Not caught yet but how to remove a skunk from Havahart live trap?

[Dftodd]

Ditto on the effectiveness of German Shepherd Dogs. My GSD started snarling and growling and dived into some weeds and immediately tossed some black and white fluffy thing into the air about 6 feet high. He got point-blank plastered with spray and the smell didn't ease up for over a week. He was a teary snotty drooling miserable mess. But he DID kill the skunk.

Glad I was lucky enough to be about 20 feet behind him when this encounter started!

For awhile the weiney dog would show up to the back door soaking wet and stinking of skunk.

Every two to three days this would happen for a couple weeks.

Well the dogs wanted to go outside about 4am.

So I went with them with the pistol.

Skunk was on the side of the house.

The weiney dog was creeping up behind it to sniff it's bottom I'm figuring the skunk must have been female.

Well I start to yell at the dog to get back. He keeps focusing on that bottom.

He gets to about 4 ft behind the skunk. At this point I'm out of there and get back about 20ft or so.

At 2 ft, the skunk let drive with the spray. Shot him right in the eyes.

That dog starts fish flopping across the yard rubbing his face in the grass. Then bails into the kiddy pool and about drowns himself.

All I hear from the pool is splashing, grunting, and snorting.

Well, that answered a couple question I had about why the blasted dog would show up to the door soaking wet and smelling of skunk I also realized he wasn't very bright either

While he was drowning himself, I managed to get a clear shot at the skunk and was able to get rid of it

 

[MossRoad]

Get a nice vinyl plastic work tarp. A big one, hold it over your head (covering your body outline) as you slowly approach the skunk in the trap. Place the tarp over the trap, make sure you know where the handle is, don't leave too much tarp over the entrance. Relocate accordingly.

As long as your calm and patient, you should have no issues. They are pretty docile animals. With poor vision.

THIS!!!! It works!

Skunks don't feel threatened if they don't see you.

I did it in my garage. Skunk pacing in trap. Lower the tarp so it can see you and it raises its tail. Raise the tarp and hide, the skunk lowers its tail and starts pacing again. Very interesting.

As said, stay behind the tarp, to slow, and you should be fine.

 

[MossRoad]

If it looks like a skunk is facing you, don't assume it needs to turn around to spray you. One little tail flick and your it. A blanket between the two parties works fairly well. Even tiny skunks have working sprayers.

View attachment 884462

They're so cute!

 

[MossRoad]

Here you go.... 2010.

Catch & Release Fishing Is For Wimps

A real sport is catch and release skunk trapping!!! :laughing:

www.tractorbynet.com

 

[CH4Ohio]

And tie a length of rope to your trap so whatever happens you can drag it to a location where you want to handle it, shoot it, etc. . . ..

 

[CH4Ohio]

Relocating skunks is NOT humane. If it's not good for humans, it can't be "humane".

 

[ultrarunner]

Only happened once finding a skunk in the trap...

No one would go near so it was up to me.

I calmly talked to the skunk as I opened the door and the skunk walked out...

Since we have coyotes now have not seen the racoons, foxes, possums, skunks for several years...

Deer population also down but several mountain lion sightings the last 2 years...

The deer are the only ones that destroy a yard... no wild pigs thankfully...

Neighbor set out dog food and several Coyotes befriended his dog... at one time there were 9 counted but he moved and so did the coyotes... they lived wild turkey.

 

[deserteagle71]

I periodically get skunks that are determined to live in my barn, within the pallets that hold my hay. I tried relocating one to the far corner of my property. It was back in my barn within a few days. (At least I think it was the same one.)

This is what happens to me. 3 years ago I caught 8 of the smelly things in just 2 months time. Trap set in exactly the same location in the barn each time. This one stuck his head into the trap to set it off and it suffocated him.

 

[CalG]

I haven't caught it yet but my quest for a raccoon may find me with a skunk in a Havahart live trap. If that happens, how do I get it out of the trap?

Trapped possums and raccoons go to a local wetland area for release and I would like to do the same with the skunk, should I catch it. Maybe better to just let to go and hope it leaves town? But how do I do that to get close enough to the trap to open the door? I'm a tough guy but not when it comes to skunks. Any advice welcome.

After 10 days submerged, Pull rope up until the cage just shows below the water surface.
Inspect carefully for presence of unwanted pest inside cage.

Wearing heavy duty protective gloves with coverage of fore arms. Reach into cage, extract vermin and release back into the water.
If the carcass does not sink, attach rock to front appendage with a short string. Release again.

Motor off back home....

 

[MMC]

Many of you gentlemen have much more of a penchant for entertainment than myself. For those of you so inclined to release skunks from traps, I will offer to hold your beer or scotch...from a distance.

I will offer my first experience with a skunk at the age of seven for your entertainment and education.
About the time the virtues of Ford 8Ns and mules were being hotly debated in KY, I had a dog on my grandfather's farm that worshiped me - Mickey. Knew one trick - "Sic 'Em," Would take on a bull if I asked. And I would.

My grandfather was in the barn milking (by hand) his seven cows to sell milk to the local college creamery. Bored, I spied a cat on top of a stall door and immediately told "Mickey" to "Sic 'Em." Raising cane, he ran the hapless cat under the barn and then stopped and turned to look at me with some concern. Disappointed and confused that he would not continue delivering mock violence to the hapless feline, I sternly ordered him to pursue the quarry. Reluctantly, he relented and started digging under the barn.

You guessed it, a skunk. Hit the dog square in the face. He ran blindly out of the barn, rolling around in pain, pawing at his eyes and screaming.

