dispatching skunks

[Mr. 16 gauge]

O.K., so you walk up on one of your coon sets and find a black & white stink kitty instead of a coon.......he hasn't cut loose with the juice yet, so what's the best way of dispatching him without him firing both barrels? Enquiring minds would like to know..................

[Catfish]

If you get one in a box trap I am told that you can put a blanket over the trap and carry it to enough water to drown it safly. I`ve never heard of a way to keep them from spraying if you have them in a leg hold trap. I always just shot them from a safe range and wait acouple of days before I get my trap.

[GoodOlBoy]

22 in the head from a LONG way off. You get him just right and you only have a mild stink. You don't and you pretty well have to burn the trap in a good hot fire before anything will get near it again.

Yer other option is a flame thrower and save yourself the trouble.

GoodOlBoy

[Larryjk]

GoodOlBoy, Send me a PM. Where is deep east Texas? I am way up in s central WY, Rawlins. larryjk@tribcsp.com

[FIJI]

IF you chose to use a blue poly plastic drum to hold said "swimming water"


do yourself a favor.....



MEASURE to make sure the depth of the water is GREATER than the length of the live trap BEFORE said trap is occupied




DONT ask how I came upon this pearl of wisdom

[bigbrother]

I typically just shoot them when in a foot hold. Of course I keep my distance lol. I've never caught one in a cage trap but have heard the same thing about the blanket or jacket.

Another question along this line, would you remake the set? I've heard that for fox, you can remake and it will actually attract better because of the smell, then I've heard that if you shoot the skunk the fox won't come near because of the blood....? I've remade the sets but have never caught anything but another skunk and possums....????

[bowhunting23]

couple years ago I had one in a trap and we shot him in the head from a good distance and he never sprayed. dont know if that was just luck or what?

[skeet]

I've caught skunks before and mostly just shot them from 25 ft or so. Only had one really spray and he was a PI$$ED off kitty. Course he had sprayed before I got to the set so I knew what was up.. Oh and if they sprayed even a little bit I always moved my set.

Now on another note...have ya ever caught a woods kitty barehanded?? Lots of fun..Specially when you don't get sprayed. Actually I've never gotten the bizness but had a friend that did. In the face at 5 ft....and they blamed it on me. Made me sleep in the same tent that he was suffering in...er sleeping in. An honest injun..It really wasn't my fault. It was that blasted dog. Till he came up there we were home free..ah the best laid plans of mice and m...er boys


BTW Did y'all know a real live wild skunk will eat right out of yer hand..specially cracker jacks..caramel corn and popcorn with lots of salt?? not a joke... OH an another serious thing. If'n ya got a real live skunk holdin him up by the tail....never...I mean NEVER let 'em get their front feet on anything. Honest..if they do..ya can't run fast 'nuff. I got a usta be friend that will back me up on that.

[Mr. 16 gauge]

BTW Did y'all know a real live wild skunk will eat right out of yer hand..specially cracker jacks..caramel corn and popcorn with lots of salt?? not a joke

Knowing that wild populations of skunks have a higher than normal incidence of rabies, I think I will just keep my cracker jacks to myself.

If'n ya got a real live skunk holdin him up by the tail....never...I mean NEVER let 'em get their front feet on anything. Honest..if they do..ya can't run fast 'nuff. I got a usta be friend that will back me up on that.

I've heard that if you hold a skunk up by it's tail, it can't spray, but I've also heard that this was an old wive's tale.......I'll let someone else do the proof!

[skeet]

Actually it really isn't an old wives tale at all. I have caught quite a few skunks. Now... as is true with a gun..I never look down the barrel. LOL BUT it is also true ya can't let 'em get their front feet on anything. That's like cockin the gun with a bad sear on it. It WILL go off

As far as letting 'em eat outta your hand it was years ago and when you are a young kid..ain't no such thing as dying. Remember? I didn't learn you could die till I was about 18..... with all them people shootin at me. That really did get my attention

[fishdoggydog]

I used to run a pretty long line of fox traps back in the 70's. I caught 6 skunks in one day, a double on skunks that day. I had an old single shot .22 rifle and would put a .22 short into the lungs. I was always in a hurry, all week trapping in the dark before work, and left them sit a day. Most did not spray, they did if you hit the front leg. I also trapped two skunks in a 220 conibear set in a coon trail once. I looked into the marsh grass and thought what a huge skunk I had, but the one in front was caught across the hips and still alive when I picked up the trap and saw it was two skunks. I smelled kind of ripe most of November back then.

[multibeard]

Years ago there was a guy selling skunk killing kits. It was a couple of metal pieces that held a syringe on the end of a 1/1 stick. You filled the syringe with metelethelkeytone. Aka acetone. You would slowly approach a skunk and place the needle against the ribs of the skunk and slowly inject it with the acetone. After a few minutes the skunk would go to sleep. You then placed the skunks head in a pan of water to drown it.

My buddies that used it said it worked real good. One day they stopped at a gas station where they had girls that pumped gas. When the gal saw a few striped kitties in the back of the station wagon she would not pump them any gas.

One day I shot a skunk from up wind and it sprayed. When I stopped to get gas after changing my clothes I reached down to pet the station owners lab that had always was friendly. I almost lost my hand as he tried to bite me. I do not know what he had against skunks but I could never pet the dog again.