# Oops



## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

We have a raccoon problem. Their eating our garden. So i got a live trap and set it up using watermellon rinds as bait. Thinking this would keep the cats and skunks out.

Went out this morning and have a big ol skunk in it. How do you get them out without them letting a stink bomb off.


----------



## GaryFish (Sep 7, 2007)

22 or pellet gun to the head.


----------



## bowhunt3r4l1f3 (Jan 12, 2011)

I've just shot them in the head with my 22 from a ways off before. They still stink but it never sprayed.


----------



## martymcfly73 (Sep 17, 2007)

I told our new animal control guy to shoot one in the head and that it wouldn't spray him. He did and it did. Animal control should have a long pole that hold a syringe to euthanize them w/o them spraying. Should being the key word. He still hasn't forgiven me btw.


----------



## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

Leave them in the sun, they dehydrate pretty fast.


----------



## stablebuck (Nov 22, 2007)

bowgy said:


> Leave them in the sun, they dehydrate pretty fast.


I think I'd rather shoot them...dehydration is a pretty inhumane way to kill an animal.
Shoot em and take your chances with the spray...it's a skunk after all...


----------



## hattrick (Aug 29, 2011)

A guy I work with told me that when he catches skunks in his live trap he puts a tarp over the cage from a distance with a 2X4 or something long and this calms the skunk since it cant see. He says they wont spray when are covered. He starts his car and puts some tubing in his exhaust and under the tarp. He says in no time you have taken care of the skunk. I have my doubts but he told me it works.


----------



## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

A friend of mine shot a skunk a few years ago in the head with my .17 hmr from about 20 yards and that sucker stunk so bad it actually made me dry heave.

Leaving it in the sun does sound mean but it might be my only hope. Maybe it will slow it down enough where i can put a cover over the trap and let it go near the lake.

My kids think its cute and say its the mother that they've seen with three babies running around.

Like i said i didnt want to catch the cats and skunks.


----------



## Loke (Sep 7, 2007)

Sounds like you have three more to catch.


----------



## highcountryfever (Aug 24, 2009)

A guy at my work has a pet skunk. some how he took the glands out when it was a baby? anyway, his kids love it.


----------



## martymcfly73 (Sep 17, 2007)

I had a raccoon problem as well. They ate all my chickens. I ended up catching two and the rest cats. Needless to say my neighborhood has a few less cats. It's hard to keep them out of the traps.


----------



## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Skunks are cute little buggers. We do see them all the time. Maybe this is why we dont see any pheasants any more


----------



## Moostickles (Mar 11, 2010)

hattrick said:


> A guy I work with told me that when he catches skunks in his live trap he puts a tarp over the cage from a distance with a 2X4 or something long and this calms the skunk since it cant see. He says they wont spray when are covered. He starts his car and puts some tubing in his exhaust and under the tarp. He says in no time you have taken care of the skunk. I have my doubts but he told me it works.


This is the best way I've found, it works well. Every one I've shot in the head has sprayed everything it had, and the "leave it in the sun" method will take a day or two and IMO would be a pretty painful way to go.


----------



## Mr Muleskinner (Feb 14, 2012)

I think the only real proven method is to up a tent and furnish it with a PS3 and some old skin magazines.

Then tell your son that he gets to sleep in the tent for a week under one condition.


----------



## Bears Butt (Sep 12, 2007)

It will take two people to do this. One mans a water hose with a high pressure nozzle on the end. He soaks the skunk down really good and keeps the hose trained on the skunk while the other guy shoots it with a 22. Guaranteed no spray.


----------



## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Im starting to think trapping is a red neck sport.


----------



## Bears Butt (Sep 12, 2007)

Trapping IS a ******* sport and then a bunch of city savages decided they would like to try it.

If you are close to a stream or lake, you can cover the trap with a tarp, load it in your truck and toss it in the water, the critter will drown without spraying. Be sure to tie on a rope to be able to recover your trap though.


----------



## xxxxxxBirdDogger (Mar 7, 2008)

My dad had a skunk in his stairwell one night and he shot it in the head. The skunk's final act in life was to let loose all of its oil in an attempt to defile its killer. Skunk permeated every room in the house. _/O


----------



## nacho (Jun 14, 2011)

We catch them pretty regularly. We call animal control and they give them a shot on the end of a pole. They wont haul it off though. About half the time they are dead before they get here. They dont last long in this heat. To catch racoons we bait the trap with corn because that is usually what they are eating in the garden. Problem is skunks like it too!


