on the leaning poles, 2 fisher - one on leaning pole one on ground, and i caught one weasel in my marten box and it was on the ground.

I use all pole sets for the reasons I stated above. I also believe that a guy can reduce the number of females caught by not using ground sets.

I agree with you white17. From the pole sets I have used in the past my male over female ratio has been a big bonus to the set.

the other reason i like the pole set, i drive my line with an ATV. most of my sets are easy to spot just off the trail, and i dont need to stop if i see the trap is still set. if on the ground, i would have to walk in to investigate leaving tracks for others to see.

We don't get much snow anymore even here in Maine like we used to.You catch more marten and fisher setting on the ground.

Caught 11 marten on the ground last year without a problem.

Our marten and fisher season just got cut in half this year.Went from 2 months to 1 month.

brucet, do you use any scent at your marten sets? what do you believe is the reason you catch more on the ground as opposed to pole sets?

Marten Man

Would you be more apt to eat at a Mc Donalds if you had to climb a tree to get there ?

deffinetely not. but lets talk trapping instead. my leaning poles are only off the ground three feet, and nailed to a standing tree. in my mind, if your marten box is off the ground, that should help to distribute scent. also, keeps a heavy snow fall from covering the box. prevents mice from entering box to steal bait. easier to view set from a distance. when animal sets off trap, if still alive, it will be hanging from the leaning pole rather than having leverage to pull away from set.
and lets not forget, this is an animal that is pretty acustom to climbing trees, and will often take prey back to its den or tree to eat, rather than stay on the ground.

None of my buissness, but just to help keep you out of trouble I believe there is language in the MN DNR laws that says something to the effect that you can not place a trap anywhere that will suspend the animal off the ground. I think it is a stupid law, but a law none the less. You may want to check into it. Like I said, I am not trying to bust your chops, just save you from a hastle down the road.

2Poor,
You say there's lots of public land up north.

Does anyone have an opinion on how much competition for public trapping territory, and or trap theft/tampering I might encounter? I know this may be hard to anticipate, but in reasonable time can I get sufficiently far from well traveled areas with decent access? How many guys marten trap up along the north shore that you may know of? Do any of them want to adopt me? Be my friend?Teach me? Rub my neck after a long day? Just kidding. Anyway.

How do you guys secure a box to a leaning pole? A guy I work with went wolf hunting in Canada with a trapper with a concession in Ontario I think and he traps mostly marten. He just attaches his box to the side of a tree open end toward the ground, screen end up so they enter the box just like a squirrel coming up a vertical tree. Has anyone tried this? Comments? Obviously you have to secure the trap so it doesn't fall out of the box as well as the bait.

After trapping them for more then a couple years, I believe they spend the majority of there time hunting on the ground. I also believe that they are an efficent enough hunter to survive with out my meager offering of food. They may not even be hungry when they investigate my set ! Curious is much more likely !

The easier I make it for the animal to work the set the more likely he is to do it. I have seen many refusals by both the Marten and the Fisher when I started to pursue them. Most were when I forced the animal to work, to get to the box.

In other words climb a tree in order to eat at Mc Donalds !

I do not think scent is a problem when Marten trapping. I have caught many in a exposed leg hold trap fresh out of the speed dip.
I use flagging at the majority of my Marten & Fisher sets. The flagging is usually smeared with Magnum Marten, Gusto or GHII so any more scent distribution by the use of a elevated box is really not needed
If a couple of mice or voles are cleaning out my bait in 3 days I needed more bait to begin with !
I can not ever recall a set becoming put out of commision by heavy snow, hard to find YES . In fact I have found Fisher go to a lot of work trying to locate where that wonderful smell of Gusto is coming from, under all that fresh snow.

johnsd16

I have seen boxes like you describe ! I believe they belong to a Native trapper. He prefers to have trap on top and screen on the bottom. Most of his are only 24"-30" up the base of a big tree. I believe they are just nailed to the tree.

Lots of room in the big woods, do not be intimidated if you see another trapper. Give him some room , and if you find a set back away and look for another location.

Never had a problem with trap tampering in the big woods though I know one guy that did !

160user, do you know what page that is on in the 2007 Minnesota Trapping Regulations book? are you sure that is not just snares?

johnsd16, i secure my newspaper boxes horizontally. i attach with tie wire to a leaning pole that runs at about a 20 degree angle to a tree. marten are not a tough animal to trap. although i am enjoying my debate with 2poor, i really feel location and scent are more important in marten trapping. whether your set is on the ground, nailed to a tree, or on a leaning pole, i have found marten and fisher to be inquisitive enough to investigate once they have detected your set. unlike 2poor, i have not seen many refusals, especially by fisher.

Location is the key ingredient. Scent helps greatly when critters are traveling, whether on the ground or on a pole. Motion is even better than scent to get them to commit to the set. Maybe I could take more marten on the ground than on poles ( but very few more) but I would pay for it in the following years by having fewer marten. It's very important to take as few females as possible. The marten is a fragile critter where population numbers are concerned.

Marten man I just looked in the regulations about what we talked about. I am sure that it used to talk specifically about traps, but I see no mention of it now. It only mentions snares. It was brought to my attention that one of the resons for the regulation was due to public perception. Suppose that Joe Blow muzzleloader hunter is out in the woods and comes across a marten suspended off the ground. Prior to this encounter he/she probably did not have strong feelings one way or another, but seeing this may change that. We can be running a handful of traps in the middle of nowhere and people will run across them. We need to think about that and although something may be legal, what will people think?

White

We only trap 5%-10% of all the available Marten habitat in MN. No public roads or motorized vehicles in lots of it. Very few are willing to go into the Boundary Waters region via dog sled for any length of time to come out with only 5 Marten. It is just not feasible !!

I find the Male Fisher is the most reluctant to climb !

160user, i understand your feelings and i agree with them. public perception is very important to me, and i will always do my best represent trapping in a positive way. with that being said, i dont believe a marten hanging from a conibear looks any worse than one struggling on the ground. thankfully, to date, a conibear has always been a killer trap for me.

white17, have you tried marten nest boxes? do you know of anyone that has tried them in your area?

2poor, what kind of flagging do you use at your marten sets? how high above your boxes do you hang your flagging?

If you can only catch 5 isn't it boring to catch them all the first night? Play around trying different sets and stretch out your season a little. That is what we are going to do.