Jonesie, I never forced anyone to pay for skunks either. They are glad to do it. After all, I want them to say good things to the

neighbors about our company. We do have one skunk customer who isn't too thrilled about her bill right about now. We just caught

skunk number eleven. Of course, if you leave and the customer still has skunks, that makes them even unhappier.

Wondering what size the 11 skunks were Paul? I just got 6 little ones at one spot so far, no mom yet. Do you get big numbers in summer at one location? Usually get 10 to 15 in late winter breeding. You do have to stay till the end. I tell them I will quit as soon as they give me the word, but they don't. Memories of the dog running through the house and jumping on everyone and the furniture after getting a shot of pure quill do linger, like the odor.

Jim, it's not my job but I will ask the tech. I don't know the size either but my guess would be a very prolific female and her brood.

By the way, my son-in-law was excited yesterday. He caught his first fox and he nailed it in a Comstock. And no, Jonesie, we don't

try to get our customers to pay for non-target fox. As a matter of fact, we will tell the customer that foxes are our biggest

competitor. They will catch your rabbits, chipmunks, mice, etc. and they do it for free. How can we compete with that? I am amazed at

how many of our customers thank us for releasing foxes that were accidentally caught on their property. ( Okay, maybe not Coondog6,

but a lot of them )

Paul if they want me to take it away then there is a charge or in my case counts towards the animals in my flat rate. I have no problem with folks charging for what they do. how folks charge and run their business is none of my business or my say.
After re reading my post I may have been alittle hard. I don't mean to say Jim's springs are too strong for the trap to work. the traps work great with no complaints on my end. they are just stronger than what I am use to so holding his trap door open and shakin a skunk out can get tricky. one of those things I had to learn how to make it work so I can do what I do. the wire door latch did the trick and so I don't forget to take it off I have them hanging on my truck so I can just grab one put it on and then take it off.

I was just kidding. If you or I ever start taking each other seriously, you know the end of the world ain't far behind.

Paul I got no worries with you, If I did I would call you, you know that.

It's what you would call me that worries me!

Wow, another big chuck at that same location, that's 5 of which 3 have been big ones. Today' was a slammer and they said they saw another one run off. I have been doing some transferring to keep the smelly cage in place to attract more, not knowing where the others are coming since it was almost 2 weeks before the first catch.

Had a beaver spot like that on a big creek once. Nothing for the first 8 days, which was kind of surprising. Thought I might get one or two. Usually beaver come quickly from day one and then taper down. In the next two weeks I ended up with 15 and heard one splash as I pulled. Nice to get fooled on the plus side once in a while.

hog dispersal in my area right now Jim. big and little are moving around.

The chucks are moving for sure, adding time to complete the jobs, dragging on, but also adding to the compensation for more work. Young skunks moving a lot too, that time of year.

Still at it at the same location. Time for a followup. I am a numbers / statistics type. Don't know what is the longest duration I have left sets working, just play it by ear as it warrants, but this could be a record, 36 days. Sounds nuts perhaps, but this is the way it went. First chuck not until day 13, 2 more 6 days later, 1 more in a couple of days, 1 more a couple of days after that. That was 23 days for 5 chucks. I left the traps in. About a week later got a possum, first and only non-target, no charge, about day 30. I would not have been so tempted to leave the sets in place but when chuck 5 was caught they saw another chuck run off. Went back to pick up the traps today and by luck found yet another fat chuck, #6 at day 36. Anyone trapping for 5 days, 4 checks, could have caught nothing. Obviously the trapping required the long duration since the last chuck was caught on the last day.

At a skunk location at the same time the chuck trapping was going on, got 8 skunks in about 30 days, no non targets. In these two examples 15 animals were taken, only one of which was unintentional, all in the same positive / trail sets. It still amazes me how well this works.

Early season when females are getting ready for young in the den the hogs stay put. males move a little for food. Dispersal they move all over till they find what they want, a empty den with good food to build fat. if the person knows what phase the critter is in then they can make the right choice on what to do like you did. Here in my area we have movement for at least another 2 to 3 weeks. but my hogs do not go under until late OCT some and 1st week Nov for the most part.

by the way I think I have 14 or 15 from one yard in 30 days.

The catch 22 is catching or not catching. I feel bad if I don't catch because the animal left and feel just as bad about catching a huge bunch and handing them the bill. "We got them all, you can just leave the keys on the counter."