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Frequently marten are met with in low, swampy ground, where the timber is small and therefore there will be no hollow logs or decayed stumps. In such cases the trapper will have to avail himself of the boughs of spruce or fir to make a structure to keep out snow. Selecting a place where tracks are most numerous, both old and fresh, and where there are one or more evergreens growing, he proceeds to cut down a spruce and trimming off the branches cuts it into lengths about three feet long; these he drives into the snow or mossy ground in a circle about a foot in diameter, with an opening on one side about four inches wide. The stakes slant outward, making the pen wider at top. The bait, which may be any kind of meat or bird, is fastened inside the pen with a peg put through it. The trap is placed in the opening and two twigs are stuck in the ground on both sides of the trap, thus insuring success. The twigs also should slant outwards; next the sides and top of the pen are covered with spruce boughs, heavily on the top and letting the ends come down so as to almost conceal the opening. This is for keeping out meat birds and other vermin. The marten will find the opening without difficulty and of course when he steps in to get the bait he becomes caught.
Submitted by T. Gullickson
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