Live trapped a Skunk...

[MSS3020]

Live trapped a skunk lastnight... AND...AND its close to the house so shootin was not even a consideration. So with a long... LONG telescoping pole with a hook on the end we managed to snag the wire that keeps the drop door secure to let the sucker free.. BUT it wouldnt go free.. So we had to squirt it with the hose...from a distance until it moved and figured out it could go free.. Last seen heading toward the neighbors place.. he he

 

[Anonymous-0]

I traped a live one once. Through a towel over the cage and put in back of truck drove out a long ways opened the trap door and pulled the towel off fast. Skunk just walked off.

 

[rrlund]

If it was a smooth bottom trap,the skunk wouldn't have been able to spray anyway. They need to be able to get a grip with their hind feet and squeeze to be able to spray. Same way that if you grab their tail and lift their back feet off the ground they can't.

 

[JMOR]

Should have walked up & given him an injection of acetone. Then use a clean syringe to extract the smellum, then sell the smellum to a lab for $10.

 

[Glen SW Wi]

The skunks that visit my back porch don't and can't grip anything with their feet but, they sure can spray. Just ask the cat that was on the porch at the time.

 

[KIP in MX]

Had one in live trap in my garage a few weeks ago (trying to catch raccoons). Walked up to trap slowly, opened trap door and it just walked out like it was no big deal. I just knew I would be sprayed and SWMBO locked me out of the house just in case.

 

[Sean Feeney]

It was now a question i had to look up
Feet up or Down

 

[JerryS]

Just curious, if you could ease up close to the trap with your .22 and carefully place one right between the skunk's eyes, do you think he would involuntarily release the skunkum? All critters I ever popped between the eyes dropped instantly and never made a wiggle.

 

[NY 986]

I don't know why everybody is fired up over skunks. Around here it's seldom that they spray when in sight. Usually they are more concerned about catching food. They decimated the rodent population while the snakes were in hibernation. The way this year is going a snake might have been useful for barely a week.

 

[fixerupper]

Skunks can be rabid. Jim

 

[retired farmer]

Should have shot it. A kid I went to high school with got married a couple of years after graduation and he and his wife were living in a mobile home a few miles out of town that summer. It was hot one night and they went to bed and left the front door open with just the screen door closed. Woke up during the night to find a skunk had gotten thru the screen and was in bed with them. Ended up biting both of them and they both had to take rabies shots.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Whar Dirt sez, only skunk didn't survive the long road trip.

 

[Nebraska Cowman]

Yeah, I can tell you all about catching one by the tail. But you end up with the same predicament. What do you do with him NOW.

 

[onefarmer]

Yes!! I shot one in the head with a 20ga and he went off.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Hook a rope to the trap, cover it with a blanket, park on bridge, drop trap, skunk and all into river. Wait 5 minutes, pull up trap, and dead wet skunk. Place skunk someplace imaginative!

 

[GVSII]

(quoted from post at 14:57:51 06/05/13) If it was a smooth bottom trap,the skunk wouldn't have been able to spray anyway. They need to be able to get a grip with their hind feet and squeeze to be able to spray. Same way that if you grab their tail and lift their back feet off the ground they can't.

One breed of skunk only sprays with it's hind feet off the ground.And yes skunks can spray after being head shot

 

[John B.]

Skunks are only accurate from 10-15 feet. They can only spray once every 8-10 days. So when they spray they want to make sure they're on target. I always tie a 20ft rope on to my live traps so I can drag them away from buildings so the smell isn't close.

 

[GVSII]

(quoted from post at 18:59:28 06/05/13) Skunks are only accurate from 10-15 feet. They can only spray once every 8-10 days. So when they spray they want to make sure they're on target. I always tie a 20ft rope on to my live traps so I can drag them away from buildings so the smell isn't close.

I've no idea when or where the idea that a skunk can only spray once every 8 to 10 days came from. First, they don't spray unless they really feel threatened and will generally give plenty of warning.I've been within 15 feet of them and all I got was the eye.The closest I ever got to being sprayed was when I was at the edge of some woods .Came up little knoll and as I looked over the top there was a skunk, right where I wanted to go.I tossed a stick at him,he raised his tail,I threw another twig at him.His tail was still up and he stamped his front feet.Thats when I decided to find an alternate route.Second, One of my dogs got sprayed and she wouldn't leave the skunk alone. In a five minute period the skunk sprayed three times.My father shot the skunk in the head and it kept on spraying.

