Arkie_Lefty Posted December 10, 2009 Report Share Posted December 10, 2009 Couple years ago I had a guy do some work under house. To access part of crawl space he removed an 8”X12” vent cover and enlarged the hole enough to go in and out. Never repaired hole properly. About 2 weeks ago we began noticing skunk odor in house and then heard bumping and banging of small animal under there! Looked and sure enough, vent cover was completely out of place and skunk odor was really strong near the opening. Not daring to plug hole and take the chance skunk would die under there I placed a live trap so anything exiting would have to walk into trap. First night I caught a pack rat! Cute little fellows, didn’t have the heart to kill him, so transported him a couple miles and released. Immediately replaced trap and watched and waited. Two weeks after initial placement of trap I told wife there couldn’t be a skunk still under there , he must have only come occasionally looking to catch the pack rat. Hadn’t removed trap and blocked vent yet and yesterday morning our Yorkie went ballistic barking when I let her out for her morning walk. I ran around house and sure enough she was NOSE TO NOSE with a huge skunk in the trap! Managed to get her away without being sprayed, can’t imagine why it didn’t , as she was literally close enough for her spittle to bit him when she barked!NOW,, what in the [censored] do you do with a live skunk, in a trap, inches from underneath your home (raining naturally)? Go on to work and think about it! Researched on the web, and everything said to approach slowly and place a cover over trap so skunk can’t see you (as a target). Actually most sources said to cover trap before putting it in action. So, at lunch, with great trepidation , I covered the trap. Let it get used to that idea as I ate lunch. Then the great journey of 300 yards or so into the thicket behind my house with trapped, covered skunk, and a 10/22 (would a took my C. Z. American but didn’t want to get a good gun wet!).Set trap where I could get a good rest from 25ft or so, carefully uncovered it (keeping cover, an old plastic coated picnic table cloth between me and skunk’s line of sight), let it settle down while I got my breath back. Little guy was a lot heavier than I’d have expected! Then rested 10/22 on a limb and carefully put a round (Fed. Auto Match) into his head. Skunk just kinda wilted down on bottom of trap. No flopping and twitching as many animals do, and no cloud of noxious spray!Went back to work, guys said I had no noticeable odor. After work (dark) went out and retrieved trap and placed it back at vent hole. Came in and wife said I’d gotten a pretty strong odor just from emptying the trap and carrying it back home. Stripped on the back deck and got in the shower with mixture recommended on a couple different web sites of “hydrogen peroxide”, “baking soda”, and “dish soap”. Seemed to work excellently at removing stench. . Must be some source of water under there somewhere or number 1 couldn’t have lasted 2 weeks. Trap may set there the rest of winter.Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wwillson Posted December 10, 2009 Report Share Posted December 10, 2009 We had the same type of experience a few years ago. You did the right thing by covering the trap. Two of my uncles is are biologists and both said that a skunk won't spray what it can't see. One uncle (no names to protect the guilty) has been sprayed three times trying to get skunks out of traps. This was 55 years ago when he was younger and much more foolish. The skunk we caught was in a conibear trap in a tunnel it had to run through. It was going so fast that it got most of the way through the trap and got caught just in front of the hind legs. Let me tell you that it gave up the whole nine yards. I've never smelled skunk spray that strong! I was amazed when the trapper came to collect his skunk, he showed me that skunks have no instinct left to bite. The skunk was as healthy as can be, but it couldn't get out of the trap. He actually took his gloves off so he could pet the skunk on the nose with his bare hands!! I don't think our skunks up here are a special kind of stupid, I just think they have totally lost the instinct to bite. I guess when you smell that bad, you don't have to bite anymore.Wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steves Posted December 10, 2009 Report Share Posted December 10, 2009 Skunks are interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted December 10, 2009 Report Share Posted December 10, 2009 That's funny. A guy at work has a skunk in his attached garage right now and it refuses to leave. We spent lunch hour today trying to figure it out. We didn't come up with anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wwillson Posted December 10, 2009 Report Share Posted December 10, 2009 Ammonia is a pretty good way to get them motivated to leave.Wayne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted December 10, 2009 Report Share Posted December 10, 2009 Good idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steves Posted December 11, 2009 Report Share Posted December 11, 2009 The skunk smell is organic so it is o.k. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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