What are some good lures/baits for skunk, that will not attract house cats? I'm thinking fish oil trail to the trap, then something that can go behind the trap that won't interest a cat. Thanks.

Cheese balls

Nanners (bananas for the yanks) lol

Apple/peanut butter paste works very well on skunks.

Cheez It crackers.Jameson's Peaches and Cream

Cheese balls with rosebud

Away from houses I usually start with catfood with dry and marsh. used for trailing. Had good luck with peaches n cream trailing bait if you can keep the Coons out. Used cheeze balls, gummy bears, sweet tarts, crackers..u name it.

Oreos or little Debbie oatmeal cookies.

These baits would have a hard time making it to a cage in my possession, just found my sweet tooth again.

They catch ADC guys too. That's how I figured out the oreos. I was shown the oatmeal cookies. $1.79 for 12 of them is hard to beat at the local convenience store.

If I can't use a comstock I use WCS™ Rosebud Skunk Paste Bait on marsh mellows, a lot less off catches. Also nice to show the customer that I am using something they can't pick up at any gas station.

I used to use that. I couldn't prove that it worked better than the cookies.

Chicken bones, especially KFC. Can't explain why but any time I had a trash bag set out with KFC bones skunks show up. Took some time to figure it out. They don't touch a bag without chicken bones. I use them any time someone calls. That way I get dinner out of the deal at least.

When it comes to skunks and cats, I rely more on the size of the trap to avoid the cats.

The 7x8s, 7x7s, 6x6s, 6" tubes, all catch skunks readily but are uninviting to cats. Even using cat food and sardines for bait, I've had no problems with cats getting into my skunk sets.

That being said, I have had some luck using egg base with a little Asafoetida and banana oil mixed in for a skunk bait that doesn't interest cats.

The only cat I've had to release, oddly enough, was caught on a chocolate donut. I didn't bait the trap, and have no idea why the cat went for it. Maybe a mouse was eating the donut and escaped out the side of the trap.

You should hang out outside of KFC and ask the takeout customers for their old chicken bones.

That would be fun to do regardless of the skunks. Better if you could wear a creepy costume.

I agree with the wcs rosebud...that is a true skunk catcher with not many nontarget catches...

I look at adc work very different from open woods trapping. Some jobs require a little more work than others when dealing with an high volume of domestic animals that could cause you headaches, but don't over think it. If the animal is there, imo a loud bait isn't necessary, lots of times a house cat will investigate a trap that has been placed in a new area where that cat roams regardless, especially if you've already trapped an animal in it. Using cam footage on certain calls, like many others I've had them come by a trap and didn't enter or bother much with it and still ended up catching the target animal with a mild odor. As sgs suggested smaller traps work great, I use safeguard 36x11x12 for 90% of the critters I target. I've never seen a 100% specific species bait or lure. Studying animal behavior in some cases will outperform any bait and lure which will ultimately help you to determine how and when to use that bait and lure more effectively.