 

[JMS/.MN]

Blasted one a week ago with a 20 gauge....he was into the cat food dish- I had a light on it so I could see him next time he showed up. Sprayed and burned 3 feet of lawn behind him! Last summer, coyote came multiple times within 30 feet of the house in broad daylight. Can"t wait for his next visit! No more varmints with the 22!

 

[BUTCH IN NY]

I did that back about 1964 or 65. I set a trap
for a woodchuck in a hedgerow, came down to check
the trap, saw a little black and white moving
around and having only a .32-40 winchester with
me, I came back with a shotgun, fired a shot and killed the skunk.
To this date cannot get the smell out of that trap, brand new trap that day too!!

 

[SparepartsTN]

A skunk walked into the hen house about fifty years ago, the hen house was built with ten by ten beams for the perimeter base and a divider in the middle. It was in the back half, I watched (from a safe distance) as my father walked in and gently put his hand down in front of the skunk and directed it toward the door. When he got it to the middle divider he lifted the front of the skunk onto the divider and it went over, same thing when it got to the door, then it just walked off into the woods. He never threatened the skunk and the skunk didn't threaten him.

I also have watched him scoop up handfuls of wild swarming honey bees, put them into a hive and bring them home. I didn't volunteer for that either.

 

[rusty6]

Had the same problem last summer. A skunk got caught in the coon trap. I was able to release it live without getting sprayed. Just take it slow and easy and don't scare it. They don't do me any harm so I generally let them off . Not so with raccoons though.

 

[NEBeef]

Had one get stuck in a small storm drain right next to my house. Dropped a piece of log in to let him climb out, but he didn't take the hint. So I took a plastic milk crate on a rope. lowered it down like an old cage elevator, open part to one side. Cornered him and coaxed in the crate and raised him up to ground level. I figured I might get the stinky end of that deal, but he looked at me and then just waddled off into the woods. Good enuf for me...

 

[CCer]

Caught several in live traps. I use a pole, and slide the trap into a trash can. Put the lid on it. Transport it anywhere. Lid has a hole on it, that allows an exhaust pipe in it. Connect it up,
and go clean up the carburetor, intake, fuel injection, with gumout spray cleaner. Dispose of dead Two-Toned Pusseycat with Fluid Drive.

 

[Bret4207]

Just gently cover the trap with an old blanket, lift it into the truck and take it out in a back field. Then open the door, (I have a wire in place to hold it open), and pull the blanket off. When the skunk come out he'll head for the brush. Put a 22 in his vitals from 50 feet or so. End of problem.

 

[andyd4ntx]

About Skunks... back in the summer of 2011 I was in the kitchen fixing lunch when the front room door opened just a bit ( the latch was adjusted just after this !!) I went over to push the door closed and at that moment in walked a skunk! It was a hot summer day and we have a concrete floor that is always cool so he padded around the living room floor while I ran out through the kitchen closing all the doors so he could not get any further into the house. The wife was in her office ( just behind the living room) and she says she heard me say "OH NO, NO, NO, NOOOOOOO" So she came out and through the hallway door (its cut glass) she took this picture of the skunk resting on the living room floor by the edge of the wood stove and our cowhide rug.

He stayed about 10 minutes cooling himself on the floor. I turned on all the lights that I could reach and used a hand held spot light to make things real bright in the living room. He left through the same open door ( without leaving any nasty calling cards for us) I promptly adjusted the front door latch after lunch.
Andrew

 

[pete 23]

I live trapped and shot 13 skunks in last two years. I leave a long rope, staked down, tied to trap. Pull the trap out in the field a hundred yards or so and dispose of him. Let him lay a while, dump out and burry. Rinse trap off with wate. Spray trap with bleach mixture, let sit outside. It doesn't stink any but if you handle trap bare handed you can still get scent on your hands for a month or so. Only one took a shot at me as they are usually rolling around in trap while I am pulling and can't get positioned.

 

[n9lhm]

My mean old grandpa would grab them by the tail, then swing them around over his head and let go after he had enough momentum for them to fly a ways. Never got sprayed..... But he had a lot more cojones than me