Skunk problem
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au_prospector
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RC said it once again and has it right. It is a sure bet a skunk will let loose its anal glands and spray anytime it is slowly killed or injured which is the likely result with an airgun. I would be a rich man if you all would lay money down. It is an involuntary muscle reaction, just as surely as a hanged man urinates.
The best bet is to use a live trap. Slowly come up on a trapped skunk with an open blanket and smoothly cover the trap with the blanket. Grab the trap carry handle through the blanket and smoothly pick up trap and place in bed of pick up. Carefully drive to release location to release the animal. Open covered trap and skunk walks away without spraying. Believe me they dont WANT to spray. They would rather have an easy escape.
I have done this many times and have seen it done several. Probably about 15 total. The ONLY time a skunk sprayed was when my buddy accidentally dropped the trap while walking. Oooops!
By the way, this is illegal in NY and CT. A game warden found us once in NY, we had crossed the state line near Danbury as our release location was in Brewster. Game warden had a good laugh at us and issued a warning.
The best bet is to use a live trap. Slowly come up on a trapped skunk with an open blanket and smoothly cover the trap with the blanket. Grab the trap carry handle through the blanket and smoothly pick up trap and place in bed of pick up. Carefully drive to release location to release the animal. Open covered trap and skunk walks away without spraying. Believe me they dont WANT to spray. They would rather have an easy escape.
I have done this many times and have seen it done several. Probably about 15 total. The ONLY time a skunk sprayed was when my buddy accidentally dropped the trap while walking. Oooops!
By the way, this is illegal in NY and CT. A game warden found us once in NY, we had crossed the state line near Danbury as our release location was in Brewster. Game warden had a good laugh at us and issued a warning.
wild willy
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If you can use a .22 shoot them in the chest.You shoot them in the head 9 out of ten times they spray.Shoot them in the lungs 8 or 9 times out of 10 they won't spray.You can't shoot them there if there something they can get into where you can't get them.Sometimes they run a short distance after being shot.I don't think I've ever had one that ran spray.Why are the skunks there the best way to take care of a animal problem is to remove the attraction
17 HMR at 100 yards with a spotlight. They are in the pasture so I don't care if they spray. I probably kill 20 a year.
I wouldn't personally want to use an air gun on a skunk. Even a 22 using sub-sonic ammo will likely cause the animal to spray and then go in a hole and die where you can't get to them. Counting on a bang flop with a 22 or pellet is tempting fate.
I was able to trap a few many years back using live traps but I caught just as many cats and coons.
I wouldn't personally want to use an air gun on a skunk. Even a 22 using sub-sonic ammo will likely cause the animal to spray and then go in a hole and die where you can't get to them. Counting on a bang flop with a 22 or pellet is tempting fate.
I was able to trap a few many years back using live traps but I caught just as many cats and coons.
Skunks are nasty critters. From what I have seen, they will likely spray if trapped, shot, startled, hit by a car, cornered under a house.... Just my experiences as an observer of co-workers, animal control from the city, and custodians at apartments. One co-worker was sprayed under a house when he attempted to shoo the critter out. Bad idea. Home owner was most upset as well.
Over the past 30 years I have learned to appreciate skunks and the good work they do keeping the yellow jacket population under control. When the nights start to cool down, skunks dig up and eat the yellow jacket’s nest killing the queen and preventing the nest from starting up next year. If you cannot co-exist with the skunks then trapping and drowning them is the best solution.
I don't know about that. My college roommate drowned when he was a child and he indicated that it was actually quite pleasant after he finally gave up and took his first breath of water. They fished him out before he was totally gone and jumpstarted him. He said that if he ever committed suicide he would do it by drowning.
A body shot or a brain shot will probably result in spraying. If you can clip the spinal cord where it meets the brain, and/or destroy the brain where it connects to the spinal cord, you should get a no-reflex kill and a good chance of no spraying.
That's not an easy shot.
gamestalker
member
That really stinks, pun intended.
I've lived in several places in which skunks were a real serious problem, both as a stinky menace, and also because my dog would be constantly getting sprayed. My worse problem was when i lived up in N. Arizona, the skunks would come into my back yard every single night, so I decided to start shooting them. But as it turned out, skunks aren't as easy to shoot as I thought. they are crafty and seemingly smart, and can smell our scent which sends them running off.
