Sure fire way to get rid of a traveling skunk...HELP PLEASE!!!!

[Lady of McCamley]

Dear BYC Friends,
I know you won't let me down. (Yes I know I can hunt for this information on threads, but I would love to hear your input for my particular problem).

We have a trolling skunk. It began about 4 months ago when the chickens in the main coop went off in alarm around midnight. I didn't see anything, but all the chickens were out of the coop, and the eggs (which normally I collect but left a few for a pondering broody) were disturbed. I locked them up for a week, nothing more.

Then 2 months ago, the broody hutch hen went off in alarm screaming at 1am. My trusty rat terrier and I trudged out to the small broody coop to find her in the rafters of the closed run (coop door had been left open for her to access run.) This is a raised coop, and the dog tracked something under the coop, rushing to the coop fence below. I bent over just in time to see the black and white tail go up. Yep. We both caught it both barrels. Thankfully I had raised up quickly enough on sight to avoid getting it in the face. Dog? Well he got it full face and front. Me just the right half of my chicken coat. (I'll not go into detail about the next 2 hours of clean up on dog and me to go back to bed and how it's triggered my asthma). The broody eggs were pulled apart. Hen hysterical. He came back later that night and got them all...I'll not go into words about how they were my best blue eggs for hatching my blue line. Morning came, we shored up the hole under the coop and closed the door hatch to block broody safely in coop. (Reset eggs).

So we set the animal trap with cat food. Nothing but squirrels, and the idiot rat terrier when I wasn't looking. We thought maybe he'd been spooked enough by the dog to move on. Found out the neighbor's dog also had been sprayed recently. Apparently it is a traveling skunk as it doesn't seem to live on my property.

Nothing for 2 months. Took up trap. Then last night the nasty varmint sprayed the south end of the house. I awoke at 3am to a horrible stench in the house. I assumed skunk and opened windows to clear. Checked furnace and natural gas which seemed to be fine as the smell was in the house but not bad outside. The natural gas crew checked lines today and determined it was indeed skunk.

I did a perimeter check, and I really don't think it is under the house as we have things netted up pretty tightly. No skunk smell under house, but I did track the smell in the raspberry patch on that south end by the neighbor's side (who has the dog that got sprayed recently).

People, I NEED to catch this skunk. It's personal now. I've been sprayed. The dog's been sprayed. I've lost my best blue line eggs for a broody. Today my clothes in my closet now reek of skunk and my asthma cough is back.

It obviously is traveling the neighborhood as it only seems to go through periodically. Any down and dirty sure ways of getting it to accept the bait in the trap? I'd really like to avoid the cost of an exterminator (who's just going to set a trap and charge us $300).

Okay go folks....I want this critter gone!

A smelly Lady of McCamley

 

[Folly's place]

Sorry, i did laugh through your tale of woe here!
We have trapped skunks in live traps, using cat food, among other things. Of course other critters will also get trapped, and cats and small idiot dogs can be released...
Trap and shoot is our plan, if a raccoon, opossum, or skunk is caught.
And our coop and small night time run are as predator proof as we can make them! Here broodies are confined in safe spaces 24/7, so critters can't get to them.
There's nothing quite like fresh skunk spray, up close!
Mary

 

[GCrumb]

So, in my somewhat extensive experience, a powdered product called 'OdorMute' ('Chewy' pet supply e-store has it) is the best for removing skunk stench, and all other organic stenches, from clothes and rat terriers and concrete and carpet and the walls of houses.

It used to be cheaper than other types, but they seem to have wised up.

