Hi, I caught a skunk in my groundhog trap last night... whats the best way to dispatch it without getting sprayed ?? right now my idea is fill a tub with water and put skunk and trap in it to drown the Skunk.. other ideas ???

Poison?

17M2 in the ear

LOL.

Let the games begin...

Buy lots of tomato juice!

A single .22LR behind the front shoulder.

Not 100% foolproof. But more so than any other method I've ever tried. I've trapped for 48 years, so...........

If you shoot him shoot him in the back of the head at about a 60 degree angle as this will kill him quick and not allow him to spray.

Lol, no guarantees but this has worked for me several times.

Good Luck.

Here's what i did.

Shoot the skunk with a .22. It will immediately spray. Come back in a couple of hours, take the skunk and trap out in the woods, drop the skunk out of the trap into a pre-dug hole.

If you try to drown it you are liable to get sprayed.

I don't try to catch them in a trap.

When they come around here i use the 12 gauge and some old shells that need to be shot up.

I use a kitchen bag and load them in the dumpster for the trash man to haul off.

So far this year there have been at least 12 killed here along with the mamas that finally showed up where they can become good skunks.

I don't like them at all.

Head shot = spray

GUARANTEED

Yep, double lung shot.

Take a dark sheet and slowly walk up and cover the cage. Wait a little for skunk to calm down then take him for that swim. This is what I do if I catch one in a cage trap near a home. Head shot usually ends up with it spraying. Double lung shot usually not.

Tarp and lung shot

The double lung shot is best to avoid it spraying. Pro’s use a jab stick with acetone poked behind front leg.

P.S. Don't make the mistake if one behind the shoulder is good..............two is mo betta. The second round will bring a certain spray.

ONE.

Better listen to Yoder409. The boy knows what he's talking about. A shot to the head or central nervous system will bring certain spray. One quiet poke in the lungs with a mild 22 or air rifle is best.

I gave my brother a Colt 22 revolver. His first shot was a skunk in a trap at 40 feet. He hit it between the eyes. That amazed me. All I can hit with a handgun is a chronograph.

I do the water trick when I have them in a live trap. I gently put a sheet over them and gently sit in the water and don’t get in a hurry. When I have then in a dog proof or other trap I plunk them in the guts with a cb long and walk away and come back later. Might seem cruel to some but I’ve tried the lungs with a 22 and it’s not 100%. I read an old fox trapping book and the guy said he shot all of his mid body with a 12 guage. I tried that and it didn’t work for me.

.22 birdshot works.....

But ,but, but, thems just babies.

Cover the trap and dump into water works pretty good. I've also covered the trap with a tarp and then put a hose from truck exhaust under tarp. Come back 15 minutes later and dispose of dead skunk. Have used that method multiple times with no spray.

years back I used a .25-06 with 75 grain V-max.....never had one spray!

Then I hooked a 100 foot rope to the live trap and towed it behind my lawn mower to the nearest creek.....some fish might have been offended but I wasn't!

I also towed them to a cow pasture and touched off my .223.....just walk away and come back in a couple weeks!

Yep! Don’t ask me how I know this. And, I’m a slow learner...

A friend I use to work with lived in a small town nearby and took it upon himself to rid the town of skunks. He used live traps supplied by the residents and baited them with (skunk-bait?). Every day after work he would go around with a long stick with a syringe taped to it filled with anti-freeze. I think to the plunger, and stick the skunk anywhere, and they were dead within minutes. He never got sprayed and he killed hundreds and he was the town hero.
This a true story and I worked with him and some other guys from that town (Absarokee) and they would vouch for him and also, he never once smelled skunky at work.

Just keep shooting skunks, and coons.

My dad used to pick these up in the road at night.....live ones by the tail.
I don't suggest that.

A Wildlife Specialist would recommend either:

A. Releasing it to roam at night eating pests and whatnot.

B. Cover it in the morning if its not sleeping right now.
They're usually nocturnal if memory serves me.
Just cover it with a tarp or blanket and put it in the trunk, or back of the pick up.
Drive it way out to a forest area where there are fewest roads and open. It won't hurt anyone.
Drive away and return in an hour to get your empty cage .
Simple as that.

Unless you have honey bee hives or raise chickens, I don't know why anyone would want to kill them.
They eat your poisonous snakes
Mice
Rats
Wasps hives
Termites
Grubs

They normally hunt at night and usually save their spray if attacked. .......or SHOT.
Does EVERY helpful critter have to be shot?

Who is this "Wildlife Specialist"?

Always like a 22 short in the lungs, same with a wolf. They barely know they are hit, and then they die.

Walk up to it with a mirror and a slice of white bread held under the mirror when it opens it's mouth spray it with some Windex... Peppie La Pue...

Haha


Valhalla for Varmints

Great thread!
Reminds me of my teenage years running a trap line. Never wanted a skunk, but caught plenty.

Of the many dispatch methods touted to avoid spraying, the cane pole and hanging rope brought the most attention; it also worked, but my mom said NO MORE!
She went along for the ride in our 1950 Nash Ambassador with the rear swing out wing vents. I rigged the pole and cord and stuck it out the driver side rear vent window. After somehow stringing up the skunk with no smelly spray, we drove back into the oil field camp where we lived with the dead skunk hanging from the pole. This attracted a good deal of attention from our neighbors, so upon arrival in our back alley, I quickly pulled the pole and took the dead skunk into my skinning area ( formerly a chicken house back before the big "chicken cause Polio " scare).
Mom must have been some embarrassed, because she told Dad and they nixed that all-too-public way of dispatching skunks and I went back to using my .22 rifle. The rifle was easier anyhow.

Prevention of rabies in the U.S.costs between 245,000,000 to510,000,000 dollars annunaly. Fifty five thousand people a year are treated for rabies. Bats, skunks, raccoons, and foxes are the primary carriers. Our local health dept officials reccommend shoot em on sight, there's plenty to go around.

So what happened?

Did you take video?

Inquiring minds want to know the outcome......

We've had a coon that's been getting into our burn barrel here at our home place, so I set a live trap a few nights ago. Caught a big adult skunk yesterday morning. Shot it from about 25 yards away with a 22 LR through the lungs. It just laid over and died almost instantly. No spray. Much better result than the one I shot at our farm last year from head on.

I put a tarp over him and carried all to a tub of water. no spraying and in 2 mins it was all over.. I hated doing that.. but something killed 5 of my chickens, I thought it was a weasel but now I believe it was the skunk..

Drop it in garbage can full of water and wait 10 minutes.

When I used to trap Foxes, I used dirt hole sets. I had to catch all of the skunks before I started catching foxes.

Thank you for saying what I’ve been thinking. Glad to see there’s at least one with a code of ethics around here still.

Seems to me some need to read “the old man and the boy”

Ruark said it best.

“But if there's one thing I despise is a killer, some blood crazed idiot that just goes around bam-bamming at everything he sees. A man that takes pleasure in death just for death's sake is rotten somewhere inside, an you'll find him doing things later on in life that'll prove it."

Not one mention of Cruella De Vil. You guys are slipping.

I got no quarrel with skunks, drove one from the park home in the bodywork of my car back in November, posted about it here. My heeler kills them, possums too. The odor doesn’t bother either of us.

Having been in fear of drowning a couple of times myself (both times in the Hudson) I’m not sure I’d wanna drown anything, feels too much like karma.

I have killed starlings in a trap with a hose, car exhaust and a trash bag to enclose the trap. It’s easier tho to cave in their skull with your thumb or just pull their heads off.

I’d just prefer to shoot a skunk.