So I started out using my bow, mostly because it was quiet, thus my neighbors wouldn't be alerted to my activities. the bow was very effective, but the problem was that the skunks wouldn't die instantly, often spraying very heavy which would only cause more stinky problems for everyone, neighbors included.
So my next thought was to use a good pellet gun, which at the time the only one i had was an inexpensive Daisy 10 pump. Anyway, I put a scope on it, kept my back yard light on, but with a low watt bulb, just in case it would discourage them from visiting my yard.
The first night one came into my yard, so I put the cross hairs on his head, "pop", he rolled over and died nearly instantly, best part he didn't spray at all. This went on for a few days, one after the other, head shots, none spraying either. After a good 10 or 12 skunks over the course of a couple weeks, I stopped being bombarded by them, just an occasional one or two for the rest of summer. By next summer they were back in numbers once again, and I got rid of them once again.
So if this story has a message, it would be three.
1. Make sure they die instantly, head shots are the trick I think.
2. Make sure you have some place to discard the carcass, and make sure they aren't easily accessible to other animals, as skunks are known to carry rabies, and this would be a sure fire way to start an epidemic, IMO. I took them to the woods, dug a deep hole, buried them, then put a bunch of large boulders on top to prevent coyotes and other scavengers from getting to them. Seems like a lot of work, but rabies are nothing to take chances with regard to starting an epidemic. Once the animal / brain has been dead a couple days or so, the risk is no longer present.
Be careful when handling them. Getting blood on an open cut, or into a membrane such as the eye's, mouth, nose, or accidentally scratching yourself on a tooth can infect you. I once had a very scary incident when I broke the skin on a coyote tooth while skinning it. County animal control submitted it to the county health dept. to analyze the brain. Thankfully it wasn't infected.
GS
I've lived in several places in which skunks were a real serious problem, both as a stinky menace, and also because my dog would be constantly getting sprayed. My worse problem was when i lived up in N. Arizona, the skunks would come into my back yard every single night, so I decided to start shooting them. But as it turned out, skunks aren't as easy to shoot as I thought. they are crafty and seemingly smart, and can smell our scent which sends them running off.
So I started out using my bow, mostly because it was quiet, thus my neighbors wouldn't be alerted to my activities. the bow was very effective, but the problem was that the skunks wouldn't die instantly, often spraying very heavy which would only cause more stinky problems for everyone, neighbors included.
So my next thought was to use a good pellet gun, which at the time the only one i had was an inexpensive Daisy 10 pump. Anyway, I put a scope on it, kept my back yard light on, but with a low watt bulb, just in case it would discourage them from visiting my yard.
The first night one came into my yard, so I put the cross hairs on his head, "pop", he rolled over and died nearly instantly, best part he didn't spray at all. This went on for a few days, one after the other, head shots, none spraying either. After a good 10 or 12 skunks over the course of a couple weeks, I stopped being bombarded by them, just an occasional one or two for the rest of summer. By next summer they were back in numbers once again, and I got rid of them once again.
So if this story has a message, it would be three.
1. Make sure they die instantly, head shots are the trick I think.
2. Make sure you have some place to discard the carcass, and make sure they aren't easily accessible to other animals, as skunks are known to carry rabies, and this would be a sure fire way to start an epidemic, IMO. I took them to the woods, dug a deep hole, buried them, then put a bunch of large boulders on top to prevent coyotes and other scavengers from getting to them. Seems like a lot of work, but rabies are nothing to take chances with regard to starting an epidemic. Once the animal / brain has been dead a couple days or so, the risk is no longer present.
Be careful when handling them. Getting blood on an open cut, or into a membrane such as the eye's, mouth, nose, or accidentally scratching yourself on a tooth can infect you. I once had a very scary incident when I broke the skin on a coyote tooth while skinning it. County animal control submitted it to the county health dept. to analyze the brain. Thankfully it wasn't infected.
GS
Charley C
Member
Getting rid of skunks
The best way to get rid of skunks.......is to first become knowledgeable about skunk behavior; a MUCH better plan for getting rid of skunks is NOT with a gun, not even an air gun.
