Removing Skunks

Anyone ever remove skunks at night? Got a call about 9 pm from the customer saying there was a skunk in the trap. It was dark, I know skunk are more active at night, so I wanted to wait until the sun was up.

I have done several at night when I was younger. Chased one all over a subdivision. Got him too. But of course I cheated and used the dreaded chl........

When someone calls me at night to say there is an animal in a trap I tell them I will be there in the morning

Just got up and a customer sent me a picture over night of a skunk eating out of the cats dish. Had a trap there for a week and they never seen it, pulled it two days ago. Argh! I hate doin skunks, they are so random

I like to go right away if possible to pick up the animal, that way there it's out of sight out of mind. Specially if the trap was placed in an area where the client has to walk by in the mornings for work etc, in return eliminates the risk of them startling the skunk and getting hit with a dose.

It can be quite a waiting game if you don't have a den site. They have to finish their entire route before they make it back. I always try to set expectations for a wait I don't have a den to set on.

That's aggravating but I think 'random' isn't the right way to look at it. If it take a week and a half for the animal to return we're probably dealing with a male. It's just making the rounds of all the pet food bowls and habitual dens it knows of. They are fairly predictable.

The females are even more predictable because they don't range far. They are the ones that the customer sees every night like clockwork.

If they passed by once, they'll be back, unless something else gets them first.

I think he said the skunk was in the trap! The question I think he is asking is how are they handled in the trap picking up nite vs daytime. Back in my early days I would jump up and run out there. that got old fast as the nights became sleepless. LOL now they wait till I make my rounds. well most of the time anyway. At night it can be a little tricky if the skunk is worked up. I found the key is keep the light in his eyes, the flash light is in front of the tarp as I walk up. I don't want shadows moving around if I can help it. just move slow and easy.

I am jeolous of you guys getting all the skunk calls- LOL. I love em but just don't get the calls here---yet!

I think the 3S method is common around here.

Hey Jonsie, never thought about the shadows. They seem to be pretty edgy at night, nervousness that can produce an "accident." Judy can tell what I caught. Hot sun and rain in the day aren'e great either. Seems to be best to keep them in the shade, dry out of the rain and pick them up in the morning if possible. I think I have 4 "waiting" for me now, hard to tell as clients don't get close, just say "the doors are down." Sometimes its a possum.

Hey, thanks to my first call this morning I can actually participate in this discussion. A skunk wandering around very slowly in a

backyard. Over the years I have taken skunks with every disease known to man but this was different. This skunk had clear eyes, a

beautiful clean coat without a single dirt smudge on it. She was nice and fat and didn't seem to have a thing wrong with her. I

pulled out the deadly bottle of chlo..... and nailed her right in the kisser at about three feet. ( There was a row of short

arborvitae separating us ) She never moved! I waited until she got dizzy and then held the five gallon pail in front and watched her

walk in. What do you guys think? Maybe some fast acting poison that she got into? She had her tail up but never swapped ends and

try to spray me. Always kept looking me right in the eye. ( I'd like to think it's because I'm the handsomest ADC guy she's ever

seen, but I know better )

Got a call recently at 10pm for a skunk in a deep window well. It was very agitated. I slowly lowered a PVC tube trap down. Put some cheezit crackers on the pan,one on the lip and one half way in. I had a tiny bit of Peaches and Cream so I smeared a little on the lip. He went right over to the trap and ate the cracker. Then he spent the next ten minutes licking ,scratching and rubbing his face in the Peaches and Cream. He then moved in and ate the second cracker then moved to the back and I dropped the door. I pulled the trap back up and went home and ordered another tub of Peaches and Cream. I come up with these genius ideas all the time and this one happened to be the one in ten that worked.I thank Jonsie for the cheezit idea. I believe it was an article that he wrote that gave me the idea. It certainly made me a more successful skunk trapper.

Love is blind ?

Thanks David. I guess the opposite would be "Hate is smelly!"

When I go after a skunk I put the trap in a black contractor's bag. If the bottom of the bag has been torn out I know it's a skunk. If not, the first thought is opossum.

This morning I went to pick up trap I had for a skunk, there was one in one trap and another in the other trap but there was two young skunks digging under the one trap. I removed the one skunk then stopped by the house and got two more shorter double door traps. I had a cover over the trap with the skunk inside. I put the two shorter trap beside the trap that had the skunk inside. Just before dark I went to the location and removed the cover and moved the two shorter trap tight to the other trap. Hoping the young skunks will be looking for mom tonight.
Time will tell.
I will let you know tomorrow.

Paul for a period of about 5 years every skunk or coon I came up on like you described was rabid. also there was the ones that saw me from 30 yards out and ran towards me LOL that was easier to figure out.

Jonesie, my daughter came up with another suggestion. The customer that called it in, described it as being drunk. Maybe it got into

somebody's Jim Beam bottle. I recall that in my misspent youth on several occasions I drove young ladies home at closing time that

kind of resembled that skunk.

Follow up on the baby skunks. Putting a trap on both sides of the trap that had mom in it worked like a charm. Thing went very smooth. It pays to read the post on this forum, lots of good information.

You know I've read that before re: skunks but have not had an opportunity to try it. Glad it worked. I have seen it work on raccoons for me though.