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one of the last of the season. a small male

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Marten- 3
Beaver- 1
Mink- 10
Ermine- 8
otter- 1

my name is scott, i am living out on kodiak island, and interested in trying to catch a marten, i know they are around out here, but not a clue how to catch one... Can you give me any pointers on where to look how to set? I got some #280s, and some #1 1/2 and #3 footholds. I live right on the coast, but have a couple "mountains" more like 500 ft hills around, trying to incorperate a set or two on my line for one. Thanks for your time and awesome catch pic!

hey scott. my name is cody. well my favorite set is a box set with a 1 1/2. you can see the box ok in the picture but its just made out of ply wood and the back is blocked off with chicken wire. i have it notched out for a 110 also but with the footholds i can also get the ermine that don't get caught in the 110. you put your bait in the back ( i use ducks and deer that i kill before the season) and the trap in the opening. i've never trapped up north but down here i look for creeks and other water sources. if you are along the beach, then go up 30 or 40 yards along a creek into the woods and put your trap. if you put it too close to the water you will end up getting more mink than marten. as for the mountains i woods do the same thing although edges of clearcuts work good too sometimes. the best thing to do is look for tracks in the snow. its closed down here so while i'm running my wolf and beaver lines i am looking for marten tracks as i go along. i just remember where they are and get excited about putting a trap there next year. i hope this helps and good luck

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Marten- 3
Beaver- 1
Mink- 10
Ermine- 8
otter- 1

what do you do about bait freezing up? Do you use any of those marten lures? or a call lure to help draw them in? I am assuming that 1 1/2 is set in the ground infront of the set. I may attempt to make a couple cubbies of similiar size, but make it big enough for otter to enter, there are a lot of them around here, not sure if they will investigate it enough to trigger one, but i guess its worth a try. Thanks for the info. Good luck with them wolves and beaver! Where abouts are you in the south east? I used to live in the tongus national forest off of stevens passage. Beautiful country over there! Seen alot more bear than anything down there, but that seems to be pretty much the story of the alaska coast! Good luck on the line!

as far as bait freezing up i've never had a problem with it. it does freeze but it doesn't seem to slow the set down at all. i put the in the box itself. what i like to is nail the box to a tree about 3 or 4 feet off the ground. this makes it so only males will get in. if you catch all the females, you won't have any to breed. this happened to me this year. last year someone came in a wiped everything out and this year was terribly slow. last year was an amazing year i had around 20 marten and 40 mink. this year i had five marten and 10 mink. the sets were all in the same spots as last year. but they were all wiped out. i've never used lures or anything like that. although i was going to next year on some trail sets. bait sets work really good but i find trail sets fun to make especially if they work. it is kinda like a bonus for me. i live in petersburg on mitkof island. its a little ways north of wrangell. i have caught otter in my marten sets before. it was on an elbow set. i have heard it called an "L" set before also. its when a tree bends up near the bottom and there is a flat spot on the tree. you put your trap on the flat spot and your bait up on the bend. i will try to get a picture of one and post it.

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Marten- 3
Beaver- 1
Mink- 10
Ermine- 8
otter- 1

very nice, thanks for the info, i have some #120s in route, and i heard this forgets lxcd or something like that is supposed to call them in for miles! i am pretty sure there is a good population here, altho i don't see tracks often. One of the other guys here caught one in a snare set for fox on a crossing log! Lucky bugger! I am planning on building a couple cubbies with week, all depends on the time i have after work. i am not sure if we have any mink out here on the island, but there are definitely alot of otter around, i had 4 different sets of tracks crossing my trap line near some dirt holes i have set for fox... I put some fishy stuff in them to hopefully get a little inspection from the otters, no luck soo far... i actually missed an otter yesterday in one of my blind set snares... the bugger pushed it just right that a stick got into the lock, and didn't slide shut... he did leave me alittle fur on the cable as a tease though... For the marten are you trapping on the mountain side? i have a lake with a wooded hill side "they are hardly mountains compared to the south east" thats fairly steep and it has a clear cut on one side and a little stream goes up the incline to a small lake and then theres some older clear cuts, not sure where to look for sign, but i thought that if set something near the edge of the woods i might have a chance of getting ones attention with some skunky stuff. Any input on location? I am also planning on setting a dirt hole set near by since i got all that stink in the air figured it would attract a couple fox to the area too? I used to live at port snettisham just bove tracys arm. Beautiful country over there!

next season is going to be amazing up here! theres alot of otter still around, i been trying to avoid them, but they seem to be every where here... In spring they get into our hatchery salmon.... i was hoping to get on them early, but unfortunetly my traps didn't get here till early january... this year will definitely be better, i got a couple real active slides i been catching otter on my trail camera ever day. I want to get a mapped out route for next season, so i have been expanding my fox line a little so i have more of an excuse to go check some of these areas. I am strongly considering another trail camera to try to find some active martin coming to baited cubbies with out traps. Figure if the deer hunters can do there scouting early i might as well too!

anyone got pics on snaring marten or advise?

never tried snares for marten. i've thought about it a couple times but i just stuck with my usual sets.

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Marten- 3
Beaver- 1
Mink- 10
Ermine- 8
otter- 1

you might want to post this question in the trapline section. more people will see it there

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Marten- 3
Beaver- 1
Mink- 10
Ermine- 8
otter- 1

if i remember correctly pipepusher had made a cubby style spring loaded snare set up, that might work, i am strongly considering it for myself, i am not sure how long ago the post is from. But i am definitely going to give it a shot for something this upcoming season