We had a critter problem last fall. We live in a larger city, with our house backing up to a river. In about three weeks I trapped 16 raccoons, 2 ground hogs, 3 possums, and 5 skunks. They were all trapped using a live trap. Starting out with just the typical trap, I caught several critters before my first skunk.
I read on the internet and watched you tube about throwing a blanket over them and transporting them some where else. I got the blanket part done but, just could not go any farther. The missus researched it the same as I and thought the blanket was a good idea too, untill it came time to lift a covered trap with a live skunk in it. She nixed idea number two, about putting the whole trap in a water filled garbage can. In the end the first one caught was let go.
One buddy that works for the county parks system, told me if you kill them, you have to kill the dead instantly or there is a good chance they will spray. One other buddy has a metal brake and I bent some metal to cover the trap. I had to move the trip rod of the trap inside, but it works great.
The first three were small, about the size of a house cat. Once we were out in the country they did not seem all that mad, after the pickup ride, and needed a little bit of guidance to come out. The last one was about the size of a large raccoon, when I opened that trap to let it go, it came out like a missle, four feet out of the trap, and stood its ground and stomped. Three freinds were with me, and this was not what any of us expected after dealing with the first three. We were running and bumping into each other like it was godzilla. When it figured out that we were pansies it just walked away.
My buddies keep talking about dealing with a live skunk is getting a punch in their mancards. None have sprayed yet, thankfully.
