hey trappers, ive caught a lot of skunks in 10x10 traps,, ive never tried using a smaller trap. how well would a 7x7 work on skunks?

Even better.

Depends on the skunk and the mind set it has at that time. The smaller the cage trap, the better it is for the person handling the trapped skunk. but that skunk may not want to go into a small area. but just like people, skunks has things they do not want to do. I wrote an article for trappers post I believe it was back in the fall, talking about this stuff. I use a lot of 10 x 12 x 30 or even 36 on a lot of my skunk jobs, if I go there and see that the customer or another company has been trying to catch it or them and have had no success, I go right to a big trap. if I go to a job that the skunks has been spraying every night for the past 3 or more nights I will go to a bigger trap, most likely the female has been dogged by the males and she may not want to be in a confined area with those males still there. I also have learned that grubbing skunks in the wide open lawns with no fences or edges, that a big trap placed with the door facing the direction at which the skunk is coming from and at the back end of the latest digging that the skunks will go in faster if the baiting strategy is right and the bait is good tasting. This goes back to what I said yesterday in another post about folks doing control work in a rut, they do what they feel like instead of doing what is the best for that job. Based on habits and behavior. We all try to make the animal do what we want it to do instead of catching the animals by letting it do what it wants to do.

I've had the 7x7 set and baited next to a 10x12 trap. The bigger trap always outdid the little trap so I decided all my skunk traps will be the same I use for coon. Meaning I buy one trap for 90% of my nuisance trapping

I've caught a lot of skunks in the 7x8x24 Safeguards but they do seem to prefer the 11x12's.

We use a lot of 7x7 for skunks and don't get a lot of refusals. Having said that, I do believe that the 7x8 is even better. We rarely use or even catch skunks in our raccoon cages. If a larger trap is needed, it will be a two-door Comstock. Unlike a lot of you guys, in my experiments with different size cages I have nearly always proved that the shorter the trap, the better. But it needs to be high enough.

I like using 7x7s and I use the tube traps as well, especially when it's colder. I try not to use the tube traps in July and August unless it is in a cool and shady area.

I have been using some 6x8" Comstocks that I had Jim make for me last year. They have worked well for skunks, squirrels and possum. I will use a coon sized trap if I have refusals but that seldom happens.

thats for everyones veiw on this,,i went ahead and used the bigger trap,,i just want to avoid the house cats in the area,,



Terry,

Wacotrapr brings up a very good point. Cats.

While I do think that skunks, along with most animals, prefer a larger trap there are good reasons to use a smaller trap and cats are one such reason. I prefer to use fish for skunk bait and have never caught an adult cat in the 7x8x24 cages and I've never caught a cat of any age in the 6" tube traps.

Good point sqs. Now that you mention it, the only cats I've caught in the 7x8 were kittens and that was on purpose.

Skunks are small, a lot of possibilities, an 18 inch double door will work fine. In comparing small there are at least two considerations, door opening and trap volume, displacement in the vehicle and what other uses the traps will have. Though an 18 inch trap with a 9x11 opening is a bit larger in volume when compared to a 7x8x24, the 18 inch trap with a large opening will not have refusals and will also work as a woodchuck trap.

A factor with this question depends on how you are making the set. I've caught skunks in 5 x 5 x 18 traps set on the ground for squirrels and a 5 x 5 x 24 trap I built myself. I hope to be testing a 5 x 5 x 36 multi-catch this year I've had made to see what happens.

My standard skunk trap is 7 x 7 x 24 and I've not had any issues getting stripped skunks to enter them. Normally, I'll do a positive set which should eliminate most of the trap size issues. When I've done baited sets I've not seen any difference between using the smaller taps versus the "coon" size one. I generally don't take those jobs as most of the time the skunk has never been seen and the "...damage/odor occurred for a couple nights before we call but now we don't notice anything."

I've also caught my only cat in a cage trap that was 7 x 7 x 24 baited with a fish bait. Ever since, I won't use fish for bait when I'm around structures.

I just removed 3 skunks out from under a house and I had one 10 X 10 cage trap and one 7 X 7 cage trap set and I caught all 3 in the 7 X 7

I find it odd that so many WCO's seem to have skunks refuse to enter smaller traps. I still use the 6" tube traps for 95% of skunk work. I've had 6 skunks in a single night, all in tubes set in a large horse barn.

And NO, I'm not setting mouse traps next to them so they can "choose" the bigger trap. I do about 50/50 posi-set verses open areas.

I rarely have a positive set situation on skunks so most of mine are transients visiting the cat food and bird seed, 99% caught in 7x7s and some so big they filled the trap so tight they couldn't turn around. my longest was 36" nose to tail.

Almost all of my skunk traps are now the 6" tube.

*8x8x24

If you can't catch skunks in those, you have either one of two things...

Wrong bait and/or lure or skunks over 15 lbs.

Like WCT I've used a 5x5 and I use a 6 inch round pvc trap I made , can they spray in a 7x7?.

All depends on your area, and what others are doing. I like the 7x8 safeguards, and Jim wants me to try his, But being a bait and lure maker, I just can't go in that direction LOL Jim ready for another show? But will not hesitate for a bigger trap if I think I need one based on behaviour. I have caught 4 to 6 little ones in a bigger trap. in a state like NJ home owners trap as many animals as the control guys, heck even the control guys, half are animal lovers. there is a lot of relocation from 300 feet to 20 miles. when I come into a yard and see cage traps sitting there well I know what I am up against. lol let me say here and now, for the most part skunks are easy, no brainers, but 10 % will give me a problem. and before some of you think that I don't know how to catch skunks! heck I have caught maybe at least 10 in all the years of wildlife control, don't that make me an expert LOL

Jonesie, here's the deal. You make sure to tell everyone that they need to trail your skunk lure at least ten feet in either direction from the two doors of the Comstock cage and that they need to put a least a half a bottle underneath the triggering wires. Don't thank me, just send me a check. ( And don't tell me you're too busy making skunk lure )

We have set and used mostly 7x8x24 safeguards for skunks for many years with very good results. Both in posi sets and open area set ups.Gang setting is our key with a variety of set ups/odors on different locations using the wind to your adavantage as you should.

Like Eric and LT said it is a balance of presentation, visuals and good odor selection as it is for most trapping.
Forced / guided trapping is a slam dunk most times. For open area grubbing problems "gang setting" is a given procedure. I shy away from larger traps to reduce raccoon catches unless it is the target animal and in some grubbing cases it is both animals that must be taken out. In those cases both size traps are used.

Use what size traps that you are confident in using and you think is needed to get the job done. That is the key to being a productive ADC operator. Adapt and improvise as needed.We all have had avoidance problems and having to deal with nomadic visitations always being a problem. Or the skunks decide to leave the site the night before we set up a job never to return until we have pulled the job. I am sure no one has had that one occur yet.