Habitat drives populations. One of the first things you learn as a fur trapper is to spend time in the habitat that best supports the species you’re pursuing. Abundant water and young aspen draw in beaver. Cattail marshes are muskrat magnets. Coyotes like open spaces and the forest/field edges. Marten need mature forests. As a marten trapper I learned early on to look for … [Read more...]
Two Weasel-like Creatures Vying for Forest Turf in the Northeast — Furbearer Conservation
Jeff Traynor over at Furbearer Conservation put together an excellent piece on marten and fisher, their distributions and interactions with each other and the landscape, and how this relates to us as trappers. As a marten/fisher trapper myself, I'm always fascinated by where I see these guys out in the woods, and my observations here in northern Maine are fairly spot on with … [Read more...]
Trapping Today Podcast #44: Setting out Marten/Fisher Boxes, Part 1
In this episode, Cole Porter and I talk marten and fisher trapping as we head out to set boxes out on my line. We discuss plans for the upcoming season, marten/fisher interactions, and habitat types we look for when setting traps. Enjoy! … [Read more...]
Lynx Exclusion Devices on the Maine Marten and Fisher Trapline
Sometimes politics get in the way of trapping and wildlife management. It’s just a reality that trappers in some states have to deal with, and such was the case with marten and fisher trapping in northern Maine. After a long battle in the courts over incidental trapping of ‘Endangered’ Canada lynx, Maine trappers were required to use newly approved - and specifically designed … [Read more...]
Pulling the Marten Line
Lynx Exclusion Device for Marten and Fisher Trapping – Video
This video shows an example of a Maine- legal (as of 2017) cubby to exclude lynx for Marten and Fisher trapping. … [Read more...]
Marten Trapline Update, December 2016
It's been another tough year on the marten line for me. Having limited success but still learning. Picked up a few marten and a few pointers from other marten trappers, even some beginners who have had much better success than I have. A couple feet of snow and another strikeout on a prospect line have beaten me down pretty good, but I am planning for next year. New … [Read more...]
Small Time Marten Line
It isn't always about putting up numbers on the trapline, and Tom Chapin and Dan Hertle are a great example of how much one can enjoy small time trapping. These two old veterans get out on foot during Minnesota's very short and limited trapping season. Most trappers these days drive their traplines, hopping out to check a couple of sets here, a couple there. Chapin and … [Read more...]