Skunks are by nature very nocturnal creatures; they are "out & about" during darkness, and they look for a dark place to spend the daylight hours; I had a mother skunk with a "family" take up under my front porch; I patiently waited til almost midnight after she had taken the little ones out foraging; then I quickly rigged up a pair of extension cords and put two 100 watt light bulbs under the porch and left them on; when the skunks returned and found that their nice dark "daytime hang-out" was now brightly lighted, they promptly departed in search of another dark place to spend the daylight hours.
Skunks can really make your life miserable if you give them cause to "spray"; and there probably has never been a longer lasting or more persistent "foul odor" than skunk musk; skunks hate light.....especially where they spend their daylight hours, and they're very predictable as to what kind of place they'll try to find to hang out; light up their bedroom and you won't have to smell them.
Now if anyone can just suggest as effective a way of getting rid of these pesky moles tearing up my whole place!?
The best way to get rid of skunks.......is to first become knowledgeable about skunk behavior; a MUCH better plan for getting rid of skunks is NOT with a gun, not even an air gun.
Skunks are by nature very nocturnal creatures; they are "out & about" during darkness, and they look for a dark place to spend the daylight hours; I had a mother skunk with a "family" take up under my front porch; I patiently waited til almost midnight after she had taken the little ones out foraging; then I quickly rigged up a pair of extension cords and put two 100 watt light bulbs under the porch and left them on; when the skunks returned and found that their nice dark "daytime hang-out" was now brightly lighted, they promptly departed in search of another dark place to spend the daylight hours.
Skunks can really make your life miserable if you give them cause to "spray"; and there probably has never been a longer lasting or more persistent "foul odor" than skunk musk; skunks hate light.....especially where they spend their daylight hours, and they're very predictable as to what kind of place they'll try to find to hang out; light up their bedroom and you won't have to smell them.
Now if anyone can just suggest as effective a way of getting rid of these pesky moles tearing up my whole place!?
Charley C
Member
Shooting skunks
Oh No! I just read all of the replies! What I didn't mention........I got a baby skunk once whose mother had been run over crossing a road; took the little guy home, nursed him with a baby bottle, then kept him (in the house) til he was almost three months old before I released him. Unlike any other animal I've ever had, and I had a bunch when I was in my 20's; once a skunk realizes that you're his friend, you don't have to worry about them spraying, but on occasion a very minute quantity of their musk may "leak out"; all it takes is enough to cover a period at the end of a sentence, and you're going to "smell skunk"! I had very little problem though in the short time I kept the little skunk; like a flying squirrel I had once, the little skunk spent the whole daylight hours in a dark box, only coming out after it got dark. Personally, I would never kill a skunk, as I simply see no reason to.
Oh No! I just read all of the replies! What I didn't mention........I got a baby skunk once whose mother had been run over crossing a road; took the little guy home, nursed him with a baby bottle, then kept him (in the house) til he was almost three months old before I released him. Unlike any other animal I've ever had, and I had a bunch when I was in my 20's; once a skunk realizes that you're his friend, you don't have to worry about them spraying, but on occasion a very minute quantity of their musk may "leak out"; all it takes is enough to cover a period at the end of a sentence, and you're going to "smell skunk"! I had very little problem though in the short time I kept the little skunk; like a flying squirrel I had once, the little skunk spent the whole daylight hours in a dark box, only coming out after it got dark. Personally, I would never kill a skunk, as I simply see no reason to.
Deltaboy1984
Member
22 long rifle 36 grain Hollow points are my preferred medicine.
Charlie C made a suggestion that seems to be from personal experience and makes the most sense.
Understanding skunks enabled him to easily and humanely get rid of a skunk family living under his porch without the risks that come with shooting, trapping, or comming into any close proximity to them.
It's positive proof a little knowlege can go a long way in preventing any unnecessary hardships that can happen as a result of rash actions done without gathering facts first.
Understanding skunks enabled him to easily and humanely get rid of a skunk family living under his porch without the risks that come with shooting, trapping, or comming into any close proximity to them.
