Don’t get me wrong I don’t mind catching scunks I know they eat a lot of pheasant eggs and so I want to catch them but with trapping before school every morning I I want to keep scunks out of my Dps as much as possible so I don’t have to smell like one thanks

Ps all the replies on my previous thread were amazing I have all my traps out and am getting catches every day even if some of them are scunks

At the prices skunks are bringing this year I would welcome any skunk catches. I wish I had focused on them this year.

Start checking your traps after school, maybe.
I don't know how to keep them OUT of DPS but when I'm in a "skunky" area I lean them at a 45° angle and they seem to get caught easier than upright.

I used to shoot them though the chest in the morning before work and remove the in the evening after work to keep the smell down.

I read of a trapper using a short piece of 3/4" PVC with a PVC cap glued on it and then placed it in the set DP. I believe he smeared some liquid coon lure on the PVC to draw the raccoons and they can remove the PVC to get at the bait in the trap. It was done to keep mice and pack rats out of the trap and it seems it might work with skunks. I don't have any experience with this method but am going to put it to work next season. Pack rats and mice were a constant battle for me this year.

Old golf balls work also but 25% disappear. I wonder if coyote carry some of them off.

I've found a lot of golf balls with teeth marks on them and a few with the covers nearly removed from the more desperate critters.

Golf balls are a great way to find a den tree, lol.

The nice thing about the PVC is it holds the trap in the almost set condition prior to putting it out. I’d be tempted to cable it to the DP with some 1/16 cable to the trap to save looking for it after a catch. Might not survive a 72 hour check time though.

Don’t avoid them, seems like a profitable idea..

Theres no c in sKunk.

This has worked for me. Here's my tip. 15-20 years ago I purchased some homemade DP's w/o a bottom center anchoring point. Just a spring and tube laid flat on the ground. Worked fine for all takers but I was not interested in the skunks then or before. I came across the fellow who ELEVATED his DP's. So I bought a few ft of black HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) pipe at a slightly smaller inside diam. than the DP tube. Cut and removed an approx. 1.75- 2" wide piece of the plastic LENGTHWISE out of a 4" long piece of the tube. Then I fastened that (plastic C shaped tube) to a wooden stake approx.18-20-24" long with a single screw in the middle of the HDPE. Made it like a 4" Clip to go (snap) AROUND the DP tube and suspend the DP opening 10" in the air above the ground. Caught plenty of coon and a few opossums but not one skunk with them set up this way. A caught coon will shed that HDPE clip pretty easily and some will be damaged but mostly you can dispatch the coon, reuse the clip and reset.. Don't know if it will work for you there but it did for me here. Those were the days BEFORE everyone and his brother were on Youtube with trapping info. .......................... the (inquisitive) mike