So my girlfriend just caught a skunk in a Hav-A-Hart trap!

I wish I had taken some pictures. It was, and hopefully still is, a beautiful animal. Never even considered killing it. It's been real cold here. 12 degrees this morning. Hope it found some shelter last night. Felt so sorry for it shivering in the Hav-A-Hart trap. We set it loose in a semi wilderness area called Pleasure Park just south of Hotchkiss Colorado, near the Gunnison River. It's a cool spot. I take my dogs hiking there and it's near the Eagle Rock Shelter, a rock shelter where some of the oldest Native American campsites and rock art ever found in North America have been preserved. 12, 000 year old!

https://www.deltacountyindependent....cle_f452c01c-baab-5ab8-8b8b-66855c80db22.html

 
Predation from larger animals will be its risk for a short time ... once it locates shelter and establishes
a working knowledge of the local area it will be very happy. Sounds like a wonderful spot to be re-located.

Well done!
 
I was sprayed point-blank from about 4-6 ft away when I was a kid. Long story, but couldn't see for about an hour (spray got in my eyes!) and ended up burning my clothes and cutting off all my hair (couldn't get the smell out of the hair!). It was an experience that I would never wish on anyone and one that I have not forgotten in 50+ years since that happened.

People smell the residual on the road and think it's bad, up close and personal, it's a friggin' horror story. That stuff is nasty.
 
I was sprayed point-blank from about 4-6 ft away when I was a kid. Long story, but couldn't see for about an hour (spray got in my eyes!) and ended up burning my clothes and cutting off all my hair (couldn't get the smell out of the hair!). It was an experience that I would never wish on anyone and one that I have not forgotten in 50+ years since that happened.

People smell the residual on the road and think it's bad, up close and personal, it's a friggin' horror story. That stuff is nasty.
Yes it is. My dogs once got up close and personal with a skunk and it took months for the stink to stop. We washed them in anti-skunk smell pet shampoo over and over and washed them in tomato juice (which was supposed to help but didn't) and just had to wait it out until one day they started smelling almost normal.

Skunks are beautiful little critters though. I hope the one we released is well and happy. It did not spray us. It released a little bit, enough to smell it in the air, but it wasn't bad at all.
 
We had a horrible problem with skunks during the fall a couple years ago. My neighbor is bolder than I and he shot a couple with his .22. I opted for the "live trap" method and managed to trap 7 of them, one great big mother (father?) too. They have long powerful claws and you should see the raking mess they made of the lawn under the trap!
Now this next part might not be what you'd call pleasant, but disposing of these malodorous beasties is no easy or sweet thing. The first one I hauled in the back of the pickup out to the boonies (farther than I live) and he met the business end of my Savage .22 mag varmint gun. Stinky process, on to plan B. The next ones were treated to an introductory lesson in open water scuba training...sans breathing apparatus. By backing my truck into the lake at the boat launch and using my long handle garden claw I just lowered the entire cage into the chill waters and waited for the end to come. then a trip out to said boonies to dispose of the carcasses. If you find that disturbing I cannot say I feel badly, what these creatures are capable of is just plain awful. I don't leave attractants out laying around but I have no control over what other less careful residents do with their garbage. I did what I had to.
 
Funny , cant read all the answers but I had the same problem and I looked it up on You tube!!! Take a big blanket ( black is best, I used a black moving blanket) and hold it up in front of you and slowly walk up to the cage stopping every time the critter looks at you. When he turns his head walk a little closer . As soon as you get close enough drop the blanket over the cage as gently as you can . The blanket will protect you incase he wants to spray you ! I then picked up the cage went into the woods and let him go leaving the blanket on the cage the whole time. Good luck
 
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