First you panic and get that out of your system. Once you have calmed down and can act reasonably decide what you are going to do with it. It’s probably illegal to release it anywhere but on your own property without the property owner’s permission. If you are in suburbia animal control might come get it. Then they might not.
If you are where animal control is no help, and many of us are, you are on your own. You might call a professional animal control service or a trapper and pay them to come get it. You may need to deal with it yourself. Personally I consider guns a means of last resort. I’ve seen what ricochets can do and besides that’s probably illegal where you are. Still it might be an option. I prefer to drown them. I put the entire trap in a 55 gallon barrel and just wait. My main concern is that a human does not get hurt and I sure don’t want to hurt a neighbor’s cattle or horses. I use a gun when I need to but I don’t need to with an animal in a trap.
Skunks generally aren’t that anxious to spray if you remain calm and move slowly. They also don’t like to spray in an enclosed area. If you take a large piece of plastic and hold that in front of you as you approach to protect against spray, then put that over the trap, you can normally handle them without them spraying. Normally. I sure can’t give you any guarantees on that.
Good luck. I strongly suggest you improve the security of your coop and run to try to avoid this in the future. It is a pain to deal with for sure.
I made a cover to go over my trap so the only way an animal can get to the bait is through the front of the trap. I set that trap expecting a raccoon a couple of days ago. When I went down there yesterday morning the trap was sprung. I very cautiously tilted that cover back to see what it was and saw black and white. My heart stopped, then I saw it was a feral cat which I released. I do have sympathy with you in catching a skunk. Good luck!