It's positive proof a little knowlege can go a long way in preventing any unnecessary hardships that can happen as a result of rash actions done without gathering facts first.
krupparms
Member
This^^^^
I do agree with you but in many states it is legal. And it was common practice in years gone by....There was a big local news story here a few months ago, so I can tell you it is legal in KS or MO...I live in Kansas City so we get news stories from both sides of the state line....there was quite a ta-do about it.
While I agree with you...I have killed enough in my life time to never want to do it again. But there are times when an animal becomes a pest and damages your property, your animals (killing chickens or other domestic animals) and you have to do what you have to do.
Pretty much the only thing left that I do kill, are pest animals and I would not put a skunk into this category normally. Starlings, Rats, mice are what I can think of off the top of my head. We have had deer doing a number on our apple, and peach trees currently we have about 50 or so. I have found that a good old red rider does the number....just enough to give them a sting and they will run away. I have actually made 50 yard shots with that. Not sure if I hit them or just had the bb land near them, but it was enough to make them move on.
Deer get very "tame" after a while....all the normal things will stop working after a while. Same goes with most animals, if they know there is easy food there they will stop being scarred of the urine smell, fishing line, soap, human hair.......on and on....they want that "free food" And no you can never plant enough for both you and them....stupid things will eat like one bite from every apple or peach....they don't eat the entire thing.
Deltaboy1984
Member
Shunks will kill chickens and since my family raise yard birds for 30 years I was raised to have No pity on Vermin and that what a Skunk is. So Mr. Marlin 60 and those Federal,Remmy or Winchester 36 grain HV,HP they died on our Farm. YMMV.
It always amazes me when people get uptight about a particular method of disposing of pests and vermin but are okay with other methods. The objective of removing pests is to make certain they do not bother you or your livestock. That's it, end of story! If that means shooting them, trapping them, drowning them, poisoning them, relocating them or whatever means is necessary then so be it. I really look askance at someone "relocating" coyotes or dogs they don't want on my property. We get many feral dogs released around here every year and they are pests to be eradicated. Am I happy about it? Of course not! I have had dogs all my life and certainly don't enjoy seeing them killed but I also don't enjoy seeing them running around wild on my property.
Skunks fall into the pest category. They are no different from rats, mice, squirrels, coyotes, chipmunks and roaches. I don't want them in my yard or in my house so I dispatch them. If you live in a subdivision in town where the biggest problem is a neighbor dog going potty in your yard then your opinion may differ.
Skunks fall into the pest category. They are no different from rats, mice, squirrels, coyotes, chipmunks and roaches. I don't want them in my yard or in my house so I dispatch them. If you live in a subdivision in town where the biggest problem is a neighbor dog going potty in your yard then your opinion may differ.
ironworkerwill
Member
I guess I'm an odd fellow. I don't really mind the smell of skunks. It sort of has a familiar smell. Mix up some hot pepper extract like hananero or cayanne and spray it around where he visits. It works with dogs and cats.
I didnt want you guys to think I was abandoning this thread, since I haven't written in a few days.
Thank you for all the info. My friend is actively monitoring the thread and getting great information and learning from all of you and from your collective experience!
Thank you for all the info. My friend is actively monitoring the thread and getting great information and learning from all of you and from your collective experience!
If shooting legality isn't an issue according to OP, I'd say 22LR subsonic and suppressed if your state is NFA friendly.
If you do go with airgun I'd go with 22 cal. I would limit .177s for birds and squirrels. For bigger game, 22cal is what you want.
If you do go with airgun I'd go with 22 cal. I would limit .177s for birds and squirrels. For bigger game, 22cal is what you want.
TomADC
Member
Flood the area's where he might get in with mothballs may take a couple of days or a week but they hate the smell and go elsewhere. Problem mothballs don't like a lot of moisture. I put them a foot to eighteen inches apart.
I did find a 22 Short between the eyes was okay also.
I did find a 22 Short between the eyes was okay also.
gamestalker
member
Years ago I shot any legal critter that didn't belong in my path, not so much now days. I guess old age alters some of our perceptions, at least mine. The thing about those little stripped critters is that they are very cute. I know, I'm sounding sappy, but it's the truth. But even so, a skunk on my property is still a dead skunk, else where they are free to live and thrive and won't be bothered by me.
GS
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