I've got a skunk living under my deck in the back yard. My plan is to catch it in a live trap then shoot it with a .22 L/R from far enough away that I don't get sprayed. Is that a good plan?

What do I use for bait?

KC

I've been baiting the ones down by the creek with cheap canned cat food and dry dog food.

If you've got an old blanket, cover the trap when you set and bait it. It will help keep the little stinker calm after he is caught.

Skunks dont seem to be picky on what they eat.

A wooden box with slots cut for conibear springs is what you need. Anything stinky should get them there. 5 gallon bucket will work well too!

Cheap Canned Sardines . . .

Good bait and you can eat the rest for a snack!

Dry dog food will work just fine. If you have some new Preston anti-freeze (green), put some in a bowl near the food. You won't have to shoot him but he might die under your porch but he won't spray either. Anti-freeze is sweet smelling and kills dogs and cats dead.

Ken

Anti-freeze is a hideous way for any creature to die. I lost my Norwegian Elkhound when a neighbor put a pail of it over my fence.
And yes, a skunk will spray when poisend that way, mutiple times, over two or three days after the convulsions set in.
I wouldn't wish that kind of death on the coon that bit me.

Sorry to hear about your Elkhound. That is a beautiful dog. Was your neighbor charged for the death ?

Ken

He was charged with Criminal Damage to Property and paid for the possible four years of stud fees.
Believe me, he paid dearly. Merlin had his TD, TDX and UDVST by 25 months and was working towards his SAR certification.

Glad the SOB paid, but I'm thinkin' there ought to have been an azz-whoopin' in there, too.

Won't ask if he got that.

Damned shame to lose a great dog that way. Hopefully, his replacement is every bit the equal.

Cat food is a favorite.....however....prepared to have your bait picked clean and any type of humane/havaheart type trap unsprung. They are alot smarter than usually given credit for and can be tough to nail by any method other than the aforementioned conibear. Also a GREAT carrier of the RABIES virus so take all necessary precautions. And that sweet stink they cut loose carries the rabies virus as well so avoid the spray.......

Anything that stinks. Cat food, sardines, or even hamburger meat.

Now that's one I was unaware of. All the more reason to thin them around here.

I googled that and found that you cannot get rabies from skunk spray.

Tell that to a herd of cattle in the northeastern panhandle of WV. 8 were euthanized and confirmed positive. The entire herd was destroyed at that point.......why you ask? Well there is NO DOCUMENTED HORIZONTAL TRANSMISSION OF THE RABIES VIRUS IN RUMINANTS. Horizontal transmission would be cow to cow. The skunk was confirmed positive and the point source of infection. Trust me......you do NOT want to argue with me on the rabies thing. Just had confirmed positive number 2 skunk from my locale today.....

We have a HUGE rabies problem in my area with 3 herds of animals quarantined in the last 12 months.....yes HERDS...

Check with the CDC and they'll confirm the spray carries the virus particles.

Even more fun.....goggle Plum Island NY

Put a golf ball in the trap and spray it with wd-40

Lure him out with a drag trail using Ingwe's undies.

Don't know what prompted me to click on this...

But I did!!


Just don't take my leopard thong!!!

Ingwe

Ha! I was wondering when you'd find this.

BASTID!


Ingwe

With all due respect, this is NOT true.

My Auburn Vet buddy sent me this (Not sure if it was from a text or Internet):

"Cattle most often become infected with rabies when they come in contact with infected raccoons, skunks or foxes. Cattle�s curious nature puts them especially at risk when they investigate an animal which is acting strangely in their area. Rabid animals are prone to bite livestock on the nose or extremities. Because these wildlife species are well adapted to areas where cattle are kept the threat of becoming infected is always present. Cattle in barns or other enclosures are not spared the risk of rabies since infected wildlife commonly frequent cattle housing."

I am from a long line of cattlemen and if you have ever watched cattle and how they react to a coyote or dog (let alone a coon, fox, or skunk) in their midst, you'll quickly understand how a dozen curious cows could be bitten on the nose by a rabid animal in their pasture or feed lot. It actually makes sense to me how a smaller animal like a skunk could pose a bigger threat simply due to the fact that the cows do not feel threatened by an animal of that size.

If you could get it from skunk spay, think of how many folks would turn up with it on your typical expressway where a skunk had just been run over. To smell it means the particles are in your nose!!

I love the little spotted skunks! I wish I had one.

OldCenterChurch.Perfectly correct. I shot a pronghorn once out in the middle of a pasture that had about 200 head of cattle in it.Whie gutting it out,they all came to watch.I was quickly surrounded 360 be some very anxious and curious cows and the circle kept getting smaller. I had to shoot up in the air to scare them off and even at that they only went a few yards.
You never see a snake bite on a cows leg,always on the nose.

The rabies virus is carried in the saliva, and everything I've read, or heard says that between 80% and 90% of ALL skunks have it. So be careful skinning them! Well, of course you are going to be careful skinning them, but I meant up around the mouth area, not just the "other" end.

Don't take this the wrong way.....but I know cattle. And I know how that little outbreak occured in this herd. None of us could believe it either. Consultation with the CDC on the whole investigation confirmed the source.

It's not my style to get in a pissing contest...and take it or leave it as you may.....but your Auburn vet buddy wasn't there and this OSU veterinarian talked and worked with the people that WERE there....

Furthermore...rabies is realtively RARE in the ruminant population.....and given the number of heads I've sent off this year I would treat EVERY skunk and raccoon in THIS area as if it were rabid. We are having a bad outbreak right now and more often than not we get a positive result back on a rabies exam.

Not only is the saliva infectious but viral particles will be found in neural tissue and any fluid from the suspect animal should be treated as infectious. And yes....the viral particles have been isolated from the scent produced by the skunk. Period...end of story......it would be more dangerous but thankfully the virus is not long lived outside of its host and damn near requires direct inoculation.

A buddy of mine (whos been known to be full of it, so take
with a grain) swears sugar wafers are the go-to bait for
skunks with live traps.

Bacon. They will become so tame you can hand feed them. I have done it. I would not not recommend it however! LOL! It's amazing...once a skunk gets tame enough to be hand fed they still will occasionally panic. They will run away backwards. They seem to do whatever it takes to NOT spray. I would have thought the opposite.

why don't you ask oldman 1942 what he preferred

The best bait, and more specific to just catching skunks, is peanut butter on Ritz crackers. I had almost nil cat/dog catches with these. I used them in live traps over a 4 year period catching skunks in a town I live close to. Still got the occasional possum, and rarely a coon. But skunks seem to love them.
Also, a heart/lung area shot will, more times than not, result in no spray. Whereas a head shot will almost alway cause them to spray.
Good luck if you haven't gotten rid of it yet.