skunk in the henhouse

75x 100 ft lot, 350000 homes, chickens and bunny rabbits running loose in yard, skunk has taken up residence and sleeps in the henhouse. Homeowner is the general manager of the golf course I trap and his wife does not want it killed. Put out live trap and caught 2 chickens and 1 rabbit. How about some help with ideas. Can't walk away from it because who he is.

Fish paste on a marshmallow in two or three cages should get him the first night. The mistake that a lot of people make is not setting enough cages to be sure that there is a empty one for the target animal.

Had a customer last night that wanted his raccoons caught. ( He saw three ) I set three cages expecting a couple of non-targets. All three had raccoons. ( Are there anymore? we'll find out )

Not to contradict Pauls method of baiting. However, we stay away from any fishy type products on any or all structural setting jobs due to cat responses to fish in general. No doubt fish type odors are effective but it also attracts felines way too much. If you have enough cages to catch farm cats and still have some working then go with the fish products. I cant tell you when we caught a feral or domestic cat in a cage set up. We still caught all our target animals as well.

Use smaller type traps in configuration or tube type traps to reduce the chicken catches. Set parallel to walls and structural barriers where possible with reduced openings on the cages by useing boards,plywood and debris leaning over the traps as chickens are less hesitate to enter confined spaces as much as a skunk will. Use a trailing scent to lead your animal also to the cage mouth.

Bob is right about the cats of course but I've had an incredible run of luck this year using fish paste almost exclusively and catching exactly one cat that I got paid for anyway.

Now tomorrow I have a cat job, so we'll see how the fish paste works there. I'll probably catch six skunks!

Pork rinds and cheesies.

Three white golf balls in each cage, and shellfish oil for a trailing scent. Skunks love golf balls, that's why they spend so much time tearing up golf courses, they're digging for them.

Cheetos and marshmallows. Caught nearly 20 on this combo last week.

Hey fellas, I don't have any problem catching the skunks its just what's the best way to dispatch and remove from the henhouse without stinking up the neighborhood. Thanks Bob your reply was the kind of info I was looking for.

no bait a positive set the hen house???

Since coast trapper is happy, I won't be stealing his post. That cat job was a first. These guys and gals really are protectionists but they're not stupid. They quit feeding before I got there so the cats came out from under the office to meet me. Two were pretty tame and one was fairly wild. I set up a 9x9x26 and lucky for me, the wild one managed to sneak into the cage right before it went off. Catching the third one was easy.

They did mention that they had seen an adult feeding there also so I left a baited cage. I felt better because I hate getting paid like an attorney without passing the bar! This is a management company so future jobs are certainly not out of the question.