<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0LFte9_1H5u0eRA00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0LFte9_1H5u0eRA00" width="1200" height="600" >BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - The North Dakota Game and Fish Department, for the first time ever, is opening a trapping season for American martens found primarily in the Turtle Mountains.The American marten is believed to have been extirpated from North Dakota in the early 1900s.“Over 100 years later, we’re finally opening up a regulated trapping season on them. And when I say regulated, I just mean there’s some rules and regulations governing the harvest of those so that we can ensure that the harvest is sustainable from one year to the next, and history doesn’t repeat itself,” Stephanie Tucker said, North Dakota Game and Fish furbearer biologist.The Game and Fish Department has known for a long time that martens were residing in the Turtle Mountains but didn’t have enough data to move forward with a trapping season until this year. “What changed is we finally got the money and the ability to do a research project specifically focused on marten with the primary goal being, is it feasible to open a trapping season on the number of marten we have in North Dakota? And if so, what should that trapping season look like? So that’s what that research project was about. We did it for three years, from 2022 to 2024, and learned what the density of marten is in the Turtle Mountains here in North Dakota. And that guides our harvest regulations,” Tucker said.The marten trapping season is for North Dakota residents only and opens Nov. 23 and closes Nov. 29.“So trappers will have an opportunity to catch a marten for seven days. And marten are primarily found in the Turtle Mountains of North Dakota, and it’s one marten per trapper. Marten, are not particularly difficult to trap. And so, we really encourage trappers to be conscientious when they’re setting out the number of traps they might set out for marten. If they set a bunch of traps out, they could catch more than one marten in one night,” Tucker said.If you happen to trap a marten, there are some things you need to do. “You have to report it within 12 hours and make arrangements to collect a pelt tag for that marten pelt. After you’ve skinned your marten and you get a tag for the pelt, you will have to relinquish the entire carcass to our agency so we can collect information from that carcass,” Tucker said.In the first couple of years, the Game and Fish Department is favoring a more conservative trapping season for martens. “And as we collect more data on the population now from those harvested marten, we can cautiously move forward with the season in future years,” Tucker said.With the opening of the American marten trapping season statewide, trappers can now harvest fishers throughout North Dakota. Previously, fisher harvest was prohibited in the Turtle Mountains.</div></body>

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BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - The North Dakota Game and Fish Department, for the first time ever, is opening a trapping season for American martens found primarily in the Turtle Mountains. The American marten is believed to have been extirpated from North Dakota in the early 1900s. “Over 100 years later,...

ND Outdoors: American marten trapping season

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BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - The North Dakota Game and Fish Department, for the first time ever, is opening a trapping season for American martens found primari

ND Outdoors: American marten trapping season

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