 

[Folly's place]

x2! It works very well. Mine came from Amazon, recommended by a friend who has peeing male dogs.
Mary

 

[mossyoakpro]

You are doing the right things to catch him...I will add that if you lean a piece of scrap plywood or other flat board covering one side of your trap so you can approach the trap on the board side without getting the stink bomb inside. Once you get on that side throw a tarp over the trap to contain the blast. I recommend putting him to sleep so that you know he will not return no matter what. They are nasty vermin that I usually do a high speed drive by on when I catch them in my coyote traps in the winter to keep from getting blasted. Then return in an hour or so and reset my trap....coyotes love that stench for some reason and I usually end up catching a few after the stinker was caught.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Thank you all for your replies. I'll look into the OdorMute stuff. The hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, Dawn soap trick worked with the mutt. But, my chicken coat hung onto the smell for weeks. I finally had to bleach it to get rid of the smell figuring if bleach discolored it, who'd laugh, the chickens. Obviously I don't want to do that to my more sensitive clothes.

Called an exterminator who gave "free estimates." Nice fella. He saw our trap and made a good suggestion to put it in a black garbage bag rather than free standing, which is why we likely weren't catching it. He said the skunks like to go into dark places and shy away from open cage. Fortunately in our area, property owners have the right to dispatch pest critters as they see fit. Exterminator recommended filling a garbage can full of water then putting the whole trap and skunk in to drown....or shooting with the high powered air rifle we have that we've dispatched a few vicious raccoons that have come our way. (No emails please...when you're afraid to go into your own backyard, you just have to do something.)

Then he said his firm would be happy to take care of the whole matter....for $800 up front...that of course included a year of de-skunking. He'd make a deal to take away our caught skunks for $250 down payment and $100 per skunk. Like we'd ever pay that kind of money for this kind of job

But the ridiculous sales pitch was worth the free garbage bag advice.

Thanks again for your helpful free advice, my BYC buddies.

LofMc

 

[Sally PB]

I hope to read that you've solved this problem soon!

 

[Ridgerunner]

He saw our trap and made a good suggestion to put it in a black garbage bag rather than free standing, which is why we likely weren't catching it. He said the skunks like to go into dark places and shy away from open cage.

Skunks are not the only critters that like dark places. I'll get to that.

I wired a piece of plywood to the bottom of my live trap. I cut it a couple of inches larger than the bottom of the trap and wired it at each corner. That stabilized it so it is harder to turn over. Then I made a box out of plywood that fits over the trap so the only opening is from the front. Nothing can get to the bait except from straight ahead past the trigger plate. Critters do not spring the trap trying to get to the bait from the bottom, side, back, or top. And if you happen to get a skunk it is contained. I will admit the heart can race when you peak around the front to see which critter you caught.

When I make broth I keep certain parts of the debris to use as bait. That contains onions, garlic, carrots, celery, usually fresh herbs, and some bits and pieces of chicken and fat that have cooked together for about 24 hours. That's hard for many critters to resist. I've caught raccoons, possum, cats, rats, and skunks with that. Cats I let go. When I use peanut butter for bait I catch raccoons. possum, and rats but no skunks or cats. I've never tried it but I'd expect cat food to be great for skunks.

The opening to the trap looks dark. No critters I'm trying to catch are afraid of the dark, I think they like it. I think that box over the trap actually improves the odds because it looks like a den. I caught a groundhog in it once. I think the mice had already gotten the bait so it was just checking out a dark hole. I also have a smaller live trap sized for squirrels. A few times I've set that up where a rabbit was hanging around that I wanted to get rid of. No bait, just a dark hole. I've caught a few rabbits that way. I think your exterminator was right.

 

[Captain13]

I posted a couple of weeks ago about how I solved the problem. I bought some oranges and lemons an crushed them (by hand) and threw them around the area where the skunk was coming in and digging at night. Two days later, the skunk was gone and hasn’t returned. The citrus fruit interferes with the skunk’s ability to hunt for food. Below is a link for skunk repellants. Citrus worked for me.

https://varmintremoval.com/skunk-repellents/

 

[GCrumb]

Oh, man. Yeah, gotta cover those box traps unless you stick them in a pile of boards or something.

You might goof around with it and see how hard it is to trigger, I have two and one really only works well if you tie the bait to the plate. I used chicken bones from a meal. But never tried to trap a skunk, just squirrels and feral cats. For trap-shy ones I would actually let them get food from around and inside the unset trap before setting it, so they'd go inside confidently, not all stretched out trying to keep one toe outside.