How Do You Keep Pine Martens Away?

Last updated on October 23rd, 2023 at 08:51 pm

The marten is known to cause some damage. Both in the car, as well as in the stable, he can cause high costs within a very short time. Therefore, the marten should be driven away at the first signs.

However, driving away the marten is not so easy. On the one hand there are legal regulations, which permit an action against the marten only in narrow borders and beyond that it is not at all simple for laymen to fight the marten.

Professional help is recommended in most cases. A hunter can support you if you want to drive away the marten. What are your options to get rid of the marten from your property and how exactly can you do it?

Here you will now learn effective methods to drive away the marten and prevent damage.

Get rid of the marten in the attic

First of all, you need to recognize where the marten has its retreat in the first place. In many cases, the marten has made itself at home in the attic. The attic is an ideal place for him to hide during the day. When it gets dark outside, the marten leaves the attic to go in search of food.

Close to people in small villages, the marten feels especially comfortable in family houses. The houses give him enough peace and quiet and many food sources are also nearby.

So why should the marten allow itself to be driven out of this perfect territory?

Once the marten feels at home, it is not so easy to get rid of it. Therefore, precautions should be taken in advance to prevent the marten from making itself at home in the attic.

For this purpose, gaps should be sealed and the insulation in particular should not have any gaps. This will prevent the marten from entering the house and it will prefer to find an easier place to retreat.

The insulation can be supported with a close-meshed wire mesh. This way, even small gaps in the insulation do not pose a problem and the marten is prevented from entering the house by the wire mesh.

You can tell that a marten has nested in the attic primarily by the loud noises it makes. Its movements are relatively loud and it is very eager to create new escape routes. To do this, he bites through insulation and weak layers of wood.

The marten also mates in the attic and territorial fights can also be fought there. Loud screaming, hissing and other sounds are emitted by the marten and these should alert you to check if a marten has nested in the attic.

Call the hunter in the fight against the marten

To get rid of the marten as soon as possible, you should hire a hunter to relocate the marten. The stone marten is subject to hunting laws and may not be easily trapped by private individuals.

In most cases, the hunter will set a marten trap and wait for the marten to fall into the trap. After the marten is caught, the hunter will relocate it to another hunting ground.

However, this does not mean that you are rid of the problem. Because if a marten was driven away, then another marten is usually already ready to claim the attic for itself.

Therefore, after catching the animal, all access points in the attic should be closed. This is the only way to prevent another marten from settling in the attic.

Other methods against the marten in the attic

As a private person you are not allowed to catch the marten, but this does not mean that you have no possibilities at all to act against the marten.

The stone marten is a very noise-sensitive animal. It needs its rest to get enough sleep and its hearing is very sensitive. You can take advantage of this by setting up special equipment to help against the marten.

A radio in the attic that runs continuously can be enough in some cases to make the marten flee. However, with the radio, there is a risk that the marten will either cut the wires, or quickly drain the batteries. For permanent operation, the radio is therefore only very limited recommended. In addition, it will be difficult to really penetrate all areas of the attic.

Better suited are special marten scares that emit sounds in the ultrasonic range. These sounds are not audible to humans, but are extremely unpleasant for martens. The ultrasound is very effective for driving away the martens.

Not, only when it comes to sounds, the marten is very sensitive. He also has a very distinctive sense of smell. This usually helps him determine if another marten has already set up shop and claimed the territory for himself. You can use particularly penetrating odors to signal to the marten that the territory is not safe for him and that he should rather look elsewhere.

To do this, you can choose the following odor nuisances.

• Dog or human hair near possible entrances show the marten that there is a great danger for him. The strange unpleasant smell will make them avoid entering the building.
• Toilet stone is not only unappetizing to humans. The smell is also a great nuisance for the marten. A toilet stone placed near the entrance can already prevent it from nesting in the attic.
• Another option spreading rags soaked in diesel. The smell of diesel is almost unbearable for the marten and it will run away. However, you should bear in mind that the diesel poses an additional fire hazard.
• There is also a special marten spray available in specialized stores, which you can use to drive the marten away from the attic. This spray has a certain composition, which is very unpleasant for the marten and he will easily flee.

keep the marten away from the car

The marten in the attic is only one of your problems. It becomes really dangerous when the marten has nested in the car and may cut hoses there.

