Got a call from a friend who had just trapped a skunk that was getting into the barn and helping himself to the chicken eggs. The band bandit was caught in a trap and wanted to know how to dispose the skunk, I told him I would be out there shortly. Grabbing the 410 and a few shells I made my way out to his place. After arriving at his place and looking at the situation, he asked me for the shotgun and I advised him to keep far away just in case which was 10 yards from the trap.

Lesson 1. Never shoot a skunk inside a building (barn)

Lesson 2. Wife won't let you back in the house till you leave everything but your shorts outside.

Lesson 3. We won't make that mistake again!! You really do not want to shoot a skunk.

Here is the secret recipe that WORKS. Mix the following:

1 quart 3 percent hydrogen peroxide
1/4 cup baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
1 teaspoon liquid soap or dish detergent
Mix these together and bathe ("shampoo" in or rub down) the spray victim thoroughly.
Be sure to use this mixture immediately after it is created, as it is unstable.
Rinse with tap water afterward, and repeat if necessary.
For spray in the eyes, flush with water as soon as possible.




If you can't go to all of the trouble of buying hydrogen peroxide at your local drug store, then a 2% vinegar solution will help a bit. But please, don't bother with the old tomato juice tactic unless you want to smell like skunk + tomato.

www.aaanimalcontrol.co...valrid.htm

A bit "oderous" are you?

This brings back some not so fond memories. I was visiting my father a few years ago and he said he had some varmit that had burrowed into his shop and thought it to be a Badger . He set me to the task of trapping it in one of those wire cage catch and release traps. As luck would have it it wasnt an ornery old Badger but ol Pepe Le Phew himself. Now whatthehell do I do ? I remembered reading somewhere that most animals are not afaid of inanimate objects and are most calm when they believe they are well hidden. This is what I came up with . Dad had a piece of heavy canvas about 5 foot square. I waited till nearly full on dark, crouched behind the outstretched canvas and ever so slowly made my way toward the trapped skunk. One of us was wetting himself already ( me ). I reached the trap without ol stinky springing his and slowly lowered the tarp over the cage. I stood there motionless for several minutes without hearing any rustling about in the cage and bid a hasty retreat. Now came the part of figuring out what to do with him. I had ruled out shooting him as he could easily shoot back, no poison as I would have to raise the tarp and risk giving him an attitude problem. Trying to move the tarp, trap, skunk and all for a release mission wasnt going to happen so thinngs were put on hold for awhile. So as I pondered the issue I was watering the lawn with a garden hose and it slowly dawned on me what to do. I unscrewed the hose from the fawcet, drained all of the water out and headed for the shop. I unrolled the hose , ran one end of hose slowly into the shop and slid it under the tarp. I then proceeded to stuff the other end up into the tail pipe of my old truck with a rag to seal around the hose and let the little rascal commit suicide. I burried the poor depressed little criiter a good 2 feet deep well out behind the shop. A week later something had the ordacity to dig old stinky up and he was gone. He actually wasnt smelly when I trapped him as he hadnt used his gift for quite some time. I suspect it was a coyote that did the deed. Wonder if he found out about the musk gland the hard way ???

A solution of "Biological" clothes washing powder is very effective at breaking down animal scents.
If you use it on your skin be sure to rinse thoroughly as it is caustic & will burn.

If we have to do skunk depredation, we use a live catch cage (Have a heart). When the skunk is caught we carefully and slowly approach the cage using a plastic garbage bag as a shield, just in case the war erupts. At the cage we slowly insert it in a second garbage bag and now that the skunk is in the dark all is kept quiet as we carry the cage to a 45 gallon drum filled with water. The complete cage is immersed in the water. We recuperate it an hour later and dispose of the dead skunk.
This trick was learned when we had a rabbis epidemic and we were hired by the government to catch all the raccoon, skunks and foxes, inoculate them, place a numbered tag on their ear, mark them with red paint and release them in the wild without getting them or us in trouble.
If the skunk starts to tap the ground with its foot, just freeze, stop and do not move. That is a sign that it’s agitated, nervous and that the artillery will be the next thing to release. After two or three minutes it will calm down and you can proceed with the task at hand.

eeyouelder wrote:

If the skunk starts to tap the ground with its foot, just freeze, stop and do not move. That is a sign that it’s agitated, nervous and that the artillery will be the next thing to release.

Lesson learned

Cue the old song "Dead skunk in the middle of the road".........

dhc4ever wrote:

Cue the old song "Dead skunk in the middle of the road".........

Saw this post about a stink'in skunk, and I thought that it was another thread about President Obama.
My mistake.
Carry on people

Eric

Close, Eric. Real close.

It will take more than peroxide to remove the stench from that critter...