SKUNK!!

Seems we have one of those little critters which wants to take up residence under my pier and beam house. I'd like to trap it but don't know what to bait the trap with. Suggestions appreciated. Thanks

When I was young I trapped many of them, I would just shoot a bird and wire it to the bait tray-

If you eat rotisserie chicken or fried chicken, just use the leftover bones and such form the chicken as bait. Be very careful you don't get sprayed.

Always heard a can of tuna fish worked like a charm.

Wrap cardboard or something around your trap, and try to catch it out from under the house first. Canned cat food or anything like that will work. I've also seen where folks will catch one, and pop it with a .22 so it wont spray. Good luck.

Marshmellows and cat food.

Tuna, marshmallows and .22 pest control rounds worked for me.

They are scavengers and will eat just about anything. At my old deer camp there was one very brave skunk that would always come up looking for scraps while we were skinning deer. To keep him out of the way we got in the habit of throwing him a nice chunk of rib meat. The little scraps he would nibble at right there, but if it was a decent size he would drag it off to the bushes and leave us alone.

Your problem is not so much getting the skunk into the trap, but getting him out.

When we built the house we live in now, about 4 years back. We had skunks everywhere. I almost got sprayed standing my garage drinking beer.

Aspirin,make sure you little dogs or cats get to it. Aspirin in the top of an egg will do the trick. Dig a small hold to hold the egg, break the top, put crushed aspirins in and mix it up. Problem solved.

Thanks, Billy

I have two skunks that come almost every night after the raccoons finish eating. I wouldn't worry about them setting up shop under your house. I've only smelled them one time in 6 years I've lived here and it was in the spring when the baby raccoons were learning their lessons about screwing with a skunk. Doubt any grown animal other than humans would be dumb enough to mess with them in an enclosed area (under your house). Let it be!

we had a momma hole up under our old house. had a litter. the kits would start fighting and stunk up everything. Had to get rid of them fast. thought I was going to have to burn the whole house down. smell lasted for weeks. was in our clothes and furniture.

Brian I have had different results when I shot them in the trap-
I remember them after they were shot emptying their glands, and you know what that means-
Maybe I just didn’t know how to shoot them to where they would spray, but that was my experience with them.

Lived in a trailer once with central ac and heat where the ducting is under the house and vents come thru the floor . Well they decided to make a home in the ducting some how got into it and sprayed one night they got dispatched almost immediately and I thought the smell would never go away either

This may be the worst advise and theory in the history of the OT, and that's saying a lot. I hope he sends you the week long motel bill after it sprays under his house.

We used to have them around here real bad while there was still wild areas nearby, I never saw one live but several that were roadkill. Their odor was in the air constantly in the fall particularly

Thanks, all. Yeah, I'll try and figure out a method from your suggestions.
Sparky

🤦‍♂️

Take an egg and poke a small hole in the shell. Crush up an aspirin and put it in the egg. Leave the egg out for the skunk. No more skunk. I learned this from Derek.

What do you do after you trap it?

My GWP mix and neighbors dogs have taken care of our skunk problems. I camped in Shenandoah National Park one spring break. Park ranger warned us about bears coming out of hibernation but not the skunks. The skunks were very tame. We had 6 scavenging in our campsite at one time. To leave the site you had to walk within a couple of feet of them. One night we had 2 in our tent for a hour.

Skunks smoke weed?

I trap them and take them out in the country and release them alive. I just can't bring myself to shoot them in a cage.

They say if you sneak up behind a skunk and lift it off the ground by its tail, you won't get sprayed.

They make a trap that is small and confined that will keep the skunk from spraying inside it. Have one you can borrow if you want.

So, Bills2006:
How did you manage to release him from the trap without getting yourself sprayed? I'd rather release than kill. Thanks

I tie a rope to the door. Set trap on the ground and stand in the bed of my truck. Pull rope to open door

Been using these for about 20 years. They work great. Skunk can't get it's tail up so can't spray.
It is easy to dispose of them without smell.