Skunk in Golf Pro-Shop. Any ideas on how to remove without spraying??

Any advise would be helpful.

Thanks.

Bait and set a live trap. Cover it with a tarp. When its caught, carry it out.

I had one inside a person's house. It was in the bathroom behind the washer and dryer. Set a cage with tarp. I couldn't get him to move. I then put a tarp over the window and it turned the room dark. Ten minutes later I had him. He must of thought it was night and time to get up and look for food.

Ive got alot of animals in houses. They will mainly stay close to a wall.Cover the trap( Double door) And funnel him in if you can with whatever natural material is there, like suitecases or boxes. Then move him slowly....and pray!

In my opinion, skunks rarely want to spray, they are not anything like what most of us were brought up to believe...

That being that you will stink forever if you even see a skunk.

I am exagerating there just a wee bit, but funny enough not much.
If you are calm, do not get excited and do not suprise the skunk, most will not spray and you can handle them quite easily. Think Molasses in January do everything in slow motion sing softly (or if you sing as badly as me talk softly to them)and you should be fine.

Now that I have said that let me add a disclaimer.

Juvenile male skunks are the exception just like teenage boys they will spray just to show themselves that they can. Also I have worked with some individuals that got sprayed everytime they got remotely close to a skunk. To the point that the rest of knew if they got called out to a skunk job to stay upwind when they got back to the office.

I have heard that some of the skunks male/female during the breeding season even lose the ability to spray at all. I do not know this to be fact but would hope that someone else can chime in and enlighhten us.

I find it difficult to respond to a question like this. I do not know the experience level of the poster. There are many things that I may feel confident in doing that I would never recommend to a novice. In this instance, I would want to know-- Do they want the animal trapped or just removed from the inside of the premises? If it is on a golf course, there are probably many more skunks around. Trapping this one, without a more inclusive removal program, will not make any difference to the overall population.

If they want this one skunk trapped, I would trap it, and remove it. If they just want it out of the “Pro Shop”, I would attempt to run it out; if possible. I would have to inspect the location to determine the best course of action. Skunks are very easy to move with a “squirt bottle” of water. I would probably set a plasti-trap, or other fully enclosed trap, against the wall and with the spray bottle run it into the trap (might even use a drift fence). The skunk will be looking for a dark area to hide in. I have done it many times, but certainly wouldn’t recommend that an inexperienced operator try it.

Depending on the situation, the baited trap may be the best solution. But, that may mean closing the “Pro Shop” for a day. I try to solve the problem in one trip, if possible.

Ron Fry

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that LA Trapper would use a drift fence for almost anything and have success.

Dtwarrow,
Although I hate to post this on a public forum; I do think that drift fences (however constructed) are one of the most underutilized tools of our industry. Hopefully this thread will very soon be pruned!!

Ron Fry

Little chance of that.

Besides, I agree about drift fences, after all I use them for chipmunks instead of bait and clean up.

I actually prefer to set up a lot of animals blind or baitless when trapping for a customer because it helps me cut down on non targets and there are simply some animals that with a little extra effort are caught faster with fences then any bait I have ever expirienced, chippies are one, and rabbits are another. I know of no other oerators here locally that will even touch rabbits because they cannot figure out how to do it without losing their shirt.

I also go baitless for canines (fox and coyote) a lot of the time but I am not utilizing drift fences in these cases, but cable restraints and nature funnels that they are traveling, same principle though it cuts down on non-targets. I certainly do not need to put a bracelet on a $50k purebred puppy.

I also perfer to go baitless for sguirrels when possible, by using conibears where i can, that also cuts way down on the non targets including squirrels that get caught when using baoit that are not the problem animal.

Rob Erickson has a book out the is called innovative skunk control. I have used some of the techniques that he suggests on indoor skunks. I sprayer with a full stream behind the skunk will make him move, in conjunction with drift fence and steering him with a squirt of water with coax him into a fence, I have used this technique inside and out. one trip in and out.

Dan Bergman

That right there would be what you call spraying the sprayer before ya get sprayed right?

Got the little booger! Unfortunately I did'nt get back to you guy's responses first. Went pretty smooth though. Set an enclosed trap along the wall and just gently nudged him along w/ a pole. Right in, no problem. Did cringe a little when I read the post that said juvi males tend to spray more as this was just a little guy. Maybe I just got lucky. Thanks everyone, all the same.

I had a interesting call the other day, a skunk in a grave hole, did not get pictures, the hole was dug the day before, when the funeral home guys arrived to put the cement vault in the hole they found the skunk digging into a wooden casket that was exposed by digging the new hole, he had pieces of the wooden casket which was very rotten in the new grave, when they called me the funeral was to arrive at grave site in 15 minutes and they did not want put the recently deceased in the hole with the stench of skunk---- no pressure ---- I used my cat tongs to set a skunk tube- carefully in the grave - next some 1' x 4' strips of plywood as a drift fence/funnel to keep him from going into the old grave and spray bottle to move him into the tube and tripped the door on the tube with the cat tongs. a quick $75.00

I have had two skunks in homes one in a kitchen one in the bath room, used tubes and wood strips to isolate and guide them into the trap wise popcorn in the trap and sometimes a trail to the trap - no spray - I just picked them up when the customer called and said the door was down.

I agree " skunks rarely want to spray " skunks I catch from 100- 250 per year and have never been sprayed directly however I have been caught downwind a few times, not quite as bad.
Up here in Maine starting arround Feb./ March I get a surge of skunk calls I always trap several skunks at each call, I have just assumed it was the males sparring/fighting/sprizting for the girls.

I too would like to know too if someone has some facts