Just what i didn't want to happen....

In my residential neighborhood, a number of us with gardens had trouble with a local groundhog a few weeks ago.
I put out a cage trap. Caught nothing. Rebaited it a few times, nothing.
Yesterday I rebaited it with a carrot and a piece of bread.

This morning, my neighbor came over (it's in his backyard, although all the neighbors want to get rid of garden-eating varmints).

There was a skunk in the trap.

After doing sum readin' 'n' researchin' on the interneck, I came to the conclusion that there is really no guaranteed good (read that un-smelly) way to dispatch a skunk.

Somehow, this one died of lead poisoning.

Apparently a large piece of lead, that looked suspiciously like the 60 grain projectile from an Aguila Sniper Supsonic .22LR round managed to became lodged in the skunks brain.

Not sure how that could happen, because no one I know would ever discharge a firearm in a residential area.

Still, it was really smelly.
My neighbor and I, wearing surgical gloves, carefully transferred the polecat to a plastic bag and he will either end up in my neighbor's garbage can or in a dumpster somewhere.

I hosed off the trap, but it will have to sit outside for a few days before I bring it back into the garage.

Just goes to show, nothin' goes according to plan.

;D

Had one interloping on my cantaloupe.

22 pistol with birdshot at a non-lethal range behind a tree.

The skunk got stung, but didn't know which way to aim, so it just left.

Haven't seen it in three days.

Try the base of the neck..at the head/spinal column. Seems to work the best out of any other method.

That's the last time that skunk will get in the way of the bullet's way. ;D :D

My buddy has trapped better than 20 skunks out of his barn in the last year. All but maybe one sprayed when shot no matter where we shot them at. First one was the worst, he had his .270 and seen one in one of the barn stalls and these things would let you get close,so he gets within 10 feet and hits it with a 90g hp,out come was vrey ugly and stinky!

After that he wrapped a tarp around a trap and the only time one sprayed in the cage was when the wind took off the tarp while he was trying to open the cage,yes he got sprayed.

He also got sprayed by one that he headshot in his barn he a .22lr 5 minutes after he shot it. He thought all was good when he returned and there was no smell so he went back to packing firewood,said he heard a "fart sound" turn around and the wind blew it right in his face pretty much,he stank for a few days.

All but the one shot in the barn were taken out away from housing and released,given a head start, then shot about 50 yards out.

Here's a few remedies, http://www.ehow.com/how_2095512_get-...unk-smell.html. I have used the peroxide one with good results. Onr night out house got "skunked", we had the windows open and the smell woke us up at 3 AM, WOW was it bad. I mixed up a batch with baking soda and peroxide, and put it on a cloth over a fan filter, and ran the fan. It really took the smell out of the house, in just a few minutes.

I'd mix it up and use a spray bottle and give the trap a good dose of it.

Thanks for all the good advice. :)

Luckily no one was sprayed directly, and the smell outdoors dissipated after a day or so. The skunk was caught about 30 feet away from the closest house (my neighbor's, not mine ;D ), so there is not much residual smell that I can sense.
The trap was hosed off and is in the back yard airing out. I haven't smelled it close up yet, but If I need to wash it down with Peroxide or Vinegar, that will be easy.

Some say that skunks don't spray if they don't see an enemy and that wrapping the trap in a blanket or such will keep the skunk from spraying. I'm thinking that if this ever happens again, perhaps the thing to do is to cover the trap and then put trap and cover in a large body of water to drown the skunk. Don't know....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by thomae

I'm thinking that if this ever happens again, perhaps the thing to do is to cover the trap and then put trap and cover in a large body of water to drown the skunk. Don't know....

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I have heard that works as long as you dont let the little sucker see you

yes the tarp trick works,my buddy carries every one out of the barn and into the feild or the back of one of our trucks if we want to get them farther away and never had one spray except for the time he let the tarp blow off the trap.

