What next? I'm in the county so I can shoot it. Does it still release the stink?

Plan right now is to sneak up with a .22 & have a hose ready if that would somehow "wash" the stink out of the air and off my shop wall & have a hole already dug.

I have tyvek suits - would that block me?

burlap sack at night, rope, pond.


You're on your own from there.

throw in pond

If you leave it in there for a day or so, they can't spray if they're too dehydrated.

I've done this twice and it has worked successfully both times. And by successfully, I mean without getting sprayed. Granted, I didn't relocate the skunk but rather released it right where I trapped it.

Hold up a $3 Harbor Freight tarp to serve as a barrier between you and the trap. Walk slowly toward the back of the trap and cover it with the tarp. Open trap door while keeping the tarp between you and the skunk's ass end. As it scampers out, stand and back off quickly while holding up the tarp.

Good luck!

I normally cover the trap with a sheet and drive somewhere isolated and further out. Use a wire to open trap from a distance while trap is on the ground and I'm on my tailgate. Release skunk on its merry way. I've never been sprayed.

Kill it.

Skunks are actually really cool animals. We had one at the Fort Worth nature center when I worked there that had it's scent glands removed. It was my favorite animal to work with.

They also provide a valuable service by consuming insects and small rodents.

I would probably do the tarp thing.

I start work early each day. I usually go for a walk each morning before I start. The most heart pounding encounter is when I heard something to the right, then swung the light back to the left and saw a skunk giving me the warning signs that it was about to spray. I don't think I've ever moved that fast in my list. I crossed the street in the blink of an eye and the heart pounded for a good while after.

I caught one in a leg trap (in town in Bandera). It had moved in under the house. I was at work and someone reported it to animal control Animal control called me and said I needed to take care of it or I'd get fined for animal cruelty. It was in town and apparently a Karen got upset. I asked if they could take care of it. They said not their trap, not their problem. So I called the marshall's office. I told them that I had a skunk in a leg trap and I was going to shoot it with a 22 (figured I'd give them a heads up since I'd be shooting a gun in town). They told me to call animal control. I told them what was said. They hesitated and finally asked about when was I going to dispatch the skunk.

I ended up opening the bathroom window and shooting it in the head. I dug a hole in the back. Picked up the skunk with a shovel and buried it. The skunk stunk, but I didn't get sprayed, though I dropped it on my shoe on the way to the hole. I had to throw away the shoe.

Funniest skunk story I heard was from my dad. He passed out on a lawn chair in San Antonio in the 60's. He said he woke up in the middle of the night to some rustling. He picked up his head to see a mama skunk and all her little ones foraging around him. He had to lay their motionless, having to pee, for a long time.

Caught 27 of them in one year under my grandma's old house. Walk up holding a sheet in front of you, cover the trap with the sheet, drop trap in water & wait a few minutes. Never sprayed.

JD05AG said:

---

Caught 27 of them in one year under my grandma's old house. Walk up holding a sheet in front of you, cover the trap with the sheet, drop trap in water & wait a few minutes. Never sprayed.

---

Friend of mine had a very similar incident out on his place. His house always had a little skunk smell but he had no idea how many critters were involved.

He slid the trap under the house but had a 100' rope tied to it. Over a few weeks he ended up with 25 or 30 of them, drug them out in the pasture and dispatched them.

Put a long chain on your traps so you never have walk up to anything.

Trap->chain->truck->pond

FYI
Tyvek is water proof. It is NOT air tight or scent proof.

I successfully covered the trap with a moving blanket. Put the trap in pickup bed. Drove 2 miles to relocation point. Opened door slowly, from behind the trap while it is still covered. The skunk walked out after 2 min…all good. No reason to kill it just because…

I drag them into the hot sun. They are usually expired by dusk and then I move it away from the house.

All the other methods get your trap all skunked up.

That's cruel. Just shoot them if you feel you have to kill them.

Years ago we lived in a new neighborhood and we were the second house on the street. They started building out the street so one night we walked down to a new house that was being built. We were in the kitchen and heard a rustling noise. It was of course a skunk headed into the kitchen. We jumped onto the island and had to stay still and quiet until Pepe lePew left and that was longer than we wanted. It never seemed to notice us and never sprayed.

Yes, I'm going to be that guy. If you put out the trap, have a plan in place for when you catch something (and it may be everything from a skunk to a stray cat). Don't catch one and then "now what?"

Quote:

---

have a plan in place

---

Lived here for years & am not a trap novice. I have plans for raccoons, armadillos, possums, squirrels - never seen or smelled a skunk around here.

I covered with an old sheet & opened the door - out it went .... right into a hole that we had never seen under the hvac pad.