----------



## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

The guy i borrowed the trap from came over and hauled it off. So it looks like i dont have to worry about this one any more. Still have to catch the ***** though.


----------



## AF CYN (Mar 19, 2009)

Too bad. I was interested to see what you decided to do. 

Not that it matters now, but I have friends who have used the carbon monoxide method and the "leave it the sun" method. Both were successful at killing the skunks without spray.


----------



## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

I think there were a few guys wanting a laugh at my expense. Lol "shoot it in the head" those suckers always loose a load that way!


----------



## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

If you don't like the sun method, they do make traps where when the skunk is in the trap the trap is inclosed and has a hole in the top, you just fill it with water and drown the skunk.


----------



## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

:grin:
Sounds like a good trap


----------



## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

GaryFish said:


> 22 or pellet gun to the head.


Thats what my dad taught me to do. They still leak a little, but they normally dont spray


----------



## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

Bears Butt said:


> If you are close to a stream or lake, you can cover the trap with a tarp, load it in your truck and toss it in the water, the critter will drown without spraying. Be sure to tie on a rope to be able to recover your trap though.


I have done this one myself, they do spray and it smells about 200x worse than normal; kind of like farting in the hot tub the injection of the water seems to make it diarrhea like.


----------



## Bax* (Dec 14, 2008)

Huge29 said:


> Bears Butt said:
> 
> 
> > If you are close to a stream or lake, you can cover the trap with a tarp, load it in your truck and toss it in the water, the critter will drown without spraying. Be sure to tie on a rope to be able to recover your trap though.
> ...


 -_O- -_O- -_O- -_O- -_O- -_O- -_O- -_O- -_O-


----------



## Bears Butt (Sep 12, 2007)

If you just want to target raccoons use marshmallows or better yet the marshmallow sticky junk that comes in a bottle. Poke a stick into it and tie it to the back of the trap. You still will catch an occasional skunk, but not like if you used meat or corn.

The shoot them in the head theory is B.S....I got a direct hit while trapping once. I walked around and around making sure the skunk was adequately tangled and could not continue with his upright tail pointing at me. So, here I am with 22 pistol in hand kneeling not 5 ft. from the face of the critter. Carefully I aim and fire. The little round hole of the 22 bullet hit perfectly between his eyes and a little high on the forehead.

Down went his head (and in what seemed like an eternity in my minds eye), between his front legs, his upright tail pivoting over its back toward my position, full spray was being dispatched in a nice wide v shape of blue mist. 

My legs would not work, my mouth dropped open, I could not believe what I was seeing as that blue mist painted me from head to knees.

I thought I was gonna die! Sprayed in the eyes, mouth and all over the front of me. I gagged and choked from 10 or 15 minutes, staggering around knowing it was going to the end of the old Bears Butt. Finally things settled down some and I was able to get myself back to home.

That's my story about head shooting them little sob's.


----------



## StillAboveGround (Aug 20, 2011)

I watched a guy pick a trap (with a skunk in it), put it in the back of his station wagon and drive off. He released it on the other side of a canal. Never got spray. Said he did it all the time... 

I have shot 3 or 4 and none of them sprayed, but they all leaked a little bit...

Leave 'em in the sun???? Karma will be (and should be) a bitch for that one.


----------



## A-Weezy (Jun 27, 2011)

The best way to kill them is to go for a heart(vital) shot. I have caught a few and after a few head shots they always spray and stink the place up. Go for a vital shot and hope for the best.


----------



## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

I ran a trapline for much of my youth, and every skunk I ever tried to shoot sprayed as a last act......and that included 8 ft. head shots with a 12 ga. If I was close to a river, I'd switch the anchor chain to a long pole and pull the skunk into a deep part of the water and drown it. No spray then.

If I was targeting racoons and didn't want to be bothered with skunks, I tried to set the trap in 3 to 4 inches of water. Water is no barrier for racoons but skunks hate getting their feet wet. If you have a ditch nearby you may want to try setting your trap in water to avoid the house cats and skunks.


----------



## NHS (Sep 7, 2007)

We use to have a skunk problem when I was a young kid. Our house was by the river and we always had skunks in the trash. My dad would make a mixture of dry corn meal and plaster of Paris. About 60/40. The skunks would scarf it up, wander off to their den and become a bit constipated and die. No more skunk problem, no stink. I assume it would work on raccoons as well.


