GTA
General Discussion To Gateway To Airguns => Hunting Gate => : ray1377 March 17, 2010, 02:06:40 AM
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I have a problem that I need some help how to solve.
I've got a really good bait/camera station set up in the very back of my yard.
Its been drawing somewhere between 2 and 4 coons almost nightly.
I've got an old chicken pen thats made out of chainlink fence wire.
I usually put the bait (cat food--dog food--table scraps) just inside the wire up next to the sides.
This keeps the neighbors dogs from eating it up before the coons arrive.
My problem is SKUNKS!!!!!!!
I have at least 5 coming around and they, believe it or not can slide right through the chainlink fence and get "inside" the pen.
When they do this, they eat all the table scraps and usually turn over the trays with cat/dog food in them and then the coons have a hard time
reaching through the wire to get to the food.
I just finished building a .22 disco pistol especially for taking these coons out.
And I don't want the skunks to ruin everything by messing up what the coons are coming there for.
Any ideas on how to keep skunks away but "KEEP" the coons coming?
I've heard if you put moth balls around that skunks won't come around them.
But I don't want to do anything that will keep the coons away.
Can I build some kind of skunk proof feeder??
I really need your helps fellows.
I've been working on this set up for a month and a half just to get a shot at these coons.
I"ve included a picture of what I'm talking about so you can better understand my problem.
Thanks Ray
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The only thing I can say is that you may have to drop the skunk's to stop em. I know there's a possible stink aftermath but that will fade and the Bandit's don't mind it, just clothes pin your sniffer . You could try the mothball's if all else fails but the taste of free food is hard to resist. Ed
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You, my friend, have a heck of a problem. How do discourage one and not the other.
You could of course set live traps and rid yourself of the one you don't want. And keep the one you want.
Doubt that there is anyway to keep the skunks away except trap or shoot.
We, my son and others, have been waging a war against skunks for several years. And now we have as many skunks as ever.
Keep us posted.
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Oh believe me I know all about shooting a skunk.
I shot one about two weeks ago around 8:30 at night.
I dropped it in its tracks at 26 yds.
7.9grain hollowpoint right between the eyes.
But then I got a lesson in animal science.
when you hit a skunk in the head, they're nervous system takes over and they "twitch" or flench until they are completely dead.
Well everytime this guys body "twitched" his butthole sprayed!!!!!!!!!!!!
And about 5 or 6 seconds of that and you got one helluva mess.
I had to use one of the SCBA's from the firestation to keep from throwing up.
And I put it in 2 trashbags and threw it away.
I'll NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!
And buddy, they stick for days even after they are dead.
So that idea is out of the question in my book.
If they didn't stink when you shot them, it would be fun.
Anymore ideas?
Ray
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Thats hilarious that they spray till they are completely dead. I will definatly think twice or make sure he's in the neighbors yard before I pull the trigger on a skunk. As for the problem with the skunks I got no ideas that havent been posted.
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I bought a skunk trap. They are too small for the other critters to get into except for possums! Now to be honest I haven't caught any skunks yet, but I have high hopes! :D
Skunks are always fair game in TN, however the possum and raccoon seasons are over. Unless they become a pest by getting in my house or vandalizing something, they are off limits until the fall.
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As mentioned you could trap it but in most state's you need a permit to relocate it etc. etc.. I think that the game dept. would rather have it put down then running loose though. Ed
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Thats fine with me.
I could trap it and take it way down in the bottom and when I release it just blast it with my mossberg.
I don't have a problem shooting them.
In fact that one I shot under the birdfeeder was sorta moving at a short gate and when I hammered him between the eyes
his nose buried up in the dirt when he came to a skidding halt.
But it still didn't stop his butthole from working for a few seconds more.
Thats the problem, the smell that I DON"T want in my backyard.
Does that sound inhumane?
From what all I've read on the net, they would rather you kill them than to let them go somewhere else
for fear of rabies being spread.
I think I can build a trap, with all the info I've found on them posted on the net.
Ray
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That sure looks like a Catch 22 problem right there!!!!
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If you catch a skunk in a live trap, will they spray when you approach the trap? If they will then you might as well shoot em.
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Yes, they will spray. You need a tarp or something and approach them slowly. Just tarp them over and you are safe-in theory :)
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think i would just give the lil bugger some high speed lead poisoning to the fusebox from a distance. I would in no way want to be close to a skunk when it sprayed, not enough Old Spice in the state for that one..
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Hello im new to forum sorry to hear of your problem with the little stinky fellows my name is Jim I live in florida I come from new York originally and have seen my share of skunks in the mountains where I used to hunt and a fair amount of coons get the food off the ground and build a small bridge to the feeder area with a large enough span of empty space so skunks cant reach food coons are allot bigger and are quite smart and figure things out pretty good especially where food is prize. my thought here is make it physically impossible for skunks to get to food while letting the coons work a little for it either way its better then stinking up the neiborhood good luck
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shoot him in the base of head / neck
if he is paralyzed he cant twitch which means he cant spray
they spray with a gland so the stick wont leak out if ur careful
i did it and it worked befor but u need a precice shot
i used a 22 lr and cci stingers it ripped his neck in half Dead instantly no twitch
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What about a gut shot to send them running off to die somewhere else? or is that too cruel?(http://../jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-innocent.gif)
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Sure fire way to get rid of all female skunks is to hire Pepe Lepew....errrr...maybe that's female cats....oh well.