To drive the marten out of the car, do not rely on disturbing noises. Stowing a radio or similar equipment there is rarely practical. Therefore, in the first place should again rely on keeping the marten away from the car with smells.

Hair from humans or dogs can also be used here again. The smell will keep the marten from settling in the car.

Hair can only be used to a limited extent in the car, however, because after one trip the hair will probably no longer be present in the car. Better is therefore the use of a spray that you can use to repel the marten.

A trick to prevent the marten from getting into the car in the first place is to lay out a mesh wire. You can prepare a mesh wire on a wooden frame and place this under the car. For the marten this construction is so stubborn that he will not dare to cross the wire mesh. With this marten grid, the entrance to the engine compartment of the car is effectively blocked and the marten will have to go elsewhere.

Other tips to drive away the marten

Are the presented methods still not satisfactory or you want to combine several approaches at once? Then there are definitely other ways to drive away the marten. However, the effectiveness of these means is not guaranteed, so you should combine them only with proven methods, such as a repellent spray.

Perfume in use against the marten

Most means rely on keeping the marten away from the property or attic by causing an odor. Soaking rags in diesel and spreading them is a very effective way to drive away the marten. However, the stench and high fire risk are not recommended for every household.

An alternative is to use perfume. Rags are soaked in perfume and these are spread around the property. With a little luck, the marten can be driven away by the perfume. However, this method is relatively costly and there is also no knowledge about which scents work well against the marten.

Using light against the marten

The marten is a nocturnal animal. During the day, it prefers dark places where it can sleep safely. The attic is therefore an ideal retreat in many cases.

Lights can help disrupt the animal’s sleep once it has taken up residence in the attic. A lamp that is permanently on may disturb the marten enough to drive it out of the attic. However, if the attic is so large that lighting it would be costly, then motion detectors can be used. These only switch on the light when the marten is in the vicinity.

Loud music

Since the marten reacts very intensively to sounds, you can either set up a radio in the attic or turn up the music in the house quietly a little louder. If the attic is well sounded, the marten will feel uncomfortable and in most cases will choose another place of refuge by itself.

Is it allowed to kill the marten?

Driving away the marten is a very animal-friendly procedure. The marten is not physically attacked in any way and it can look for a new territory on its own. Therefore, the methods presented here are also feasible as a private person.

However, if you often have problems with martens, then the thought can quickly arise that the martens should simply be killed.

If there is a high risk for your small animals and you keep rabbits or chickens, then a killing of the marten is definitely to be considered. However, this must be done by a hunter. You may not take any action yourself that will result in the killing of the marten.

Moreover, if it is only a marten in your attic, the hunter will not kill the marten, but will take it somewhere else with a live trap. For killing the marten he needs a permit himself and this is usually not given for martens in the attic.

In no case should you yourself resort to the rabid methods to kill the marten. A professional care by a hunter and the application of the means of the specialized trade presented here are better suited to drive away the marten permanently.

Which signs speak for a marten

Are you unsure whether there really is a marten in your attic or on your property? Then you should take the following signs seriously and pay attention. Because if you observe the damage in the house, it is usually already too late and the marten has done its mischief.

Fortunately, the marten is not very careful. If you are a little attentive, then you can detect the marten at an early stage.

One sign of the marten is its droppings. These include droppings, hair and urine residue.

Paw prints in the attic or garden are also an indication that a marten has taken up residence. However, you should try to distinguish the marten’s tracks from a cat.

A clear sign of the marten is its prey remains. The marten will often drag its prey to its hiding place. There you can find the remains of the prey, which is a sure sign of the marten.