Strategies for catching skunk in the suburbs?

[zachomega]

Last night, my fiancee told me she smelled skunk and couldn't sleep. She has a much more keen nose than i do.

This morning while doing her morning walk through the garden she discovered this:



A juvenile skunk got into my co2 powered rat and mouse trap (which works amazing by the way). Yesterday that trap caught two mice. I guess the skunk was following the scent of dead mice. It had enough power to kill the skunk. But larger skunks cannot fit into the trap.

So on to the real question, what strategies do you use to catch skunks (which i imagine the catching is the easy part) and how do you dispatch them? Bear in mind, I'm in a very suburban neighborhood and not looking to get sprayed.

There is a definite skunk problem in our area. I've observed them sniffing around my electric smoker on late night smoking sessions. They are fairly brazen.

Additionally, once said skunk is caught and dispatched, what are your disposal methods? Let foxes, possums (opossums, yeah i know they aren't the same), or predatory birds eat them?

I have trash pickup once a week. With the summer heat, i don't want to stick a dead skunk in my trash for a week.

Thanks in advance!
-Zach

[streaker69]

Catching skunks are easy. Dispatching them is easy, as long as you can shoot them. Relocating them while they're caged without them spraying is damn near impossible. Disposal is a simple as digging a hole.

[Pilot321]

I used to know a guy that would trap them, and then pop them with a .22 from a distance while they were still in the trap, as they spray when they get shot, then die. However I doubt you can do that in Levittown, lol.

[Delkal]

Fill a trash can full of water and drop the trap in. Supposedly skunks will not spray you if you cover the trap with a blanket before you try and move it but YMMV.

I would also recommend having the blanket out and in front of you when you are walking up to the trap.!

[zachomega]

I definitely cannot shoot them with a firearm in my neighborhood.

I do have a .22 caliber air rifle. But as discussed in another thread here, that is of questionable legality with regard to hunting/trapping despite being totally legal to just plink in my backyard.

I'd strongly prefer not to have to get close enough to drown it. Or rather, i know when i lift that trap, it is going to spray me through the bottom.

And none of this gets into disposal of the carcass. I have zero interest in relocating them.

A kill trap would be great if i could be guaranteed that a skunk would be the only one getting into it. Unfortunately, I've caught opossums before in live catch traps and don't want to accidentally get one.

I realize how impossible these requirements are becoming. I know it is shitty, but is leaving it in the trap on a hot day a viable option? I'm not looking to be cruel, but i also really don't want to smell like a skunk for days. And the most humane methods of dispatch are ironically illegal in my area.

It's like my hands are tied. I can catch the skunk but once it is caught, i can't do anything with it.

-Zach

[streaker69]

Fill a trash can full of water and drop the trap in. Supposedly skunks will not spray you if you cover the trap with a blanket before you try and move it but YMMV.

I would also recommend having the blanket out and in front of you when you are walking up to the trap.!

Nope, they still spray, have the blanket to prove it.

They don't always spray when they're shot.

Subsonic .22lr fired from under a vehicle while a rototiller runs at full throttle nearby works well for masking the gunshot works well, so I've heard.

[zachomega]

If i caught one and called animal control, would they remove it or just release it? Or tell me to deal with it on my own?

-Zach

[streaker69]

If i caught one and called animal control, would they remove it or just release it? Or tell me to deal with it on my own?

-Zach

Yes.

[gnbrotz]

I definitely cannot shoot them with a firearm in my neighborhood.

-Zach

Even better than traditional subsonics (IMO) is Aguila Super Colibri Powderless. They are **primer only, NO powder** and will likely be much quieter than even your .22 air rifle.

They are "recommended" for pistols, not rifles, because of the potential for squibbing, but I have used them successfully in a rifle. Just be mindful of this potential.

[jthrelf]

Any way to make the subsonic .22 shot indoors, traveling out? That way most of the sound is dampened. I.e. put the trap down range of your basement window. Just an idea - probably a bad one.