I consider it a win - it's out of the trap & I don't stink. Will figure out the hole later.

Good comments in this thread.

Someone else can try the sheet thing, no way I'm doing that.

I shoot them with a 22. They still spray, stay upwind if you can!

Two skunk stories.....

- I was at El Rancho Cima for Boy Scout camp and they had these big canvas tents (probably 8' x 8') that were set up on platforms. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and there being a skunk walking on the floor between me and my buddy on the other side of the tent. It was so hot we had left the tent flaps open to allow for some air circulation. I have never laid so still in my life.

- When I was a young homebuilder I had a painter who had left the garage door and the door into the house open. We had a drop-in tub in the master bath that was set in a framed up box and then tiled. He walked into the bathroom and there was a skunk that ran into the untiled section of the tub surround (left open so the plumbers could set the faucet and then tiled up afterwards). No one wanted to coax him out. Thankfully, the tub was on an exterior wall so we broke out the brick, cut a hole in the house wrap, pulled out the insulation and then the painter kind of shooed him out the hole from the inside. It ran down the side of the house and back into the garage just as I was walking into the garage from the house and as soon as I ssw it turn the corner I jumped back into the house and slammed the door shut. We laughed about that in the construction trailer forever.

I don't think it is legal in TX to relocate an animal that is prone to carrying rabies.

Skunks have a wide range of personalities. Some remain calm in the trap, while others will spray as soon as you approach the trap with a large sheet of cardboard or a sheet.

Skunks have an amazing ability to hit a target with their scent glands, even while the target is almost directly in front of them………I found this out after being hit directly in the face by a particularly nervous skunk that I caught. The smell is quite different when you are covered with the liquid. After that incident, I covered my traps with an old plastic trash can that I cut out to fit around the trap with a small slit for the handle.

AgRyan04 said:

---

Two skunk stories.....

- I was at El Rancho Cima for Boy Scout camp and they had these big canvas tents (probably 8' x 8') that were set up on platforms. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and there being a skunk walking on the floor between me and my buddy on the other side of the tent. It was so hot we had left the tent flaps open to allow for some air circulation. I have never laid so still in my life.

- When I was a young homebuilder I had a painter who had left the garage door and the door into the house open. We had a drop-in tub in the master bath that was set in a framed up box and then tiled. He walked into the bathroom and there was a skunk that ran into the untiled section of the tub surround (left open so the plumbers could set the faucet and then tiled up afterwards). No one wanted to coax him out. Thankfully, the tub was on an exterior wall so we broke out the brick, cut a hole in the house wrap, pulled out the insulation and then the painter kind of shooed him out the hole from the inside. It ran down the side of the house and back into the garage just as I was walking into the garage from the house and as soon as I ssw it turn the corner I jumped back into the house and slammed the door shut. We laughed about that in the construction trailer forever.

---

Tent camping at Big Bend about 12 years ago. Something was scratching on the outside of the tent. A minute later I looked up and there was a skunk about 8 inches from my face. Sucker had unzipped the flap and crawled in. I open the flap wider and shoed him out. Twenty minutes later he got in to the tent of the guy next to me. Never sprayed.

My MIL had a pet skunk she used to walk around town. I can only imagine the looks…

AgRyan04 said:

---

Two skunk stories.....

- I was at El Rancho Cima for Boy Scout camp and they had these big canvas tents (probably 8' x 8') that were set up on platforms. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and there being a skunk walking on the floor between me and my buddy on the other side of the tent. It was so hot we had left the tent flaps open to allow for some air circulation. I have never laid so still in my life.

---

In the early 70's I worked at Cima from time to time. Someone there, I don't know who or how, had skinned a skunk. It retained quite a stink. The skin would float around camp from place to place in the worker's area. It often ended up in someone's bedsheets if they had become a pain in the rear for whatever reason. Great way to end a hard day of work and a powerful tool to keep you getting along with your fellow scout workers.

Wahoo82 said:

---

AgRyan04 said:

---

Two skunk stories.....

- I was at El Rancho Cima for Boy Scout camp and they had these big canvas tents (probably 8' x 8') that were set up on platforms. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and there being a skunk walking on the floor between me and my buddy on the other side of the tent. It was so hot we had left the tent flaps open to allow for some air circulation. I have never laid so still in my life.

---

In the early 70's I worked at Cima from time to time. Someone there, I don't know who or how, had skinned a skunk. It retained quite a stink. The skin would float around camp from place to place in the worker's area. It often ended up in someone's bedsheets if they had become a pain in the rear for whatever reason. Great way to end a hard day of work and a powerful tool to keep you getting along with your fellow scout workers.

