The 10 most common mistakes when catching martens

Martens are not only excellent hunters but also extremely clever and careful. Since we get to know all sorts of things in close contact with our customers, we want to protect you from the most common mistakes made when catching martens.

Mistake 1: It depends on the material
If you want to protect your car from marten damage, you are welcome to place a Mater wire mesh fence under the engine compartment. It is well known that animals and especially the cautious marten do not like to walk over wire. A wire trap therefore leaves little chance of success. We recommend using only wood or, even better, screen-printed traps that are roughened on the inside like our Artemis 110 so that the marten can safely enter the trap.

Mistake 2 : Trap too small
We often learn from customers that "marten traps" are offered on the Internet that are much too small. Adult martens have a trunk length of about 50cm. In the case of rocker board traps with two entrances, the trap must therefore be at least 100 cm long, as the trigger mechanism is in the middle of the trap. With smaller traps, the door would fall on the marten's back and it would free itself with a courageous jump backwards and then certainly not fall into a trap again. We therefore recommend our Artemis 110 seesaw board trap , this is the smallest most suitable marten trap that we manufacture or sell.

Mistake 3: It has to be easy
Some traps are very difficult to trigger, martens are extremely careful and very careful not to make any noise so as not to attract attention, so it often happens that martens take the bait up and away from the footboard. If this does not trigger very finely, the marten may get away with the bait without the trap being triggered. It is therefore extremely important to use a high-quality trap.

Mistake 4: No obstacles
The trap should be set up in such a way that the marten can enter the trap as level as possible. It is even more important that the trap is absolutely safe and secure when you enter it and does not wobble under any circumstances. This also helps to ensure that the trap triggers cleanly and does not snap shut when you step on it and the marten may not be properly in the trap yet.

Mistake 5: The bait
A suitable bait that lures the marten into the trap is just as important as the suitable trap. In the wild, martens eat mice, birds or their eggs, insects, fish, worms and reptiles. So you can quickly see that martens eat neither cooked nor seasoned food. A salami or a piece of steak are therefore not suitable bait. A MARTEN WILL NOT EAT PIGS NOR COWS. Fruit-based baits are also less suitable, since martens prefer meat to fruit and vegetables.

Mistake 6: The location of the trap
As described above, martens try to be extremely inconspicuous, so they stay in the shadows whenever possible. Especially if the trap is set up outside, for example in the garden, the trap should be set up in the light shade (at night) as a matter of urgency. Even so, the marten will not rush straight in, but may linger for a while, the more secure it feels, the more likely it is to fall into the trap.

Mistake 7: Sleep in the bedroom, eat in the dining room
So that the "burrow" of the marten does not attract attention and so that martens are safe from their predators, martens like to avoid hunting directly around your burrow (which in the worst case is your roof truss or garage). Otherwise, possible predators or predators such as wolves, lynxes or humans would be made aware of them by the residues. Therefore, if the marten occurs in the attic, it should not be hunted there, but rather outside the house, for example in the garden. The marten smells a suitable bait hundreds of meters away, so it is not necessary to place it directly in front of your nose.

Mistake 8: Note routes
An extremely effective way of catching martens is to use their routes and especially their forced change. A forced change is a change that the marten has to go through, for example to get into the garage or from the neighboring property into your own garden. It is therefore always an advantage to know these ways. For example, if the marten has to go through a small lock in the fence to get into its "burrow", it is often worth setting the trap directly in this forced passage. The trap can even be set up there without baiting.

Error 9: reading characters
If the marten does not fall into the trap after a few days, look out for signs that the marten is leaving behind. For example, the marking next to the trap is quite obvious (in German, the marten shits next to the trap). This sometimes happens when the trap is perceived as a foreign body. Not infrequently, however, also when the trap had already been used and another marten was caught in it and secreted pheromones there. These pheromones cannot be smelled by humans, but can be perceived by martens for many months. They convey to the marten “Warning danger” getting a cautious marten into such a trap is difficult. Therefore, particularly used marten traps should be weathered, i.e. aired out in the fresh air for some time. Another sign that something is “wrong” with the trap can be seen if a decoy pellet placed outside the trap has been accepted but is not accepted in the trap. Then you should check again whether you have really observed everything.

Mistake 10: The time
Many know it from fishing, you throw the bait 150 times into the water and nothing happens and on the hundred and fifty-first throw the fish suddenly bites and you ask yourself "What did I do wrong before that?" It's similar to catching martens. Many factors play a role. The food supply, the smell of the trap, the bait, the environment. Maybe the marten has been caught in a trap before and has a certain aversion to these “big boxes”, maybe there is a large pond next door where the marten is feeding itself full of frogs, the neighbor's cherry tree is not harvested or there are simply many mice, rats or dormice that already cover the food supply for the marten. Even really experienced trappers are often puzzled by this. It is very important to have suitable material available - we will be happy to help you with this.