Quote:
In our recent attempts to foil the raccoon predators around here, we inadvertently live trapped a skunk. Fortunately, I had draped a tarp over the back half of the trap the night I set it b/c we were expecting rain and I didn't want the bait to get washed away. It turns out that was a good move. When I saw Pepe le Pew in there in the morning, I sloooowly approached the cage and pulled the tarp all the way over the cage. I then got a second piece of heavy duty construction grade plastic and draped that over the top of the tarp. Next, I took an old bed comforter and placed that on top. I secured the sides of those coverings with nearby rocks.
I then proceeded to hook up the tailpipe of my car with aluminum foil and a drain pipe and tucked it under the tarps. Twenty minutes or so later, Pepe was asleep and pushing up daisies shortly thereafter. That's how we dispatched all of the critters we caught. No mess, no drama.
Rocky. Our first trap tenant. He was the SMALLEST (that trap is 42 inches long).
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/43104_7-11-10_raccoon.jpg
I had to do this just this morning as a matter of fact! We have a family of fox running around town, and my good friend that lives 4 blocks away from me has lost 6 chickens to them. I have the boys from my work (a group home for troubled teenage boys) coming over and cleaning brush, etc. from my back lot (which is directly behind my chicken coop) so I can see a little better back there, but I also decided that I would try setting out some live traps and see if I couldn't catch them. (If I catch any fox, they will be relocated to a wildlife preserve about 15 miles from town). Anyway, to my dismay, when I checked the traps this morning, I found a skunk in one. First, I approached the trap very slowly with a blanket unfolded in front of me and gently threw the blanket over the trap. The skunk sprayed, but at least it was just the blanket and not me! Then I came in here and re-read this post (thank you, thank you, thank you) because I would have never gotten the trap open as the skunk was on the trip plate. So, I rounded up a tarp, covered the trap with it, dragged the trap to the edge of my garage where I could back the car up and hook up a piece of conduit to the tail pipe with tin foil. I then placed several bags of leaves on top of the tarp edges to seal it off, put the pipe under the tarp, started the car, and went in the house. It may have been overkill (no pun intended), but I let the car run for 40 minutes, just to be darn sure the thing was dead. I used the same pipe to lift up the tarp and blanket to make sure the job was completed. No muss, no fuss. Pepe looked like he just layed down in that trap and took a little nap.
I salvaged a piece of large diameter PVC conduit with a beveled end on it from work today. This way, the beveled end fits over my tail pipe and I wont have to mess around with tin foil again if I happen to catch another skunk. Or raccoon. Or the fisher that has been seen running around town. Done deal.
