Dog 0 Skunk 1

[Scott Donley]

I just hate it when that happens :mad: Any one want to take care of a really nice, but smelly, dog for a few days :)

[Merle Clor]

The acid in either of these will greatly reduce the odor.
Good Luck,
Merle

[Curt Fuller]

It must be the season. Our crippled old worn out 14 year old Golden Retriever stepped outside for 'last call' the other night, was only out there for a minute or two, and got it full on in the face. Crazy thing about it was my wife didn't smell it so she let him in the house and he immediately started rubbing his face on the carpet. The stench brought me out of a deep sleep but my wife still couldn't smell it. We read on the internet that when the smell is so overwelming some people's brain can't handle the rush and it just shuts down their olfactory system. Anyway to make a long story short we've been through the tomato juice, vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, simple green and are waiting for some stuff we ordered online called SCOE 10X. But I have a feeling we'll be replacing carpet.

[Jim O'Dell]

Don't laugh, but our dog friends who have been through this swear by the powdered douche mixed into a paste. Now they used it for the animal and not the carpet, but it might work. Let it dry, vacuum as much as possible, then steam clean thoroughly. The funny story is that the guys in the family were out camping, the dog got sprayed. Call to wife on cell phone told him what to go to town and buy. So here is a guy going through the all night drug stores buying up all the powdered douche mix!! Said he got lots of weird looks.:D Jim.

[Mike Jones NM]

Use woolite. As a long time trapper I could guarantee getting some musk at least once a week. Wash the clothes and shower in it and the odor is gone.

[Mike Lawler]

Skunk spray remover


1 qt 3% hydrogen peroxide
1/4 c baking soda
1-2 tsp liquid dish soap

Mix in open container, allow the solution to remain on hair (or fur in this case) for 5 minutes, then rinse with water.

HTH

[David G Baker]

Skunk spray remover


1 qt 3% hydrogen peroxide
1/4 c baking soda
1-2 tsp liquid dish soap

Mix in open container, allow the solution to remain on hair (or fur in this case) for 5 minutes, then rinse with water.

HTH
Mike,
Your formula has been the one touted to work by the pest control sites.
I have a suspicious odor coming from one of my out buildings and am trying to work up the courage to set my raccoon trap. I have done the research on the net and think that putting a plastic cover over the cage may help protect me if I catch the stinker. Wish me luck.

[Doug Shepard]

...think that putting a plastic cover over the cage may help protect me if I catch the stinker....

We had skunks living in the crawlspace of a nearby vacant house several years ago. Dont recall who told me this, but apparently they wont spray while in the live-trap unless it's a really tall one. Something to do with how high they need to raise up their hindquarters to spray you, or something like that. Anyway - we caught 3 in live traps and released them at a state park. Dont know if the info is accurate, but I'm batting 3 for 3 without getting nuked.

[Scott Donley]

Thanks for the input guys ! I ended up taking him for a long swim in the sound this morning, now he smells like old tennis shoes and dead fish :mad: Believe it or not, that is an improvement :eek: Now, like Curt's dog I can deal with the carpet, luckily only a 7X9 rug.

[David G Baker]

We had skunks living in the crawlspace of a nearby vacant house several years ago. Dont recall who told me this, but apparently they wont spray while in the live-trap unless it's a really tall one. Something to do with how high they need to raise up their hindquarters to spray you, or something like that. Anyway - we caught 3 in live traps and released them at a state park. Dont know if the info is accurate, but I'm batting 3 for 3 without getting nuked.
Doug,
Thanks for the idea of using the smaller cage. I have a smaller cage than the raccoon trap and will give that a try. The small trap is for cat sized critters and a skunk should fit in it just fine and not be able to raise its tail. I will still use a plastic covering just in case. I got some spray on me when I was a kid and the memory lingers on long after the smell goes away.

[Mack Cameron]

Mike,
Your formula has been the one touted to work by the pest control sites.
[quote]I have a suspicious odor coming from one of my out buildings and am trying to work up the courage to set my raccoon trap. David; just be sure to set your trap for the racoon on something off the ground or floor. The racoon will climb up to it. A skunk won't climb, they'll walk up stairs but they won't climb to get up to it. DAMHIKT:rolleyes:

[David G Baker]

Mike,
I have a 4x6 inch pressure treated lumber "T" set in the ground with 2 eye bolts screwed into the top of the "T" and forced through the bottom of the cage wire and an aluminum rod slid through the eye bolts and cage edges. This is the only way I have been able to keep the captured raccoons from destroying things and hurting themselves. I have caught over 20 raccoons in the past few years. Caught a family of eight in the past 12 days. They sure love shelled corn and black sunflower seeds.
Now when it comes to skunks I am a green horn and I thank you for the advice. It is my plan to set the trap at floor level near an opening in the building and baiting the trap with cat food or canned tuna.
I did not know that skunks wouldn't climb but had never heard about them in trees so I made that assumption. I have a lot of opossum but none have been caught in the raccoon cage. As far as I know they haven't caused any problems at my place. If they do, I will learn how to trap them too.

[Greg Narozniak]

Skunk spray remover


1 qt 3% hydrogen peroxide
1/4 c baking soda
1-2 tsp liquid dish soap

Mix in open container, allow the solution to remain on hair (or fur in this case) for 5 minutes, then rinse with water.

HTH

I have used this recipe with success as well as the Tomato juice method. I have read about the Douche and it works as well.

Been there Done that Twice, Not fun.

[Lee Schierer]

Mike,
Your formula has been the one touted to work by the pest control sites.
I have a suspicious odor coming from one of my out buildings and am trying to work up the courage to set my raccoon trap. I have done the research on the net and think that putting a plastic cover over the cage may help protect me if I catch the stinker. Wish me luck.

