Put out about 20 sets for skunks around abandoned homesteads. Add another dozen tomorrow. A few warmer days then real cold again for awhile. Maybe the rut will have them moving for a few nights. All blind sets with a tiny bit of lure beside trail as insurance. Never done this before so we will see. Probably fill up with coons, packrats and possums.

Wish you luck!

Just curious, what’s a set for a skunk look like? And what do you use for bait? Don’t have many down here is the reason I’m asking. Only ever caught one in a coyote set.

Keep us posted, after the one I caught around Thanksgiving, I have a newfound respect for the critters!

Wannabe, I made a dirt hole where I thought coyotes had been working. Turns out (I think anyway) that I was right on a skunk dig. Kinda like what a badger does, just scaled down a bunch.

Well there are well defined trails through the grass from building to building, so I just bedded traps in trail then put a little bait or lure on small stick beside trap. I catch about twice as many skunks in coyotes sets with a skunky lure than the rest of sets so I used a skunky lure I make, an egg based bait I make, Jameson's Fireball bait and Jameson's Power Call fish based bait. Like I said though I've never really targeted skunks before. I did catch 2 in front of small culverts earlier. Was targeting skunks there. I need more stakes. Got plenty of traps but not very many rebar stakes and I really don't want to put earth anchors on skunk traps.
Usually catch about a half dozen a year in canine sets but ran short line and didn't catch any this year. Got a neighbor that has put up triple digits on skunks in a good year.

Gotcha, thanks.

I was thinking about the warm up and skunks getting frisky also. I would rather cage them myself than foothold them. Less chance of them spraying in a cage IMO. Rotten eggs and a little quill work for me.
I just can't get around very well in the snow and ice yet.

Good luck

Warmed up here my cams had coon and skunks on them the other day. In the last month I've caught over 20 skunks they are on the move I'd say seems like in pockets here and there.

Law Dog

How warm does have to get up there for the skunks to get out

It’s weird I had one place they were out in single digit temps and another place I had no action for a couple weeks then picked up 7 in 10 days after a warm up.

I’d say some will move any time but most will be out when it’s above freezing is my best answer. Some of that might be related to the amount of fat they are carrying at the time and how insulated their dens are.

Not setting it on fire as of yet... lol. One 20 pound coon held by 2 toes in a 1 LS and what i believe was a bobcat guessing by the hair pulled out of 2 traps set in same trail 50 foot apart.

I got a call from a fella in Indiana that just returned from trapping in Kansas a couple weeks back. He said the skunk population is down considerably in the area he trapped. He usually gets a good catch of them in his canine and cat sets as we all usually do if they are there and moving. Any warm up of the temps from previous colder temps will get them going. I have caught them in the teens and 20 degree temps many times.

Like you know, if they aren't there you can't catch them. Dont beat yourself up.. Keep banging the pack rats.

Bob
Mick kind said said same thing about #s. I guess I'm going to have to step it up to fulfill my 500 ounce contract at $50/ounce. Lol

I had a skunk on camera years back hitting a cat cubby during a cold winter. I found it dead in my cubby all dehydrated it weighed almost nothing and it’s nails were extra long it was weird.

The Kansas Skunkman would know if anyone does.

Ya, right!!

One coon and one skunk

It's a start!

Its something.Way to go.

Check out those rocky pastures, stream banks and brush piles for those skunks. Use to catch lots of skunks in those rocky looking prairie areas. Lots of small burrows in those rocks. They don't look like much from a distance. Get closer and look for tracks or trails heading out.