skunks

I shot one that was getting into my chicken coup. I set up dog proof traps thinking it was a racoon. It still got stuck in the trap and I shot his right at the base of the spine and skull with a 204 Ruger out of an elevated platform. It didn't spray into the air but it definitely leaked onto the ground. It wasn't strong but you could still catch a wiff, if it was a hot day and the wind was blowing right.
 
I used to trap the skunks off my line before fox seasons started so the skunks wouldn't spoil my fox sets. A 22 Short in the lungs and come backs later to pick them up. This is no BS for some reason if you talk quietly to them they seem so settle/relax before you shoot. It works for a live trap too so you can drape a tarp over the trap and haul it away without spraying. I would tan some of them and make mittens.

Short story: I was working for the WI Youth Conservation Corps. In the 1960s and during a evening BS session I convinced a city kid that if you can catch a skunk and quickly pull its tail between its legs it won't spray. Needless to say he got sprayed big time before he ever caught the skunk. They made me share a room with him, that room might still stink. When I was a kid I got sprayed in the face by a skunk, I don't really smell skunk as bad as others, I don't find road killed skunks really too offensive.
 
borkon said:
I've shot 100s.
Can't recall ONE time they didn't spray.
Click to expand...
How do you deal with the smell afterwards? I had shot a really nice one and made the mistake of bagging it and putting it in the freezer overnight…it didn’t have much smell at the time but the next morning the garage smelled atrocious and did for months.
 
IMG_3283.jpeg
Thank GOD I don’t catch but one every couple of years now. They’ve ALL sprayed whether it was a head or heart/lung shot.

Caught this one just the other day and went head/heart lung shot and left it in the trap and went on doing what I needed to do.

I came back a few hours later, got the skunk out with my catch pole and using boots to depress the levers with extremely minimal smell on me. I was pulling sets that day and dug down around the chain to be able to grab an unsprayed portion after drilling to pull it up. I took the trap to the creek and I’ll pick it up today hoping that smell is mostly gone, lol.
I did good enough my wife didn’t notice or say anything when I got home. So I did really good.
The first time I caught one she ended up making me strip outside and made me throw my clothes and boots away, 😆
 
i ran over one with my truck last fall. drove straight to the car wash that had the bottom blaster, went thru twice and again the next morning. it still smelled a little bit for about two weeks but not bad.
 
I’ve seen my brother shoot them in live catch traps. He shoots them in the lungs or guts with a 22 short or other mild 22 RF cartridge. He tries to approach the trap for the shot, unseen or he stays back a distance so as to not alarm the skunk. After he shoot's them, he will leave and come back in an hour or more and the skunk is deceased. Most but not all the time, they won’t spray with this procedure.
 
Back
Top