When I was running a trapline I'd trap the skuns before fox season openned. The meat and fur make very good fox bait in the very coldest part of the winter. I'd shot them with a 22 short in the lungs and go on and check the rest of the line and pick them up later and the way back after they stiffen up. I'd skin and tan the pretty ones and the rest went into the bait jars. Very few ever sprayed, a guy that used to save the stink told me about it.

A great fox set was skunk tail with just the tip sticking out of a mound of dirt and a dirt hole set on eitherside of the mound with the holes going in under the mound and a mall piece of skunk meat in each hole.

375Win

never been sprayed but it is an auto reaction when shot unless you hit them in the apricot. our garden had a few and they were also dispatched with the Aguila round but with an AAC pilot on the end, wet, just to make sure there was no noise. pick them up with a harbor freight picker upper thing for 99 cents, put in double trash bag and thow away if you are not going to skin it. i have several pelts on the wall and they make beautiful rug/wall mounts. what's the old saying....Once you get past the smell you got it licked? never thought of baiting for fox with one though. i quit trapping a couple of years ago just due to tired of walking the trap line. now i just use by 750 ATV with a benz silencer on it and all gear and guns mounted and have no issues getting to where i need to go. try skinning a beaver or a possum....coyotes don't smell that good either, but there is nothing like a skunk smell except a muskrat is pretty darn close.

My neighbor uses a trap small enough that they can't get their tail up and then submerges the trap in a garbage can full of water... Its worked out well for him so far.

Safely dispatching one with a 22 is a very humane and neighborly thing to do also. You are removing unwanted vermin, not randomly murdering wildlife...

i also have kill poles from my trapping days buried in the garage somewhere. 3 different ones, one way old one looks like it has a non barbed whaling harpoon on the end, one is a strangle stick and one is a push stick that when you push it against the proper placement on the animal it will shoot a .22 short, kinda like the shot nail guns you can get at the hardware store. it is cool but it is still a shot and it has a little report to it. i would prefer to use a strangle stick but you are gonna get sprayed as it is only 8 feet long and they can spray farther than that. heck i can strangle a 30lb bobcat thrashing on the end but not a 8 pound skunk!!!!!

I have heard that the business end of a skunk is oil based.

And I have been told that of the many remedies .............. gasoline ........... is the best.


Three 44s

We'd had an issue with three skunks earlier this summer. My next door neighbor bought a really cool trap specifically designed for skunks, electronic and all.

He put it out and we never saw another skunk.........I guess it works ??

must have been an electronic repellent unless they make a skunk specific 'trap' that vaporizes them when they get inside of it, or it beams them up to the 'skunk planet' did it come with a nuclear fusion rod instead of batteries? ??? ???

The trap that got sprayed will still smell come spring.

I had 'em killing my chickens a couple years ago.
12ga to .22lr = 1,000 tires on fire for a week.
Glad they didn't decide to come back since then!

hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, or oxy clean are best for the smell.
The thiols are not water soluable by themselves, but all of those oxidize them into a water soluable state.

We had (have) a skunk issue. Last fall they really tore up our yards, spring they showed up again, three of them.

My next-door neighbor bought a hightech skunk trap, black PVC tube with a sprung door controlled by a solenoid. The far end has a solid black trap door, you open it and put a can of cat food in then close it up, then the skunk goes in, breaks a photo eye and releases the solenoid closing the door. The tube is large enough to allow the skunk in but not large enough for him to turn around or lift his tail to spray. Also it's black so he can't see you.

He put it out but didn't catch any. One got hit by a car a few days later and the other two seemed to stop coming around.

I notice they're back, the other day I saw some spots in the yard dug up so I guess it's time for him to give it a try again. I'll try to get some pics.

They are digging for grubs in your yard and if you put an insect treatment on it and get rid of your grubs they will leave. It worked for me.

yeah, we put down grub killer down but Iguess that didn't work so well. ::)