My grandfather, a kind and patient man, came outside from milking into a haze of skunk spray, screaming dog sounds, and doused grandchild. He was awed enough to ask me quite sincerely, "Boy, why would you do that?" I pleaded honest ignorance. Whereupon he explained what a polecat was and that one was expected to respect it.

Shaking his head, he returned to milking, probably thinking at least the family wouldn't need to provide any money to send me to college later.

Mickey never did quite trust my judgement after that...

 

[Dftodd]

They're so cute!

My grandmother had a hair dresser that worked out of her house when I was about 6 or 7. Well grandma took my brother and I over with her for her hair appointment since the lady had kids around our age.

Well they had a pet skunk. It had it's sent glands removed.

My brother and I played with the skunk for the majority of the visit. And yes, it was super cute.

 

[fatjay]

Shoot it from a distance.

 

[sixdogs]

Just wondering if you could not put a remote release pull line on the trap?

I'm looking into that now. I also remember they might open in the trap is upside down. Looking into that as well.

 

[sixdogs]

I did have a skunk walk into my open barn door once and got locked in. We both had a surprise when I open the door. He went east, I went west and that was that.

I also caught a coon in my Havahart set in sweet corn. He was the Chuck Norris of raccoons because he had the trap about 30 ft away and bent the wire mesh of the sides before he got out. The door must have opened as he rolled the cage over.

The next night, I caught him again but had the trap staked down. I got a boat hook, arm-length welding gloves and a grain bag. I got him in the bed of the truck in the cage and that's the last time I'll ever do that. I managed to get him out at the nature preserve, and he rolled around enough to get the trap to open. I have posted pics of that cage somewhere on the TBN a few years ago but I now avoid raccoons and relocation.


In Ohio, you can relocate a possum but aren't supposed to relocate a raccoon.

 

[Yander]

As a teen I had a trap line and caught a skunk in a leg hold trap. Only one option there, emptied my .22 mag into it and walked away to get it out the next day. Turned my trap green from the spray.

I shot one with a shot gun one evening, could barely see it, and it crawled under my barn (Portable building) and died. Took a long time for that odor to go away. I killed it because I had chickens and didn't want it around my hens. They also tear the crap out of my yard searching for grubs.

I had an old time tell me that he just walks up to the live trap and throws a blanket over it and takes them and turns them loose somewhere else. Never got sprayed.

 

[BigBlue1]

Use marshmallows for coon bait with live traps. Possum and skunks forage by smell and won't be attracted. 'Coons hunt by sight and MMs look like eggs, so they'll find them even in the dark and take an immediate liking to the taste. Stake or weight your traps so that litter-mates don't tip them over and allow escape. (BTDT)

Smaller live traps as used for squirrels are tops for skunks. If they can't raise their tail they can't spray. I take most all catches for a swim off the dock while in the trap. Old bait and critter poo get soaked and rinsed off 'naturally' with minimal mess. Twenty years of saving .22 LR ammo.

That's not my experience. I've trapped about 15 skunks and marshmallows were the only bait I used.

 

[RSKY]

And tie a length of rope to your trap so whatever happens you can drag it to a location where you want to handle it, shoot it, etc. . . ..

I tried this when we had the one spray under our house, see above post. I read that they could spray twenty feet so I tied a fifty foot rope on the trap. Plan was to drag it into the field behind the house and shoot it. The silly thing had chewed the rope apart where it was tied to the trap. Had to get the sheet out.

RSKY

 

[RSKY]

When we were having our skunk problem, well our major problem, have small problems with them about every year. Got distracted there, please forgive me. Anyway I was told to shoot them in the head and they wouldn't spray. Nope, didn't work, neighbors still haven't forgiven me for that cause it was right in our back yard. After the second time that failed and having to experiment out of necessity I have found that using the above mentioned kick like a mule 3" #4Buck and a shot to the rear hind quarters will get no spray two out of three times. When they do spray after being hit by 41 22-caliber pellets it kinda dribbles out and is not too bad.

I once caught five babies in the same trap at the same time. I thought they were cute and well I didn't want to walk back to the house for the shotgun and I had my 380 Ruger in my back pocket so maybe just shoot them one at a time. Nope,.... got one shot off and was looking at five hoisted tails and five buttholes. Made the short walk back to the house and out came the Maverick and the 3" Buckshot. Only took two shots to get them all.

RSKY

 

[2515R Dude]

Use marshmallows for coon bait with live traps. Possum and skunks forage by smell and won't be attracted. 'Coons hunt by sight and MMs look like eggs, so they'll find them even in the dark and take an immediate liking to the taste. Stake or weight your traps so that litter-mates don't tip them over and allow escape. (BTDT)

Smaller live traps as used for squirrels are tops for skunks. If they can't raise their tail they can't spray. I take most all catches for a swim off the dock while in the trap. Old bait and critter poo get soaked and rinsed off 'naturally' with minimal mess. Twenty years of saving .22 LR ammo.

I beg difference. I use marshmallow in my traps and caught everything including possums, coons, skunks' and even one time a feral cat. Everything in dog proof traps.
The conibear 220 works best for them. They never spray.

And it is true, if they cannot lift the tail, they would not spray. Dump them in the creek overnight, win-win, it is dead, not sprayed and the trap is clean next day.

 

[2515R Dude]

When we were having our skunk problem, well our major problem, have small problems with them about every year. Got distracted there, please forgive me. Anyway I was told to shoot them in the head and they wouldn't spray. Nope, didn't work,

RSKY

Right, for some reason shooting in the head makes them spray, go for lungs instead. They don't spray this way. I also was surprised but apparently they do not spray while suffocating. Lang shot or conibear work well for me