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

Lewguitar

Lewguitar

Old Know It All
Joined
Dec 30, 2012
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Location
Paonia Colorado
The critter had been living under her house and I helped her set up the live trap last night.

This morning the skunk was in the trap, alive and well.

Now she wants me to help her relocate it. :rolleyes:

Dunno what to do next...

There's no dog catchers or humane society or anything like that out here where we live to give us advice.

I read about it on the Hav-A-Hart trap site and they said to cover the trap with a heavy tarp and then move it to wherever you want to let the skunk free.

But they also said if you're approaching the trap and the skunk lifts its tail to run away as fast as you can!
 
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Do you have a pickup? Hard to get the scent out of a vehicle or trunk.

Probably best to drag the trap out with a long pole and a hook. I would stay a good distance away until it has sprayed it’s lot.

I have relocated animals … usually 10 miles … and I try to put a couple of four lanes between their new site and my house. Figure they will find a new environment rather than cross those barriers.

Difficulty is releasing the door to the cage with a pissed off critter who will try to take a piece of you with it. I have opened the cage with it resting vertical on the opening and tipped it over with a decent amount of rope. Really thick gloves and eye protection.

Wild crits carry all sorts of bad stuff … best luck - you may want to film it. Might be entertaining a year or so from now.

'
 
docmoore said:
Do you have a pickup? Hard to get the scent out of a vehicle or trunk.

Probably best to drag the trap out with a long pole and a hook. I would stay a good distance away until it has sprayed it’s lot.

I have relocated animals … usually 10 miles … and I try to put a couple of four lanes between their new site and my house. Figure they will find a new environment rather than cross those barriers.

Difficulty is releasing the door to the cage with a pissed off critter who will try to take a piece of you with it. I have opened the cage with it resting vertical on the opening and tipped it over with a decent amount of rope. Really thick gloves and eye protection.

Wild crits carry all sorts of bad stuff … best luck - you may want to film it. Might be entertaining a year or so from now.

'
Click to expand...


This thing looks healthy enough. And it's been under her house for a month or two. This is the first time we've actually seen it tho.

Obviously the trick is covering the cage, moving the cage, lifting it into the back of my pickup truck, driving 10 miles with it bouncing around in back, then unloading it and setting it free...all without getting SKUNKED.

My dogs have been skumked. They stunk for a long time!
 
docmoore said:
Do you have a pickup? Hard to get the scent out of a vehicle or trunk.

Probably best to drag the trap out with a long pole and a hook. I would stay a good distance away until it has sprayed it’s lot.

I have relocated animals … usually 10 miles … and I try to put a couple of four lanes between their new site and my house. Figure they will find a new environment rather than cross those barriers.

Difficulty is releasing the door to the cage with a pissed off critter who will try to take a piece of you with it. I have opened the cage with it resting vertical on the opening and tipped it over with a decent amount of rope. Really thick gloves and eye protection.

Wild crits carry all sorts of bad stuff … best luck - you may want to film it. Might be entertaining a year or so from now.

'
Click to expand...
don't try and make this about pickups!
 
This is a tricky one for me. Moving the skunk might just make it someone else's problem. I wouldn't be keen on doing that. On the other hand, I'm also not fond of the thought of killing it when it wasn't actually in the house. Whatever you do, be careful and good luck!
 
Senor Verde said:
This is a tricky one for me. Moving the skunk might just make it someone else's problem. I wouldn't be keen on doing that. On the other hand, I'm also not fond of the thought of killing it when it wasn't actually in the house. Whatever you do, be careful and good luck!
Click to expand...

Thanks. We don't want to harm it.

We live way out in the country so finding a place to release it won't be a problem.

Not getting sprayed tho, is going to be a big problem!
 
By all means get it to spray …. Their glands have a limited volume … after it does you have less risk of getting skunked.
 
Well, had the help of an 80 year old gentleman who had moved ten skunks in his life, and this one was #11.

Beautiful critter. It was shivering in that cage. It's very cold here today. 25 degrees.

We carefully put an old moving blanket over the trap/cage and then picked it up with a 8 foot tree limb clipper on a pole and put in the back of a pickup truck, talking to the skunk in soothing tones.

It started leaking some stink spray but didn't really cut loose with a torrent.

Drove it up into the foothills where there are some trees, bushes and rocks so it could find some cover and let it loose.

It did spray a little but we used the 8 foot pole to open the trap door and then moved off and didn't get any on us.

Hope it finds a nice place to hole up for the night and lives happily ever after in its new home.
 
Thinking about it ... you may want to treat the nest area ... or you may find another
relocates to the warmth beneath the house ... attracted by residual scent.

Think the GF owes you big time ....
 
docmoore said:
Thinking about it ... you may want to treat the nest area ... or you may find another
relocates to the warmth beneath the house ... attracted by residual scent.

Think the GF owes you big time ....
Click to expand...
Yes, I'm going to have to do some repair work to her house where the critter got in. It's a 100 year old farm house with a crawl space but no basement.

She takes pretty good care of me tho. She doesn't owe me a thing. :)
 
In case you get another one, get this trap.

www.snareshop.com

#6 Tuff Trap Skunk Trap | The Snare Shop-The Snare Shop

Shop our best selling #6 Tuff Trap Skunk Trap at The Snare Shop today! Easy to use and clean. Lifetime warranty. Shop online today!
www.snareshop.com

They work great, and the skunk can’t spray you… he can’t lift his tail, and won’t spray without it up. They also work on other like-sized critters. Easy to re-locate and release from it too.

Glad you got it done. My daughter tried to transport one in her van. It didn’t end well.
 
I’d have drugged it or killed it.

My only real experience with skunks is while camping. I used to camp by myself for about a month each year. The idea of running into a skunk and having no real means to get myself cleaned up bothered me more than the idea of a bear.

Sure enough, I’m sitting near the campfire one night drinking whiskey, smoking, and listening to old Art Bell shows about sasquatch through headphones. Can’t hear a thing from the outside world. I see white fur on the other side of my fire pit. I wonder to myself what kind of animal with white fur would be out late at night. I stand up slowly and see the biggest damn skunk I’ve ever seen. He’s four feet away on the other side of the fire, looking in my eyes. At least a foot wide. I sat back down, real slow, and had another sip. He turned sideways and walked off into the woods. Fun moment.
 
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