skunk remediation

Toad

Toad

Active member
I had a skunk get in the chicken coop last night and pick off a low-roosting hen. At least I am guessing that from the dead, half-eaten hen and the smell inside the coop...:(

I've deployed a couple box traps around the coop tonight, hopefully the skunk moves on or gets caught tonight.

For those of you who are trappers, what is good skunk bait I can put in the box traps? I usually use fish heads when we get a raccoon problem, but this is my first encounter with a skunk. Hopefully the last also...:cool:
 
7.5s from a safe distance back. Two shots as quick as the auto will cycle. That would be my plan, anyway. I've done it twice to raccoons that didn't look quite "right". I went ahead and shot 'em while they were still in the trap. Death was instant and the trap showed no damage.
 
I've had to trap a bunch of nuisance skunks around my place. Getcha some cheap canned tuna. They can't resist it. There's always the chance you'll get a grinner, but you don't want them in the coop either.

If you're targeting coons, and you DON'T want a skunk or possum, use marshmallows.
 
I'm hoping the problem is solved.:eek:

I thought I had caught the skunk yesterday morning, based on the smell, but it turned out to be a possum that had obviously been sprayed by a skunk. I couldn't get within 30 feet of the thing without gagging.:eek: I wonder if it wasn't the possum that got in there and stunk up the coop.:confused:

Then this morning a skunk got hit on the road within 200 yards of my house, so...

Either way, there's a fair chance that whatever got in there and ate the chicken may be dead. :laugh: Thanks for the tip on the tuna. I'll employ that next time if I need to.
 
Toad said:
7.5s from a safe distance back. Two shots as quick as the auto will cycle. That would be my plan, anyway. I've done it twice to raccoons that didn't look quite "right". I went ahead and shot 'em while they were still in the trap. Death was instant and the trap showed no damage.
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GOOD!:thumbsup:
 
neighbors and friends now call me Skunkman. I have caught a few skunks in live traps by my koi pond. just walk up to trap slow with a blanket in front of you and lay it gently over trap. you can them pick up trap and put it in back of truck and drive out in country to shot it. have never had one spray yet this way. one time I was driving out of town with trap on tailgate and blanket blew off. great cure for tailgaters.:cheers: guys at the power plant catch lots of skunks this way they have a rope tied to trap and throw it in the cooling pond no odor . friend of mine was trying to catch a groundhog at his office in town. one of his not so bright office ladies decided a piece of chicken would be good bait. yep he caught a skunk. so who you going to call Skunkman.!!!! ladies couldn't believe I walked right up to it covered it up and put it in my work truck. they asked what I was going to do with it. I told them I don't practice catch and release. skunk is going to DIE. OHHHH he is so cute you cant kill him. I stared at them and said damn your right he is a very cute skunk. where do you live.???.. why do you want to know that.:eek: if you think he is so cute and should be let free I will gladly do it in your yard:D half hour later skunk was sent to skunk heaven. seems they didn't think he was so cute anymore.
 
I would have used the leftovers from the original chicken. In lieu of that, fish flavored canned catfood is good. The cheaper the better. I'd keep trapping. Teeth never come in a set of 1. A skunk sprayed possum wouldn't leave much odor in the pen by just visiting. He may have walked in on the skunk having dinner or vice versa. Cover your bets and keep set for a few more nights. I do like to put the trap in water for the kill. Better than shooting them. If you don't have a pond or creek nearby, a 55 gallon barrel or anything that has enough water to cover the trap will do. Even the koi pond:)
 
Prairie Drifter said:
I would have used the leftovers from the original chicken. In lieu of that, fish flavored canned catfood is good. The cheaper the better. I'd keep trapping. Teeth never come in a set of 1. A skunk sprayed possum wouldn't leave much odor in the pen by just visiting. He may have walked in on the skunk having dinner or vice versa. Cover your bets and keep set for a few more nights. I do like to put the trap in water for the kill. Better than shooting them. If you don't have a pond or creek nearby, a 55 gallon barrel or anything that has enough water to cover the trap will do. Even the koi pond:)
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My friend's father-in-law tried to drop a box trap with a skunk into a 55-gallon barrel of water... :laugh: Even after 10 showers, they would not allow him to get on a commercial airplane... They said he still smelled too offensive to be allowed on their airplane. :laugh:
 
Tell him next time to cut the barrel in half length wise and then you don't have to tip it on it's end! Tha't like trying to push a porky into a pipe by hand. You won't do it twice!
 
Haha. Thanks for the tips. It looks like I am good to go with the chicken snatcher.:thumbsup: Whichever one it was (possum or skunk), doesn't matter, both are gone and we haven't had any more trouble since...:thumbsup:

We only have 8 chickens now, and they are like pets to us. They all have names and different personalities. My wife and kids love to give them bread and table scraps. The one that died was, unfortunately, their favorite, so using the "rest of it" as bait was not an option. I had to get it cleaned up and stashed before they saw it or they would have been very upset...
 
I sure wish skunks didn't exist....my younger wirehair loves to point them....then kill them....#2 of the year was yesterday....it's seems that the potency of the spray is a lot worse when its squeezed out the skunks body by my dogs jaws :eek: only 30 more days or so until the stench is clear of my vehicle, house and pretty much everything else I own.
:mad:
 
Thank God for dog trailers. I remember the days with a Bronco, ugh! Was known to leave a dog in their airline crate in a plum thicket to run borrow a pickup to retrieve the stinking kit and caboodle! I did have a whitetail try to cross between my pickup and the trailer once. Didn't work out well for him!
 
rascal said:
I sure wish skunks didn't exist....my younger wirehair loves to point them....then kill them....#2 of the year was yesterday....it's seems that the potency of the spray is a lot worse when its squeezed out the skunks body by my dogs jaws :eek: only 30 more days or so until the stench is clear of my vehicle, house and pretty much everything else I own.
:mad:
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Knock on wood, I have still been lucky in this regard. I keep a plastic kennel in the truck bed just in case, even though they only ride in the backseat of the crew cab...
 
yea...my whole life I've had pickup trucks and never had a problem with stink but couple years ago I had to give up my F150 for a Toyota Rav4 to get the 30mpg. I drive way too many miles to hunt every year...if I had to drive a pickup truck I wouldn't be able to afford to hunt near as much as I do. but now I'm stuck with the stink lol
 
My older shorthair doesn't care about the smell. He goes after them and then brings the smell back to me. He doesn't seem to mind.

My granddad and dad (when he was a kid) had a brittany sprayed by one on a quail hunting trip. The dog passed out and stayed in a stupor for quite awhile... Dad still remembers my grandma's reaction when they carried her to the back yard when they returned. "My God, you've shot that dog" The dog turned out to be alright after about a day, but it sure made it sick. Same dog that got the ham bone stuck over it's lower jaw. Bad luck. I guess 15 to 20 coveys a day made up for the occasional mishaps.
 
Dakotazeb said:
And what do you do with him once he's in the trap? :eek:
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I seen a trapper attach a long cable to the trap. When he caught one under a house trailer, he just tied the cable to his hitch and drove right down main street headed for the country. I asked what he did with it when he stopped and he said train it on 12 gauge. Still have to get that damn thing out of the trap, but maybe there wasn't much left of the trap anyway!
 
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