---

Haha....maybe my experience was an advanced version of the skunk skin! My eyes snapped closed and squeezed tight as soon as I saw it so I could pray it right out of the tent

Martin Cash said:

---

AgRyan04 said:

---

Two skunk stories.....

- I was at El Rancho Cima for Boy Scout camp and they had these big canvas tents (probably 8' x 8') that were set up on platforms. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and there being a skunk walking on the floor between me and my buddy on the other side of the tent. It was so hot we had left the tent flaps open to allow for some air circulation. I have never laid so still in my life.

- When I was a young homebuilder I had a painter who had left the garage door and the door into the house open. We had a drop-in tub in the master bath that was set in a framed up box and then tiled. He walked into the bathroom and there was a skunk that ran into the untiled section of the tub surround (left open so the plumbers could set the faucet and then tiled up afterwards). No one wanted to coax him out. Thankfully, the tub was on an exterior wall so we broke out the brick, cut a hole in the house wrap, pulled out the insulation and then the painter kind of shooed him out the hole from the inside. It ran down the side of the house and back into the garage just as I was walking into the garage from the house and as soon as I ssw it turn the corner I jumped back into the house and slammed the door shut. We laughed about that in the construction trailer forever.

---

Tent camping at Big Bend about 12 years ago. Something was scratching on the outside of the tent. A minute later I looked up and there was a skunk about 8 inches from my face. Sucker had unzipped the flap and crawled in. I open the flap wider and shoed him out. Twenty minutes later he got in to the tent of the guy next to me. Never sprayed.

---

My takeaway is that keeping your tent flaps closed (in my case) or keeping your tent zipper closed up at the top rather than the bottom are lessons that need to be taught!

Shoot in the head in trap or in the wild for instant kill, will not spray.

Had the same thing happen about 20 years ago. I got a long pole, but maybe a ladder would do. I got between the trap and my truck as much as I could, then lifted the trap into the bed very slowly. Did the same thing on the release and used the pole to hold the trap open. Luckily, the skunk never sprayed, and it ran out not in my direction. You can also use a crate or something as a fulcrum if the leverage is too much to lift.

Martin Cash said:

---

AgRyan04 said:

---

Two skunk stories.....

- I was at El Rancho Cima for Boy Scout camp and they had these big canvas tents (probably 8' x 8') that were set up on platforms. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and there being a skunk walking on the floor between me and my buddy on the other side of the tent. It was so hot we had left the tent flaps open to allow for some air circulation. I have never laid so still in my life.

- When I was a young homebuilder I had a painter who had left the garage door and the door into the house open. We had a drop-in tub in the master bath that was set in a framed up box and then tiled. He walked into the bathroom and there was a skunk that ran into the untiled section of the tub surround (left open so the plumbers could set the faucet and then tiled up afterwards). No one wanted to coax him out. Thankfully, the tub was on an exterior wall so we broke out the brick, cut a hole in the house wrap, pulled out the insulation and then the painter kind of shooed him out the hole from the inside. It ran down the side of the house and back into the garage just as I was walking into the garage from the house and as soon as I ssw it turn the corner I jumped back into the house and slammed the door shut. We laughed about that in the construction trailer forever.

---

Tent camping at Big Bend about 12 years ago. Something was scratching on the outside of the tent. A minute later I looked up and there was a skunk about 8 inches from my face. Sucker had unzipped the flap and crawled in. I open the flap wider and shoed him out. Twenty minutes later he got in to the tent of the guy next to me. Never sprayed.

---

Geology trip to Big Bend, probably 2004 or 2005. Classmate was just too cool and had to use a hiking stave and a sheet of plastic to bivouac his own tent. Woke up to a skunk STANDING ON HIS CHEST!

Another classmate found himself inside the dish washing shack with a skunk on the counter.

No one was sprayed.

Eigth grade up to graduation I had to get up at 6 and go out and milk a couple of cows for our milk, and to feed some orphan calves. Sitting on the stool half asleep with my head leaning in her flank milking while she munched feed, I noticed some movement to my left. Here comes a skunk around the corner, waddles right behind me about 2 feet away, crawls through the door where the feed was kept. Never sat so still in my life. Glanced up after it was gone, cow was standing there looking at where it just left, looked back at me like what the heck. Snhe went back to eating and me milking, but I was definitely not half asleep anymore.

A few Junes back we were camping at Davis Mountains State Park as part of a group of a bunch of middle schoolers. We had camped at Guadalupe Peak the night prior.

Anyhow, my son and I said eff the tent for this trip. Sleeping bags on cots and stars above.

At Davis, after finally falling asleep, I hear a rustle. Open my eyes and a skunk is making its way toward my cot and noses around underneath it. I froze, but pucker factor was high.