(800) 853-2651
SHOP NOW

I smell a Skunk

D

ditchwitch

Well-known Member
Ok whats the best bait to catch a skunk. I have cages to catch them but what would the best bait be. We just bought this old farm house of 120 years new and doing alot of work on it. Tore out the downstairs bathroom a week ago so if i wake up in the middle of the night to pee i just go off the front porch instead of walking all the way upstairs and waking myself up even more. Which i think is perfectly normal wife dont think so but o well. The last 3 or 4 nights i been smelling a skunk not that it actually sprayed i dont think but that skunk odor. So what would yall think the best bait would be other than running over it with my Massey Ferguson.
 
Skunks are omnivores. They can probably be lured by any table leftovers. Fruits like muskmelon, apples, peaches ought to drag them in. I have them come in to my dog food bowl with dry food in it. Usually don't have to bait them. Usually come in, and I plunk them with a .22LR. One round between the eyes usually put them down with minimal consequences. That said, a skunk spray many weeks old will come back to get you especially in the evening when dampness comes in.
 
If you catch it in a live trap, walk up slowly and put a blanket over it. Have a live stock tank full of water. Carry the covered cage over to tank and submerge. Cuts down on the haunting spray.
 
Ray you say many weeks old and damp well it has been damp here. Do you mean they will come back to where one has sprayed like one marking its territory. Ill smell that smell when i go out in the middle of the night and when i leave to go to work the next morning but durning the day i dont smell it.Whats up with that.
 
Hot dogs work well. You can actually break bits of hot dog off and the skunk with follow the trail of hotdogs you set out. If you so desire, you can lure the skunk away from the house.
An old state trapper did that trick in the basement of an old house. He used an old cream can at the end of the hot dog trail with a couple of hot dogs in the cream can. When the skunk crawled in the cream can, the trapper slowly put the lid on it and gently took it outside, down the road a few miles then slowly opened the cream can. The trapper backed off 50 to a 100 yards and shot the skunk once clear of the cream can. Done deal. Minimal smell.
 
Don't stink up the Massey" My dad is a long time varmint trapper at 88 years old. He said he caught one within the last month. He has successfully used apples for bait for a number of critters. He uses a "live trap". If you don't have cats, catfood will work good. Otherwise you will catch cats repeatedly. I have heard that peanut butter covered marshmallows work good for raccoons. If you use a live trap, you might need to get fairly close to shoot it. Dad has taken a small tarp and covered the trap and took it out away from the buildings and then shot it. He puts on a rain suit and rubber boots just in case he gets sprayed. The last one I caught, I stayed upwind and shot it with a .22 and I don't remember that it sprayed. There is a proven recipe for neutralizing the spray the link is: http://home.earthlink.net/~skunkremedy/home/sk00001.htm. Here is a list of baits per Havahart a famous live trap supplier.
 
I suspect that he means the smell will come back if the area gets damp. It does on dogs. Also, they are nocturnal, so if one gets in or under a building, set up lights round the clock, and they will move along.
 
Live trap with cat food. Believe it or not they almost never spray when the trap springs. What I did was cut out an old feed sack to fit over the trap. If the skunk dont see you it wont spray. I then took the trap where I wanted to turn skunk loose and shoot it. Even hauled one on the back of a bushog. I was always nervous when I opened the door to turn it out. I caught 6 or 7 like that one year. Shot 6 or 7 more. Shooting is hit or miss some will spray and some wont . Never had one spray with the trap. A friend told me if you drop the trap in a pond the skunk wont spray but I never tried it. Last week our TN. legislature made it legal to own a pet skunk. Must have run out of real problems lol.
 
Must be a real comedy show for those north of the border. Standing watching all the fireworks with no dog in the fight. Got the feeling the whole world is laughing at us. I will vote, but probably use my vote against someone, not for someone.
 
Thats good info Roy. Ill do apples and hotdogs like Tony also said. Other than seeing them dead on the road ive only seen 2 alive in my whole life. I can just tell now this aint gonna be pretty . Kinda like the handwriting on the wall LOL.

Thanks for the help folks
 
Holly smokes 4020 i just couldnt do that. I would rather shoot it. I have this fear well lets say respect for water i just couldnt drown it . I mean i couldnt stand by and watch i could chunk it in there and walk away but i wouldnt want to see it. Hells Bells that creeeps me out just thinking about it . HA
 
Lee ill just call you if trap it. If that thing sprays my wifes front porch with all her flowers there she is gonna throw a rod. I just dont know if i will ever hear the end of it. I know if i drive up from work and she comes out the door with that smoke poll its not gonna be pretty LOL
 
I was trying to catch squirrels last year with peanuts and peanut butter. Caught 2 skunks in the live trap. Throw a tarp over them and carried them away for disposal.
 
Worth a try. I have used a 'live' trap with a egg - yep a egg (not sure if an egg would work). 100% success. HTH
 
They love donuts... not kidding. Husband has trapped several using a day-old donut. Must the oil they cook them in.

Cat food too. And about any kitchen scraps... meat fat, chicken bones, etc.

Must like egg shells too. My dad had told me to sprinkle broken egg shells around plants to keep slugs away. I tried it one year and a darn skunk came and dug up all my cucumber and pepper plants (you could smell skunk smell there). It didn't hurt the plants- just left them all laying there. So it must have been after the egg shells.
 
We have skunks all the time and I was going to say cat food or raw eggs or even egg shells. That said, I hardly bother with them unless there's several and then time to thin them out. Mostly they dig around and eat grub worms which is a good thing. They will get into chicken houses though which is a bad thing.

