The following information will assist biologists and technicians who are planning a marten research project. You will need to construct a holding/handling Cone(device) to get the marten from the capture trap(Tomahawk) into a restraining device to immobilize it with a drug. I have used several restraining devices over the past 30 years, and the design described below is my favorite. This Cone makes it very easy for you to immobilize the animal(even if you work alone), remove it from the Cone to take measurements and minimize the risk of injury to you or the animal. The use of a zipper to remove the drugged marten from the Cone is very ingenious and solves the worry of injuring the animal while removing it. Anyone who has handled "collared" marten knows how frustrating it can be to remove an animal from a Cone when the collar gets caught in the Cone wire. The zipper solves this problem plus a few others.
The Tamarack Holding Cone has 'evolved' considerably since 1982 when Joyce Snyder, a graduate from the University of Maine, USA, introduced us to a marten handling Cone. Her research was under the supervision of Dr. Malcolm Coulter and Dr. John Bissonnette from the University of Orono, Maine, and Mr. Jim Hancock, habitat biologist with the provincial Wildlife Division. It was the first marten handling Cone we had used in our research on marten. Prior to that period we used chicken wire to restrain a marten. A few brave souls restrained marten with their hands. The marten was measured, weighed, sexed and tagged in many different positions without the aid of drugs. Thankfully, those days are gone forever. Today the animal is drugged, measured, tooth extracted, collared and a implant tag (PIT) injected under the skin in the neck area.
I called it the "Tamarack Holding Cone" because it is the street I live on in Pasadena, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Also, five other Conservation Officers whom I worked with lived on this street.
The Cone can also be made for any small mammal such as mink. Recently it was adapted for a project in South Dakota for prairie dogs. Only slight modifications to the Cone were made, resulting in over 2000 prairie dog captures during the summer trapping session. Photos available on request..
A short, one minute video is available upon request. It demonstrates the Cone being used during an actual marten tagging procedure.
If you need further help after reading this page, please call or email. Phone: 1-709-686-2583 or email: If you don't want to make it or don't have time, I sell it for $250 each.
The nylon line is tied with a half hitch, than glued to the rigid stainless steel rods to maintain the proper spacing between the rods. The fourteen stainless steel rods are 1/8 inch in diameter, 20 inches long, with one end attached to a one and half inch stainless steel flat ring and the other end attached to the skirt. (you need stainless steel to prevent rusting). The nylon skirt is attached to the ends of the rods with eyelets. The skirt is made to fit over the end of the trap door loosely, and the other end is approximately 2 and half inches in diameter where it is attached to the rods, and long enough for the marten to get out in it after the trap door closes behind him/her. The sides of the zipper slip over two rods. Important to remember that the zipper takes the spacing of one rod and is attached to a rod(confused?). The third picture below demonstrates this quite well.
The following pictures show a marten being taken from trap to Cone.
Marten has been drugged with ketamine hydrochloride: sleeping, and ready to be removed from cone.
Marten is removed through the side of the cone, rather than being pulled out through the end of the cone with his feet getting tangled or caught up in the device. Very little chance of an injury to the marten.
The green strap is only used if you are working alone. It is used to restrict the marten from moving or squirming around in the cone while you are getting ready to inject him/her with the drug. Its a velcro strap attached to one rod.
The marten has been removed from the cone without any risk of injury and you can now record sex, weight, total length, tail length, extract a PM1, place a transmitter on him/her, and inject a transplantable tag under the skin in the neck area.
Gatorade is presented to the marten to help prevent dehydration. A large syringe is used to dispense the liquid. A collar has been attached around marten's neck. Following full recovery, it is ready for release.
Hopefully this has helped you. It takes me almost two days to make the Cone, from start to finished product. A short, one minute video is available upon request. It demonstrates the Cone being used during an actual marten tagging procedure.
For information on drug dosage and procedure, click on Marten Live Trapping....