Skunk disposal

[lomine]

I am currently waging war on a family of skunks. They took out my entire flock of quail in one night so I figure it was a mom with several babies. So far I have caught 5 of them that were all between 3 and 6 pounds. So far trapping and dispatching have gone well with a bit of a learning curve and trial and error.

My problem is what to do with the dead skunks. For the first two I rolled them in empty feed bags and put that in a regular garbage bag. Put them in the trash can and the smell was absolutely horrible by the time trash day came. The others I have rolled in feed bags and double bagged with some odor blocking garbage bags. They are sitting by the trash can but not in it (all outside). I don't want the trash man to hate me. One of them did spray and that one was triple bagged with a strong odor still detectable. I live about 30 minutes from any place where I could take them and I don't want them in my car for that long. I don't have a truck.

Any suggestions on what to do with them while I wait for trash day?

 

[gamebirdsonly]

I would just bury them.

 

[lomine]

That's an interesting idea but I don't think I want that many skunks buried on my land. I'm sure there are even more around because you can smell them when you drive into the area.

 

[Sara Ranch]

Put the bodies in ziplock bags (maybe double bag them) and put them in the freezer. Then on trash day, pull them out, put in trash, take trash out.

 

[bobbi-j]

I would just bury them.

That's what I'd do, too. No smell that way. There is no way I'd put them in the freezer - I wouldn't want to take a chance on that smell permeating my food.

 

[Sara Ranch]

If they just died, would there be a smell? I guess if they were able to fire one off before expiring....in that case, bury it! And hope then hope nothing digs it up!

 

[R2elk]

If they just died, would there be a smell? I guess if they were able to fire one off before expiring....in that case, bury it! And hope then hope nothing digs it up!

When they die, there is always a smell. At the time of death all of sphincter muscles relax and release whatever they are holding back including their scent glands.

I immediately bury any skunks that I catch. The one thing that I know that can help with the odor is to mix up a 10% bleach, 90% water solution and use it in a spray bottle.

 

[lomine]

Only 1 of the 5 have sprayed but they still smell a bit. The one that sprayed was one I had to drown. That spray though.. The problem was that the first one was caught on Friday night and trash pick-up wasn't until the following Friday morning. I stupidly tossed it in the trash not thinking about what it would smell like a week later. I don't produce much garbage and my can keeps the smell in very well so I didn't notice til Thursday night. I felt so bad for the trash guys that had to dump it in their truck.

I don't think I want to chance putting them in the freezer. Though I'm sure that would solve the problem of them decomposing I wouldn't want that smell in the freezer. Plus they wouldn't fit in a Ziploc bag.

I put baking soda in my trash can to get rid of the smell from the first two. Maybe I'll try putting baking soda in the bags before I close them up to see if that helps. If that doesn't work I guess the best solution is to bury them.

 

[Chickassan]

You need post hole diggers and a bag of lime. Dig a post hole about three feet deep put a handful of lime in ,put your skunk in, add another handful of lime and fill your hole. Little hole, little work, and nothing will dig the thing back up.

 

[ronott1]

You need post hole diggers and a bag of lime. Dig a post hole about three feet deep put a handful of lime in ,put your skunk in, add another handful of lime and fill your hole. Little hole, little work, and nothing will dig the thing back up.

What a great answer!

Growing up, be buried dead skunks and things in a drainage slough(empty in the summer). Nothing ever dug them up.