Good times

Had a homeowner call me said he wanted to set his own traps and call me when he got a skunk to come and get it. He call to find someone before he even set his trap so he was thinking a little. Which was ok with me because I was a little bit of a drive and Im fur trapping right now. I told him to cover all the traps before he set them. Yesterday I get a call he got one I go pick it up the trap was covered with cardbourd. Worked well there was another trap not covered I told him to make sure he covered it. I get a text this morning got one more can you come get it. I said I would and to make sure the trap was covered. No answer. So I show up there is a tarp about ten feet away. No big deal I covered the trap and put it in the truck. Next stop was a skunk under a deck so I took the call easy get in get out call. I had one there. I knocked on the door to show them we got it. She came out to the truck to see it as I was loading it. I was moving the trap with the tarp and the skunk was coming out of the tarp not in the trap anymore. She took off in the house said thank send me a bill as running away. So I stuff the trap and tarp in the truck and the other trap on top and go. I went to a open field I goose hunt to take care of the loose skunk in the camper of the truck. I looked in the back it was still in the tarp some were it was a 10' x 10' tard wrapped around a cage trap in a ball. So I was going to just rip it out of the back and shoot him on the ground. When I rip the tarp and trap out of the truck onto the ground he fell out and was on the tailgate. Tail up looking to spray by now I was 10' away I didnt want to shoot into the back of the truck So I got the right angle and hit him right in the lungs worked out well. Wont ever forget it or pick up anothers skunk with junk traps I still dont know how it got out of the trap.lol

AAH! Good times. LOL

From my experiences I would reccomend anyone starting in this business to buy an advantek trap. Not because they are any good,(they are junk, had a small groundhog tear one to bits using it as a transfer cage), but because you need to be familiar with them. You will get a lot of skunk work out of them, and you need to know their shortcomings and pitfalls.

Is it just me or do the skunks that have been in the trap for three days while the people "figure out what to do" have a hair trigger? Maybe it just seems like that because they have 50 pounds of mulch and half an azalea bush still connected by the roots in the trap with them. My favorite are the "crawl under the boxwood and you'll see the trap!" skunks.

I never cover the traps with anything ... I occassionally get sprayed but not very often ..

And of course when I do get sprayed ... I consider it the smell of success ... so its no big deal anyway

seriously if the skunk is beating his feet, we'll toss a garbage bag over it when we pick it up ..but very seldom does that happen

I was just wondering, if you price to trap a skunk is, $95.00 dollars, and a land owner traps the skunk. How much do you charge to get rid of the skunk for them?

Same Price. Picking up, removing the skunk, and returning the trap.

But the extra trip.....why not do an onsite trap switch-a-roo?

lol...

Every once in a while I get a customer who wants to trap their own skunk but is afraid to deal with them once caught.

I charge full price for the service and quickly learned to do cage transfers.

I do offer to show the customer how to deal with the skunks though. I figure they are the do it yourself kind of folks and just need a little info and encouragement to be able to handle the job themselves.

I've only had one take me up on the offer.

In my case, the trap was not the style I use and was a cheap trap from tractor supply. This is on of the reason I do not agree with the DNR, wildlife Div. want to put more regulation on the ADC people. John Q public can go to tractor supply or on line and buy anything we can and use it with out any regulations or responsibility to anyone but themselves.

I do cage transfers on site. The tsc specials don't fit in my co box so i cover homeowners trap and transfer to my tube trap. Usually takes 5-10min but every once in a while you get the half hour one. Also the skunk pole is an option.

I had one get loose in my truck last year. Skunk pole worked well. No problems.

How many others out there would like to join our very exclusive " Live Skunk Loose in the Truck Club?"

Was thinking the same thing.

Nate, the question came up what IF the land owner trapped his skunk with his own trap. His trap may not be the same as yours and mush less quality than yours. JMO

I transfer on site too. A spray bottle with water as encouragement speeds up the process.

I transfer from customer traps regularly and this is "my" technique.

I first inspect customer trap to see how it opens. I then cover the trap with a 5 x 5 painters drop cloth (my cover of choice). I then take trap to front yard near the road. I set trap down and use two peices of hardware cloth as fencing to prevent skunk (or any species for that matter) from getting around trap and getting away. Using the hardware cloth you can transfer from any size trap to any size trap. I have transfered skunks from the large TSC traps to my small tube traps with no issues. I have also transfered a full grown skunk from a chipmunk trap to a standard trap using the hardware cloth.

I usually have to pull the drop cloth off the one trap and on to the other trap to get him to move but some days a good poke with a stick is the only option.

I love this post! I have transferred everything I've ever caught, except for skunks. Taking them out of a customer's cage by hand and putting them in a bucket doesn't really count, right? ( It usually involves dumping the skunk into a plastic bucket and then letting it go, hopefully in an alfalfa field filled with grasshoppers )

I had a friend that owned a zoo in the central part of our state that told me that skunks were actually one of the easiest animals to reason with. After watching him talk to so many of his captives I started to wonder who was the captive and who was the capturer? I brought him three grey fox pups one year and I swear those three foxes loved their three square meals a day and watching all the people and different animals more than they ever loved the wild!

I always prefer to spend an extra 5-10 minutes transfering the skunks to my traps than spending 30-60 minutes having to bring the customers trap back.

And beyond skunks........ last thing I want to do is take a trap off site when mom has been sitting in it all night. I would prefer to transfer her and keep that trap and her smell on site. Raccoons, Woodchucks, Rabbits, even squirrels I think it helps to have a family member smell in the trap. At least in my mind it helps and that is all the motivation I need to keep the trap on site.

All this skunk transferring sounds like playing with dynamite. I do a lot of skunk work including removal from the clients trap, they all get the needle right there. My clients never stick around to watch me work my magic so it doesn't matter if I poke them on site. I've never transported a live skunk except for one litter who's eye weren't even open. Now as far as everything else I catch, yes I transfer.
Nate said it best leave the familiar smelling trap right there plus I often have to carry an animal several hundred yards or out of the bottom of a coulee. It's a lot easier to carry a 9x9x26 cage as opposed to a 12x12x36 or 15x18x42.

Not me! I don't think I'd like the initiation.

What Nate said. I just put the drop cloth over the customer's (uncovered) trap, butt the two doors together, then slowly lift the drop cloth off the customer's trap. The skunk will want to go from the now-open trap to my covered trap; often, it goes faster than when I'm transferring from one covered trap to another!