I came up on one last night. The flashlight caught it about 10 feet away. I hollered at it and it ran off.

I was working in my shop one night with the roll-up door open. I was facing toward the lights with my back toward the opening. I felt something brush against me and caught a glimpse of black fur and thought it was one of our two black cats.....Wrong! Once it curved more into view I jumped up realizing it was a poll-cat (as Grandma called them). That sucker walked right by and brushed against me and into the shop like it lived there. When I jumped up it got a little spooked and hid under some shelves. Took me a good half hour to shoo it out of the building without getting sprayed.
 
i use a 50 /50 mixture of peanut butter and cat food, our skunks cant resist it, the other part is deciding what to do with the skunk, haul it and release it, haul it and shoot it, or if somebody has made me mad, haul it and put it in their car...
 
I was told if you hold a skunk by the tail and his feet can't touch he can't spray. If anyone wants to try please let me know if it works or not
 
Greg, I just have to believe you've never had a really good sniff of skunk juice. I have; I didn't get directly sprayed, but I walked out into the cloud just after Pepe sent his message. I can't imagine that mustard gas could be much worse. It goes beyond a smell, it's a chemical assault on your senses. It burns your nose, throat and eyes, and you're afraid to take a deep breath. It's some time before you begin to believe you'll survive. Very disturbing. I went through the tear gas chamber during basic. That was easy.
 
JerryS- LOL!, I trap for the fur market and do encounter PePe often. Up close and personal.

My son was even extracting the 'juice' from the glands and the pressure he used caused the 'gland' to spray him in the face/mouth. He spit it out and gagged for a minute, then we both laughed and continued skinning.

No problems with the smell.


BTW, did you know that we sell the skunk 'juice' to perfume makers? Also, we sell fox urine to them for the base of their cosmetics?

Maybe, go to NAFTA. com and search some....


Prices have fallen on the furs but it's still a good look.....
 
JerryS- Also, don't forget about the Beaver castor glands we extract from beavers...We sell the fur, eat the meat and sell the castor. No waste.

Here is a link for what 'castor' is used for...
Poke here
 
Would you post a list of the perfumes and food items that contain these ingredients? I want to warn everyone I know and love.
 
JerryS- First of all, I never said they were used in 'Food items".

Next, Skunk scent used in perfumes...Here is a response from 'Answers.com"...
Poke here
 
I'd use cat food, it works real well and I have it on hand. Drape an old blanket over the trap covering the sides except the opening of course, this helps to keep it calm and not spray, it shouldn't spray unless you really disturb the trap moving it. Also tie a longer string or rope to the door latch to where you can open the latch up and get the door open remotely if you are worried about getting sprayed on release, or pop it in the head with a .22, and it shouldn't spray after shooting.
 
Poor misunderstood skunks! Found one in my Father's chicken coop, 20' by 20' building divided down the middle with chicken wire and a door with a 8 inch high board for a threshold. The doors were open and the skunk was in the far side from the outside door so my Father went in after it. He stood in front of it, reached down and directed it toward the dividing door, when it got there he put his hand under it's chest and lifted it's front legs up onto the board. After it got over that he escorted it to the outside door and again helped it over that obstacle. He explained that they usually look down so he had to show it the way over, it came in through a low "chicken door". Once it was out it headed back to the woods, completely wild skunk that he had never seen before, it never tried to spray or bite. My Father had a gentle way that instilled calm and trust in animals. I stood well back out of the way.
 
Link said "food additives", close enough for me.

Butyl mercaptan: that's the same thing they put in natural gas to make it stink. Hard to imagine putting it in perfume. Maybe that explains why some of the women I've known smelled the way they did.

By the way, is the name of your family business "Dogpatch Skonk Works"?
 
About three months ago, my border collie was having a fit by my son's car....at about 2:00 AM. I went out there with a flashlight and I could see he had one underneath his car. About that time, the skunk decided to make a run for it and my dog nailed him....and then the skunk nailed my dog. The skunk died, but managed to spray the border collie. The border collie then carried it over to the yellow lab (tied up at night) and the lab had to chew on it also. Of course, this was all upwind of the house.
Anyway, last week I had to change the fuel pump in my kid's car. I could still get a whiff of skunk spray from his car.
 
I had some walk under my feet while mowing hay one evening. Had to stop and wait on one to walk across ahead of me. Next round one came out beside the front tire, had to wait on it to walk under me.
 
You should NEVER shoot a skunk in the head. The rabies virus live in the brain and if it has rabies and you shoot it in the head you have exposed the virus.
 
LOL, ouch thats like a double shot . I also have a border collie but shes getting old. She still likes to stalk the chickens but thats about it
 
Thats pretty smart idea didnt think of that. In saying that i guess shooting in the butt aint a good idea either lol
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

3
I smell a skunk
Replies
8
Views
940
Tractorcedric
T
R
a sore subject but i live with it passing it along
2
Replies
29
Views
1K
TASO
T
R
Painting household cabinets
Replies
18
Views
2K
sandcastle1
S
F
I got a skunk that comes
Replies
13
Views
673
rustyfarmall
R
K
A Story I wouldn't have believed
2
Replies
30
Views
994
1946 BN IHC
1
Tractor Parts Tractor Manuals

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Copyright © 1997-2024 Yesterday's Tractor Co.

All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.

Yesterday's Tractors - Antique Tractor Headquarters
Website Accessibility Policy

Back
Top