Why can't I catch skunks

Second skunk job that I can't catch skunk. This one is in crawlspace I set cage trap with wire funnel from hole to trap. Customer says every morning around 2am it gets really smelly. I see tracks and smell when I go in crawlspace. Den hole goes down next to foundation from original house that has no crawlspace.

Of course customer is no Internet expert on skunks and is going to pour ammonia in crawlspace, put a light in it and "scare it out"

I'm thinking female holed up nursing.

What say you?

I don't like the "smell" part. Skunks don't care for that smell any more than we do. A female will hardly ever spray when her babies

are in the area. I doubt it's a family but I've been wrong too many times to bet on it. I have noticed over the years that when there

is a lot of odor, the skunk has vanished or it is dead and causing the odor. And I don't understand the 2AM thing. What happens then?

P.S. I've got one under a deck that I can't nail either.

Have had many of these that were dead already or were on their way to it.

Wink I think people should all be told that about skunks.

People always wrinkle their noses when the word "skunk" comes up.

I am always surprised at how many folks believe skunks always smell that way.

The litter we had a couple of years ago were raised in a tight neighborhood and no one knew
we had them (odor wise).

when i go there it is just a slight odor to me, not strong at all, 30 sec in house and i dont even smell it. when i go in crawl space i smell it, but not strong.

is it possible that something else is under there and it killed the skunk and brought it in?

I've found a skunk that was opened up by another skunk. I figured it was a male that got too close to the babies.

I caught an opossum under an overhanging closet ( Why they ever thought that overhanging closets was a good idea is beyond me ) and

he had eaten an entire skunk, scent glands and all. Now skunks are pretty decent looking, but an opossum that smells worse than a

skunk has got to be something from a Stephen King novel!

Justin, I've been told by people that have had them that descented skunks are much better pets than any other wild animals their

size. They supposedly potty train very quickly, keep themselves very clean, and don't bite. Not to mention the fun of gift wrapping

them and taking them to parties!

Normally for me, if the customer tells me the skunk is spraying like clock work every day it turns out to be dead. In my area a dead skunks sprays a few hours after day lite and just after the sun seems to go down. I think it has something to do with the air currents changing when cooler changes to warmer and visa versa.

Cool, Jonesie! I experience the same thing but if I posted that, the guys would just think I'm nuts as usual. Now you made it sound

all scientific and intelligent. Good work.

x2. like when the furnace or air kicks on.

What Jonesie said. Skunk quill odor can pop up for months after the fact. Environmental factors at play.

Yea the guy did his thing and said for two days he never smelled a thing. Now it's back "worse than before". Yep going to start passing on the "I smell a skunk" jobs. If they haven't seen it I'm not trapping it I guess

Positive sets at the den openings. When that doesn't produce, sell him on odor control and problem solved.

Back to this one today. Working on a new theory

Same story from customer........

While I am In the Crawlspace for the 4th time The neighbor stops by and tells about his dogs going nuts at the same time last night that my customers is getting another big smell from the skunk. He steps out side and there are three raccoons headed put the tree in the back yard (houses are about 20 feet apart).

So this is my new theory The raccoons are messing with mama skunk almost every night. So she gives them a shot! Not sure if raccoons would keep trying, but stay with me on this. So if I can't catch the skunk, why not catch the raccoons? So I set three larger cages for coons and three small skunk sets. Something's gotta work here. If I ever get this resolved. I will update this thread

Sounds like you're going to be working for free pretty soon if not. Wish you luck on this one!

I wouldnt think that a skunk could regenerate enough essence to be letting a big spray go every night, if your dealing with a live skunk.

Can you see where the skunk is getting into the crawl
Space? I guess that sounds like a wild theory Based on the
Nature of skunks and raccoons. But I hope your
Right.

Two access points to get under house that I found. Five den holes in crawlspace, the entire floor is covered with tracks. Last night I set small light objects in front of every den hole to see what gets moved

Nope. The guys says to me last night. "I know you have had to come here a lot, and that cost money. I will pay what ever it takes to get this thing out". We will see when he gets the bill!

Did you set a trap over each entrance?

Blocked one and set trap over other.

Went back this morning and............ Nothing pushed blocking out of any of the den holes, and all I caught were three kitties. 2 were calm and seemed to be obvious pets. One was the typical ballistic acting feral cat.

And homeowner said no stink last night. This is getting to me, I hate failure at a task no matter how small.

MT, I will admit up front that my skunk experience is limited. BUT, I can sympathize w/ you LOL, I have a beaver job that is killing me. I'm getting my own tail handed to me.

Jason, I'd offer to help, as I love doing beavers but you have snakes that have venom and I don't like that

Our snakes are not venomous , except one rattler and it won't kill you !


From this day forward if people only smell the skunk or it is below the house. I'm gonna pass on those jobs

To my nose, a dead skunk has a little different odor than a live skunk.

Super , I will bottle it up and send it to you. What's the address?

I will over night it so its fresh. Lol

UPDATE: Removed one feral cat and a huge possum (he had a missing tooth, two huge scars across his face and tattered ears). Anyway the skunk has not sprayed in four days (or stunk a lot) and there is just a faint odor now

Also poured fox pee in back of crawlspace 4 days ago and yesterday , one of the den holes had the debris pushed out, pulled traps yesterday also.

Now the paying part. The guy is disabled, docs want to remove his legs, he's on SSI. SO... The guy had already paid me my set up charge and asked me when I picked up traps how much more he owed, so this is where my soft side stepped up And if I get burned I really don't care, I learned on this project (I think) of some different approaches for skunks

Anyway I said to him. " at this very moment, put I figure in your hard as to what it was worth to you fro be to get that skunk to stop waking you up every night, AND don't tell me that number". He said ok. So I said " now you send me a check every month to pay that figure off. And if you can only pay 5 a month or 25 a month you just pay me until you are at that figure". The guy almost cried, and said I sure will, thank you

Now if he doesn't, then I never go there again. And if he does, well he's a good man in my book