Need ideas for live trapping a skunk

Ok, my elderly Dad has a skunk problem. Three skunks were spotted at his place in the country living under one of his sheds. He just bought a large Havahart live trap but I was thinking of what to use for bait. What do they eat that could be used in this trap? I have trapped skunks successfully before 30 years ago in a Havahart but can't remember what I used as bait. Any trappers out there that know?

I know enough not to shoot them in the trap as they will spray. We have had a mild winter here is SD and the river is open so I plan on throwing the whole trap with the skunk in it into the water and drowning it. Skunks carry rabies so I am not releasing them and I don't want to get sprayed.

I don't know about bait, but if you're looking for a way to not get sprayed, I was watching a show where I guy was trapping them, and he walked up to the trap with a large trash bag held in front of him to block the spray, and covered the trap with it when he got there.

Leave the trap in a cardboard box, pick it up by the box and dump it into a 5 gallon bucket of water until it stops moving.

Tuna, cat food,dog food, most anything will work.

Move SLOWLY, stay down low, and talk softly to them.
If they start to stiffly stamp their front feet, back off a little.
They'll USUALLY give you a series of visual clues before unloading.

Can cover trap entirely, and SLOWLY with a tarp, blanket after you catch them, or before.
Box trap in a box as posted above will also work well.
Except most box traps won't fit in a 5 gal bucket.
Trash can, neighbors pool, creek, etc

I've heard of cat food being used.

Fuck live trapping skunks.

I've had a LOT more sucess live trapping and then dispatching them w/out them spraying than catching them in a conibear

Footholds, I pop thru both lungs with a .22 short or CB cap, and MOST slowly nod off to never never land.
Lots of guys use syringe on a stick too.

I have caught a couple before but it was like I said a long time ago. I just remember shooting one in the trap and it sprayed. I plan on creeping up on it slowly with a old blanket and taking it somewhere to drown the sucker. Havahart traps are built a lot better now days and really easy to set. If I have success tonight, I will post some pics. I used some frozen herrings that I had in the freezer from fishing this past summer. That should do the trick, hopefully.

We had a terrible skunk problem in a town I worked. I worked nights and when a skunk ran through the crowd one July 4th the town wanted them thinned. They are easy to catch in summer under street lights because they'd eat the insects. We used a lot of 6 & 8 shot and 22 rifles if the were in a crawl space or under a trailer. Skunks will eat almost anything and one night I saw one behind the school which scampered off. I had some sweet roll I threw on the ground. I backed off into shadows and in a couple of minutes skunk was chowing down on his last meal. One shot of sixes and no smell, he never felt threatened and never sprayed.

Too funny but I caught a cat. My sister who lives with my Dad released it since they keep the mice population down. It was probably a stray which is common where my Dad lives. People dump them off. Keep trying.

Thanks for all the ideas about bait.

Years ago, when I drowned a big skunk after catching him, I took him to the local taxidermist and had it tanned. It was a nice pelt. Might do that again?

Let us know how you make out. I personally would never trap a skunk....as long as the darn thing is alive it can spew.

No tacos pic?

I had a guy tell me that his brother was in the pest removal business.

He made live traps out of plastic pipe for skunks. They were big enough for the skunk to get in but not enough room for him to raise his back legs to spray.

He could pick them up and haul them off. How you dispatch them is up to you

You might be able to google a plan for something like that.

I have a friend in the trapping business that got rid of several skunks for one of my clients.

1. Wrap your live trap in cardboard. Semi-dark and the skunk can't see you, they just go to sleep.

2. Bait your trap with Jackson brand Vanilla Wafers. (I thought BS on this one) Nope, 9 out of 10 skunks prefer Jackson to the other leading brand.

3. Several skunks were removed in this manner with no problems. I can't really say as I know where they live now. After the skunks had entered the traps, he just loaded them in the back of a pickup and hauled them away.

In my younger years I wanted to catch a racoon pretty bad, and baited a large Hav-a-heart trap with dead fish. Well we caught a lot of skunks like that before finally getting a coon.

I had heard about throwing a sheet over the trap and the skunk will not spray, so I tried that, he sprayed enough that some got on me and made it all the way home also.

You ever been 20ft from a skunk when he turns around, does a handstand and raises his tail? Me and my buddy were watching this happen, thats when we saw the glands under his tail start to perk up and we unloaded on him with our 10-22's. When you are dealing with skunks, its going to get stinky.

I use moist cat food for bait. Usually a generic version of "tender vittles".

If you move slow and pay attention, they won't spray. If they start giving any sign that they're sick of you, I just set them down and come back later. They usually want to keep an eye on you, and they can't spray you while they're facing you. IMO, you're as likely to set them off trying to put a cover on the trap as you are trying to carry it off.

Of course, I can carry my trap 50 or 100 yards from my barn and shoot them there. If you have to haul them out in a vehicle, putting the trap in a big box might be best.

BTW, if you catch one, immediately reset the trap. I've caught 2 in one night.

Find some of the pvc traps that will open on both ends they work well. If you are allowed to relocate them, put them in the back of a truck haul them off to a bridge. Tie a rope to the trap handle, raise the trap door, and lower them into the creek. Once the trap enters the water they will swim out of the trap. The best part is ya don't get a face full of spray.

I have always placed a havahart trap inside thick black husky liners. Usually doubled up. I place cat food/ tuna in the trap. I approach the trap cautiously to avoid being sprayed. When startled, skunks will not spray until they identify their target. so try to remain unseen. After I know there is a skunk in the trap, I tie off the trash bag and come back in a few hours. It has been my experience that if you drown the skunk, it sprays. If you shot it in the head, it will spray. If you let it suffocate, they don't spray. If you plan on relocating, make sure you go at least 10 miles away. Otherwise they have an odd way of showing back up and spraying your AC compressor.

