Talk:American marten/Archive 1

Expansion requests
For an example of an article with more flesh, see Marbled polecat or many other articles concerning mammals. MaxEnt 03:35, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

Trapped?
In a 1984 Worldbook it said that 30,000 were trapped in North America. Are they still trapped? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.110.221.182 (talk) 23:26, 9 May 2007 (UTC).
 * If the Worldbook was referring to them being hunted for sport/fur/etc., yes, they are legally hunted in some areas.152.7.10.88 (talk) 06:06, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes, American Marten are still legally trapped. Alaska, Canada, and some of the lower 48 states have marten, although one typically sees the larger marten harvests coming from Alaska/Canada.  Because the Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife maintains a frequently updated website, I will use the state of Oregon as an example.  Marten are shown on page one of the regulations.  Although the regulations state that the season for marten is open between Nov 1st and Jan 31st throughout "the entire state," they are generally found only in high elevations.  Trappers typically find them in the Cascade mountains, and the mountains down by Roseburg, near the California border.  However, in California, marten are not legally trapped.  They are considered rarer in California, and so not legal to harvest California Regulations, page 4.  The Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife watches them carefully, and all Oregon trappers are required "provide the date, location of harvest, and sex of all marten they take, & that all marten carcasses be turned in to the local ODFW office prior ot March 1, following each season."  This provides state biologists with critical information needed for successful management of the species population.  For example, it is possible to examine the uterus of females to find out how many times she has given birth.  Marten are typically trapped lethally, often times with size 110 or 120 body gripping traps.  These traps are designed in a similar way to the popular Victor rat traps that have a striker bar that closes on the neck of the animal.  This is seen by trappers as quick and humane, as they tend to live in frigid high elevations, where non-lethal foothold trapping typically results in them freezing to death from immobility or severe weather.  Trapping is usually done with the aid of bait "cubbies" or boxes often times placed on the trunks or branches of trees.  The bait is often chunks of squirrel, rabbit or beaver meat with skunk-smelling lure used to attract the marten.  Hunting can occur as well, but it is extremely rare that they are shot.  Actually glimpsing a marten living in the wild is extremely rare, and tracking them with hounds is not legal in Oregon.  (A few other fur-bearers are legally hunted with hounds, such as raccoon and bobcat, and this is why the license to harvest pelts is often times legally called a "Fur-Taker's license rather than a "trapper's" license.  The one license legally allows both types of harvest, as well as permitting road-kill harvest.)  Trappers typically scout for marten tracks in the snow, and set their traps up only when they have found their sign.  This elusiveness and difficulty in locating them is what makes them one of the most difficult fur-bearers in North America to trap.  Marten pelts are referred to as "sable" in the fur trade, even though Russian sable is a different animal and product; considered finer.  Although some fur auctions still exist in the United States, they are typically local and small affairs.  Local fur buyers have almost disappeared in the Western United States, but exist in the Mid-west and in the East.  It is most likely that most marten pelts harvested in North America end up at NAFA North American Fur Auctions or FHA Fur Harvesters Auction Tsarevna (talk) 05:49, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

Contested statements removed to talk

 * American martens make playful pets when they are raised as young and bottle fed.

Please do not return this information to the article without a citation.-- Birgitte SB  01:48, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Range
Our description of their range implied that they're limited to Alaska, Canada, and the Rocky Mountains. Having personally seen a marten in New Hampshire, I knew that was wrong, so I looked into the matter and found the marten on official wildlife lists from the wildlife services of all three Northern New England states. I didn't do a whole lot of reasearch, but my suspicion is that the marten can be found also in the Adirondacks (NY), in the forested parts of the Upper Midwest (MI, WI, MN) and probably in the Cascades (WA, OR) and maybe the Sierra Nevada (CA) as well. Anyone care to look for references for the marten's occurrence in those states? 65.213.77.129 (talk) 15:56, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

Range
On a backpacking trip into the Lassen Volcanic National Forest (August 3, 2009) we spotted what the park service personnel helped us identify as a marten. In my 55 years in the forests of Northern California I had never before seen this creature (which I described as 'ferret-like'). Our siting was at 40-31.842N; 121-23.431W. Silva lists California as within the range for martens (http://bss.sfsu.edu/holzman/courses/Fall%2003%20project/Biogeography%20of%20American%20Marten.htm). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.37.126.60 (talk) 02:32, 5 August 2009 (UTC)