As the title says, what's the best skunk bait that limits incidental house cats

Sweet baits work, Grape Jelly, Honey etc.

I use fruit loops with On Target Coon SB on them. Works well on skunks
coon and opossums but not cats.

Had a lot of luck using just jelly this year so far. Grape as well as strawberry. But I think the grape has been best

thanks, those are different than my usual, marshmallows and/or peanut butter. the grape jelly and honey sound like I will be trying them

Bob Jamesons Fire Ball bait. Deadly on coon and skunk, never caught a single cat in a barn full of cats.

Apple and peanut butter are great for taking skunks. Activity areas are more important than bait if you have an abundance of cats running around.

Unfortunately, this is a case of the skunk passing through the yard (on what interval I do not know) happened to spray the dog once last week. Going to be fun avoiding the cats and dealing with the coon till it shows up again.

I use some dog food with egg and sfe oil with just a little bit of anise

This right here is what I have found to be the worse skunk jobs. I have even run cameras for the entire job on some of these now just to show the customer that the skunk has not even passed through the yard

These jobs are the ones I dislike thee most, as the customer thinks your incompetent if that skunk isn't trapped right away or if the coons and opossums keep getting caught

Agreed on the above statement, this is why I tend not to take wildlife calls unless there is a real problem. Animals passing through yards is going to happen. I would do my best to locate any type of evidence of skunk activity and travel route through the property. I like to keep the stink down when I know there is a high possibility for non targets. Imo, heavy calling power isn't needed if they frequent the area.

In my area, skunks are what I call circuit animals, the exception would be when the family group has very young ones that are not transit. My skunks are normally 1 to 3 days at location then gone for a 5 to 8 day circuit. then back again. I make sure my customers know this on every skunk job. Last week I had a customer that was some what of a know it all. he had not seen the skunks for 2 days when he called me to the job. I told him the above, he laughed and did not believe me but wanted me to set the traps. The family group came back 5 days later and I caught them. His tone was not so much of a donkey as it was the first day, when he said I guess you do know your job. Let the customer know, if they saw the skunk one time, it may not be back. If they have seen to for a few days and it is gone they will come back but may take some time, and to prove it push a little dirt in the hole so they can see if and when. even when I do use a double door trap and force set, and that doesn't happen to often LOL I will fill the hole so they can see. Plus that will show you if your skunks are on circuits also.

Ref: NTA Trappers Guide

Skunks are gregarious and will pile into a den to sleep, and rarely spend the next day in the same hole, traveling many miles each night searching for food.
Rabies is known to be air transmisable, and this is how it is spread so fast and far by Skunks.

Michigan trapper, I have trail cams on the job, been using them the last couple of years on these low percentage or unknown intruder type jobs.

Did manage to catch my first ever cat on marshmallows. Or more likely it was just a case of "Oh, look at this new cave on the edge of the lawn, maybe there's something in there"
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All animals are just curious by nature. This is just a fact that takes time to learn and truly understand it. I see post after post over the years about what is the best bait or lure for a specific animal that won't catch another animal. Mostly relating to domestic or feral cats.

I don't believe there is truly such a product to be honest with everyone. If you have any trapping experience for several years you must know that all animals are opportunists by nature. That is just an integral part of their basic survival instincts.

So regardless of how you try to target one specific animal you are very likely to catch at some point other animals in that process. That is just a reality of trapping. Even when mentally you try to rationally think certain odors or visuals wouldn't appeal to that animal.

It is just a fact of trapping. Present a new object, odor or visual into an animals home territory for the first time you will most likely create some interest and the curiosity to investigate the new presentation.

Positive sets on burrows can reduce some of the cat problems due to the fact that they don't inhabit ground burrows to a great degree. You are usually dealing with groundhogs, skunks, rabbits and raccoon for the most part.

When open setting with trail /guided sets or baited sets you will catch what is frequenting that particularly area and set up position.

I favor wcs rosebud and cheese puff balls

Blackies Fur King
Grape jelly with cherry jello powder added
'bout anything SWEET avoids cats

While we can't eliminate incidental catches, there are a few things we can do. Choice of bait is of course one but trap selection is another important choice.

Choose an appropriately sized trap and you have just reduced your chances of catching cats. Skunks will enter traps that cats tend to shy away from. Size does matter. Use a skunk trap, not a cat trap and your incidental catches will be much lower.

I sometimes use 6" PVC traps when I know there are cats in the area, even though they are not my favorite skunk trap. I can't see a cat, especially a well-fed pet, crawling into that tube - though as stated above, it'll probably happen eventually given enough time.