Thanks Bob, I have no expierience with handling skunks at all. I end up catching several each year and I am considering putting them up next year. Just kind of hesitant to do so. Once little mistake on a skunk and I will be in rough shape. Like you said expierience is the best thing, but I am still questioning myself if I want to get the expierience or not.

You are a trapper aintcha... LOL What makes you so special that you think you shouldnt stink once in a while like the rest of us.

lol ... speak for yourself ... I'm 24/7 when it comes to stink ... reckon I'm special

I dont know possum skinner I think I take the first prize for stinkiest man alive 365 plus.I get to stand alone in line at McDonalds most of the time.:)I guess that isnt very amusing to some.

I agree with keeping the bottle of essence upwright. I used a clean Heinze 57 bottle last year (plastic cap) and kept it in my truck within a larger container filled with sawdust so-as to keep the bottle of essence upwright. After I was done with skunk season I took this bottle out of my truck and placed it on my kitchen counter for 2 weeks without a smell... or a peep out of the Mrs..(just alittle test ya know).But I then turned the bottle over to dip the cap in melted wax:causing the essence to meet the cap threads...Then I could smell the essence even through the wax seal. Lesson learned. Keeping the essence away from the top of the bottle (cap and threads) is the way to go.

OK Bob the honor is all yours

Include me in the top 100 though ... lol

Know what ya mean about standing in lines ... grown ups scrunch their faces and whisper ... while kids let loose with the truth ... gotta love that

Oh, even plastic caps will turn black ... doesnt have to come in contact with it the vapor will do it also

Coffee cans with sand around the bottles works good too

So what do you use the drained pods for after you extract the eseence?

you can just grind them along wit your other bait meat ... or ya can just seperate them afterwards and toss one down a dirt hole for a extra kick

Won't that add some skunk essence to the bait? Seems to be some residue left in mine and the still smell skunky.

I use a couple last season in some hay pile sets and got no takers.

yes, it'll add a lil skunk to your bait ... that's the intent

I cant really add much to what everyone above has said about cutting out the glands, extracting and storing the essence. I do just what they have already described. Here is a vid I made couple years back dispatching a skunk in a trap with acetone. Here are pics of the dispatch pole I made as well. Its a collapsible painter pole. I wrapped athletic tape around the end threads. Cut off the top portion of a plastic pop bottle and pushed this on over the tape. The lid screws on and off. I drilled out a hole thru the platic lid and inserted the syringe plunger thru this. This is then screwed on to the painter pole, the syringe is put on the plunger, put the needle on and you are ready to go. I use a 20cc syringe and a 1" 16 ga needle to administer the acetone. I fill the syringe with 12cc of acetone and try and inject either right behind the shoulder in the rib cage or right under the throat face on above the collar bone of the skunk. First time is the worst, gets easier each time. Been sprayed before too, its your badge of skunk trapping....LOL.
Hope this helps you out.