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I'd say no to the gut shot.
If you shoot them and they don't drop dead, THEY SPRAY!!!!!
I shot at one 3 times with a Beeman springer late one nite from quite a distance.
I was having a hard time hitting it because I was trying to hold a big flashlight and the gun up at the same time without a rest.
Anyway, everytime I shot, I got close and the skunk would jump or flench and spray.
I could see the spray coming out its rear with the flashlight shining one it.
It looked like a small green fog.
I also read that if one sprays, that it will draw other skunks in from a few miles looking for the other skunk.
Might explain why you always see more than one dead in the road pretty close to each other.
Also found out they can spray from 10 to 15 feet away and can usually only spray on average 6 times.
Then it takes them up to 10 days to replenise their stink before being able to spray again.
And if it gets in you eyes, you can go blind for up to 15 minutes.
So if you can't drop them dead in there tracks I wouldn't suggest shooting one to wound it.
I'm trying to find me some scrap 6in pvc pipe and build my own sent proof trap.
Maybe I can catch them and haul them off.
I
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This was covered with alot of info about best ways to trap Skunks back last November
http://www.gatewaytoairguns.com/airguns/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=22342&posts=24&highlight=skunk trapping&highlightmode=1#M177895
There was some other threads in the past year on trapping them, but covered pretty much the same methods.
Paul.
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yeah, I read that one, but didn't get alot of info from it.
Ray
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Only with a couple of skunks but it was too much fun too, hehe.
Because I have a big skunk problem too at my bait site too, just 3-4wks ago I decided to start shooting their tail with my .22 & .25 Condors.
They don't even flinch and keep on eating! I shoot the end of their tail until the pellet cuts some part of it off or they feel some pain. One skunk kept eating and I could see blood all over the snow! One more shot to the tail and it took off. I took 5 shots total at its tail and I knew it was a hit every time as my Condors are precision instruments.. and it was only 18-19yds out. I have not seen that one return and maybe it died from infection or attracted a coyote with its blood trail and became dinner for a bigger critter. The only other skunk I shot its "tail off", took off after the 2nd shot hit its tail. If they don't see the threat, they don't spray. They 'll sit there and keep eating while being shot at. They will move their tail a little as each pellet cuts some of their tail hair off, or even when it hits the bone in the tail. I honestly don't think these 2 have returned becaue I 've only seen the little one, and these 2 where the bigger ones. Maybe they associate my place now with getting hurt or stung, which was my intention so they would not return. Give them a good sting to a non-vital area and make them leave and think twice about coming back. My intention was not to kill them or have them die later, which is why I did not shoot their foot or leg, etc. because this could have crippled them and could eventually kill them or make them not survive "in the wild", I have seen a few crippled skunks visit my bait site. It was an experiment and their tail is the least vital area to shoot. I must admit it was fun :)
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Boy, that right there is using your noggin for something besides a hat rack!!! ha ha ha
Shooting their tails off never even came to my mind.
I wish you would have posted this earlier.
I've just come in from the garage and I'm 3/4 of the way through building a spray proof skunk trap, just like those you see in the catalogs.
And so far I have less than $2 in it.
I'll post some pics when I'm done.
You should have got some pics of those new species of skunk----BOBTAIL !!!! ha ha ha
Ray
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Ray,
I never seperated any part of their tail. I probably missed the center bone a couple of times. It was dark and I was using my gun light which is a very soft blue light and does not light up the target all that well. It works well though because the critters barely know it's there and it doesn't scare them away. I was probably just shooting hair most of the time. They have very large/thick tails. But once you bit bone or "meat", they feel it and take off, except for that one that continued eating with blood on the ground around its tail. They did feel the pellet touch the hair on their tail though, because they would flinch their tail or raise it a little everytime the pellet went through it. So my guess is they have pretty good nerve endings on that tail to feel something that small touching a couple of hairs on it.
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I have no help for you but that's funny! I made my wife come read the story I thought it was so good.
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Whenever they were at my bait site, I'd shoot them with the Daisy pump gun. I never pumped it high enough to pierce the skin, maybe three or four pumps and I was shooting at 30 plus yards. I'd just keep lobbing them until one connected. After a few days of that they would hear me pumping it up and skeedaddle big time. :)
Truthfully they are pretty smart and once I started stinging them I didn't see them very often. After that it was mostly raccoons, with a few possums here and there. I think once the raccoons start to dominate a bait site they become the alpha critter.
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Ray,
Tie a 30" rope to your trap when you get it finished. Set your trap next to a ditch, creek, or pit. (lined and filled with water) When you catch the little bugger, gently pull him trap and all into the ditch. They will drown without spraying most of the time, and if they spray, it is under the water and does not stink bad at all.
I use this method often. It seems every so often, I have a rapid rise in skunk population and have to take matters into my own hands or deal with the dog causing skunks to spray and stink up the yard. A couple years ago, I dispatched 12 skunks with this method.