----------



## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Interesting


----------



## MKP (Mar 7, 2010)

Talk about s**ting a brick...


----------



## Jsw (Dec 5, 2010)

I worked with a guy who trapped a lot of skunks, and shot most of them in the head and they all sprayed. He told me he had talked with an old guy who told him to shoot them in the lungs and they wouldn't spray, he shot a bunch after that and he said not one sprayed when shot through the lungs.


----------



## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

This has got to be one of the better threads in a while; this one likely has another 15 pages of life left on it. Plaster....who'da thunk it?


----------



## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

NHS said:


> We use to have a skunk problem when I was a young kid. Our house was by the river and we always had skunks in the trash. My dad would make a mixture of dry corn meal and plaster of Paris. About 60/40. The skunks would scarf it up, wander off to their den and become a bit constipated and die. No more skunk problem, no stink. I assume it would work on raccoons as well.


  Dang, wish I'd known that about 50 years ago!


----------



## stimmie78 (Dec 8, 2007)

I wonder if the plaster of paris thing would work on other unwanted animals in the yard... hmmmm


----------



## stimmie78 (Dec 8, 2007)

Just found this study... so I guess not..

Plaster/Cement and Rats
Boelter (1909) states that plaster of paris (calcium
sulfate) mixed with sugar has long been recommended as a
rat poison. This bait is placed near water. When the thirsty
rat drinks, the plaster hardens in his intestinal tract and
"literally stiffens him." Fitzwater (1990) fed caged rats (Rattus
norvegicus) plaster of paris mixed 50% with their dry feed.
He also fed a mixture of portland cement in the same ratio
to a second set of rats. After 14 days on these diets, there
was no mortality in either test and the animals appeared
perfectly healthy except for sore rectums due to their large
bowel movements. It is probably safe to assume the digestive
fluids in the alimentary tract prevent these substances from
hardening. Other suggestions along this line, such as
dehydrated potatoes and bath sponge or cork pieces soaked
in butter or bacon fat, can be presumed to be equally
ineffective.


----------



## Flipinsticks725 (Jun 21, 2012)

Since we are talking about Skunks on this thread I have been wondering for a while if you got sprayed would dead down wind or some other scent removal product work to get rid of the smell?


----------



## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Sucks the recipes above dont work.

I caught another skunk yesterday. So maybe i dont have a **** problem. Maybe its skunks.


----------



## JuniorPre 360 (Feb 22, 2012)

I'm not sure if you've called Wildlife Solutions, but I used to work for the company doing small **** and beaver problems. I ALWAYS caught ***** with marshmellows with vanilla extract poured over them. If not, the extract poured over a twinkie works even better. I've caught maybe 300 ***** this way.


----------



## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Didnt want to have to pay someone to do the trapping when my kids are having so much fun doing it themselves.

Ill try the vanilla extract on the marsh mellows. I bet anise oil would work as well. 

They caught a robin in it today. Dont know how it was heavy enough to trip the pan but it did.


----------



## JuniorPre 360 (Feb 22, 2012)

Not sure what anise oil is but if it's sweet and strong smelling, then it should work. They love sweet stuff.


----------



## shaun larsen (Aug 5, 2011)

Flipinsticks725 said:


> Since we are talking about Skunks on this thread I have been wondering for a while if you got sprayed would dead down wind or some other scent removal product work to get rid of the smell?


its good stuff, but it isnt THAT good...


----------



## Blanding_Boy (Nov 21, 2007)

The best way to kill a skunk is to.

1--use small live traps, I like the have a heart smalls. They are 18" long and 5x5. YOu don't want them much bigger than 6 or so inches high. Once the skunk is in here, it cannot lift its tail to spray.
2--pick up trap
3--take to 30 gallon drum/washtub etc. filled with water.
4--dump trap into water drowning the skunk
5--remove from trap and bury.

FYI shooting in the head/back anywhere does not work--they will still spray.

Good luck


----------



## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Looks like i need to get a smaller trap. Neighbor took care of one the other day. I let one go, and i have another sob in the trap now. I can officially say i hate things.


----------



## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Mother fricker sprayed the cage when i was trying to put a tarp on it. I was just going to open one end and let it out. After 5 dry heaves and one vomit. Its now officially on!


----------



## Bo0YaA (Sep 29, 2008)

lol


----------