My granddad has had a huge skunk problem in south tx. It sounds bad but if you leave them in the trap under the Texas sun they will expire around noon, with no spray. He also says that if you have a water hose handy you can spray them down, and they will not spray! I have never witnessed this in person, but I can usual tell if his story's are B.S. or true.

Well I will weigh in with my .02. Over the years I have probably removed well over 1,500 + skunks and there are many ways to do it and none of them perfect. I think I have only been sprayed 3 times but 1 time is more than enough

Here are a few suggestions:

Bait:

Skunks are omnivores and will eat just about anything. Typically I used something sweet so as to reduce to chance of catching cats and dogs (You still will probably catch raccoons)

Try (in a shallow tin can to contain the mess)

marshmellows (sp?) with vanilla, peanut butter, and some corn syrup - seems to work the best of the sweet stuff

If you don't care about catching cats or dogs I have used canned cat food because it was easy, fairly cheep, and easy to get.

To get rid of the smell on metal things (i.e. traps) just use a weed burner and burn off the oils.

As for euthanizing them here is what has worked for me and what I have seen from others (remember to check local codes and regulations because they might vary and you don't want to get into trouble over something as dumb as a skunk) YMMV :

1. By far the best for me was injection using a jab stick (syringe on a 6' pole) but getting the chemicals that work requires a license so I doubt that is possible for you.

2. Carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide (Monoxide works faster and better in my opinion but I have no proof). I have seen over the years some pretty ingenious ideas on using these methods and rigging up a "chamber" that allows Oxygen to leave (usually a valve in the top) and keep the Carbon Monoxide or Dioxide. (e.g. dry-ice in a garbage sack, CO2 tank (paintball or soda machine tank) in a garbage can with a flapper valve on top to let out o2 etc....), or build your owns chamber out of sheet metal and they work wonderfully but you have to let the gas in really slow so as not to scare the skunk

3. Shooting - (unless you break their spine they almost always spray but YMMV)

4. Using H20 - Not generally allowed as a way of euthanasia and could be illegal (Just FYI not saying anywhere might enforce it) (also sometimes when they drown, they do spray and all you see is a yellowish oil in the water just don't be downstream of that)

5. Connibear or other body gripping traps - I like these a lot, but they can kill a cat just as easy as a skunk and sometime skunks do "leak" their scent so you still get the smell. You can make a "Cubby trap" - think box with a connibear inside it and put it on a piece of plywood or on concrete and if the skunk leaks you can get out the weed burner get rid of the smell.

6. Snare - Still have to dispatch it and usually it can move more - I only used this when i could shoot them from a distance

7. Leg hold - Never used it with a skunk and wouldn't recommend it

8. And I only mention it because it has been mentioned but I doubt it is legal and think you might need to be aware if you do this in the summer but in SD I doubt you will ever have this problem but Skunks don't themoregulate very well in the heat and if left out in the sun on a hot day +90* you can kill them. So I usually had them in the shade just encase I was later than noon when getting to them. I have had people call me that didn't know how to get rid of them and when I got their they might already have been dead and if they die in the sun I think they stink even worse than when they spray but that just might be me.


As far as live traps for skunks I have used everything from Have-a-heart and similar styles, 4" PVC pipes that you put the trap doors on the ends, and PVC 12"X12"x36" traps from Canada (forget the name) and they make a smaller one. I think they are all adequate but depending upon the way I am going to euthanize them the trap changes.

If I was going to use the syringe on the jab stick or shoot them I preferred the wire traps usually with bigger hole cut in it so I could get the syringe or barrel in and out easy and in varying locations.

If I was going to use a gas chamber I preferred the PVC style ones

Remember if you put the wire traps out on the grass the skunk will dig and pull grass and dirt inside the trap with it and can make it "sticky" when trying to pick it up ( you can put it on a small sheet of plywood to stop this.



When dealing with skunks remember just a few things. (most of these deal with a wire trapped skunk)

1. they can't see very well so you move slowly and quietly, they can hear well, smell better, and I think feel vibrations if you make too much movement.

2. This is very very important . If the skunk is sleeping don't sneak up on it. If they are startled from their sleep they will usually spray first and look around second. I usually made noise a ways off (usually they couldn't see me) just so they were awake.

3. If you are going to cover up the trap don't use anything noisy (nylon tarps, visqueen (painter's plastic), etc...) if you have a dense blanket you don't care about that works

4. Don't have people or pets around/watching - don't know why but people tend to talk and do things at the worst times and pets are always messing things up, once again on of the 3 times .

5. The younger they are the more likely they will spray (baby skunks are much more likely to spray then older ones) as me how I know

6. If they raise their tail and false charge you don't make any fast moves. They are warning you and don't see well and by reacting fast you might just get sprayed. Many many times I have crawled up to the trap on my belly with a skunk warning me but because I was calm and moved slowly I didn't get sprayed

7. If you can put something near the trap like a garbage can then you can approach it without them seeing you is good. Some people like to leave the wire traps covered and that is fine but just means you have to treat the trap like a PVC trap

I know this is long but I hope it help a little.

Caught a possum last night with cat food, still dreading the day its a skunk. I keep the trap in the cardboard box it came in and use a flashlight to peep through the front when Ive got something in it. So far two cats and the possum have been relocated a couple freeways away from my house.

use fishy cat food as bait, skunks like what cats like. And sometimes a lung shot keeps him from spraying, but for some reason many skunks I have head shot have sprayed every time.

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