The formula is reputed to be the best there is by the PA Game Commission. As far as trapping skunks, we had some under a factory building and we hired a local trapper to remove them. He use havahart traps, I forget what he used for bait. When he trapped a skunk, he would cover the trap with an old blanet and then pick up the blanket, trap and skunk, put it in the back of his truck and leave. He said they won't spray unless provoked. Note that in PA it is illegal to trap and transfer skunks! They have to be killed due to the likely hood of rabies.

Skunks can spray without raising their tails, they just get better aim with the tail up. They also don't need their feet on the ground to do it. DAMHIKT. Its a long but funny story.

[Rich Stewart]

Lee, I would like to hear your funny story. Speaking of funny stories: I work at an airport and one day a Coast Guard helicopter reported a dead skunk laying on one of the runways. They told the tower, the tower told operations and operations sent Pat and John out to remove the skunk. Pat, who is a large man, got out of he vehicle and went over and picked up the skunk. Now, apparently, sleeping skunks don't like to be picked up from behind because this skunk let Pat have it in the face. Pat, being sprayed in the face by a skunk, dropped the skunk and turned to run. When he turned he broke his ankle. So, now we have three ambulance attendants trying to load a 360 pound, skunk shot human into an ambulance. I heard the helicopter was bouncing around the sky. Wish I had it on video.

[Lee Schierer]

Lee, I would like to hear your funny story.

When I was a teenager, I was returning from a woodchuck hunt with my Grandfather and my youger brother. As we crossed a recently moved hayfield we spotted a baby skunk moving rapidly across the field. My grandfather said we should catch it because pet shops would pay a nice price for a baby skunk, because they could get it de-scented and then sell it as a pet. Well, no way were we going to pick up that skunk (note we didn't have a bag or box handy either). My grandfather said that if you could pick the skunk up by its tail and get the back feet off the ground it couldn't spray. My brother, being the enterprising sort, always looking for a way to make money, grabbed the young critter by the tail, had all four feet off the ground and then skunk cut loose. My grand father and I were somewhat out of the way but down wind and got partial benefit of the spray. My brother got the most. Size has nothing to do with potency either.

When we got to the house it was dinner time, we tried to wash up, but soap and water just don't cut the scent. We were sniffed out at the dinner table and sent to the entry way to eat our dinner, change our clothes and descent ourselves some more. My boots smelled when they got wet until I out grew them.

[David G Baker]

Well folks, the trap is set and am using cat food for bait.
The skunk smell was not very strong today, it may have left, I will find out in the morning when I check the trap.
The blanket idea sounds like it will be the best way.
Loved the skunk humor. Hope I am not making folks laugh when I check in at SMC in the morning. Wish me luck.

[Leigh Costello]

Good luck catching your skunk!

When I was much younger, my folks were adding on to our house. We had stacked the lumber outside under a tarp and were anxiously waiting to lay the subfloor and start framing the next day. Well...being a bit of a city slicker, and a girl, and a nose for trouble, I got benched. Had to wash dishes and help cook and serve friends and family, etc. Once evening chores had been finished, I wandered outside and climbed up the tarped piled of lumber. Feeling left out, I just sat out there and watched the lightning bugs fly around. Then I smelled a skunk. Then I heard the leaves and grass rustling. Then I got curious. Wrong thing to do. The skunk was not tolerant of my curiosity and let me have it. Now, all you girls out there who had long hair as a kid know what I mean when I say my life was ruined that night. I got shorn faster than a sheep on shearing day and scrubbed with vinagar until the pickles were jealous. And to top it off, I got a new nickname (short-lived thankfully), Stinky Pinky. Oh what a terrible summer after that! :o

[David G Baker]

The trap is empty but the smell is back so I am assuming that the skunk is still visiting. I will give the cat food a day or so before switching to canned tuna.

[Lee Schierer]

The trap is empty but the smell is back so I am assuming that the skunk is still visiting. I will give the cat food a day or so before switching to canned tuna.

I've heard that miniature marshmallows work for bait. you can leave a trail like bread crumbs leading to the trap.

[David G Baker]

Lee,
Thanks for the marshmallow idea. I will check the pantry to see if there are any. The LOML usually hides them from me so there are some left when she wants to use them.

[TYLER WOOD]

The family German Shepherd growing up must have love either the smell or tase of skunks. We had some small canyons just outside our yard extending way out of town (Palo Duro canyon system). She would jump the fence, run into the canyons at night and come back reaking of skunk! It was just about to get rid of the smell when BAM canyon romping again! Almost go tused to the smell for a while. Got to where when she did get sprayed we didn't hurl on her arrival home

[David G Baker]

Well folks the mighty skunk trapper did it. I read all of the advice on SMC, all of what I could glean from several Internet sites and put it into practice. The first night, nothing, last night I got me a critter. After reading all of the horror stories about getting sprayed, I covered the cage with a industrial size trash bag, set the cage in card board box, put it in the back of my pick-up and went for a ride to the state forest. I found a nice secluded spot, parked and removed the covered cage from the card board box. Walked about 20 feet from the truck, set the trap on the ground, unlocked the trap door, hooked a cord to the door and slowly raised the door, ready to run at a moments notice. The critter took off running but it wasn’t black and white, it was gray and white, it was a stray cat that had been hanging around the neighborhood. Back to the drawing board.

[Joe Pelonio]

:eek:

Gotta love that story!!!

[David G Baker]

I am setting the trap again tonight. The skunk odor is stronger than ever. This time I am going to use the mini marshmallows, I doubt that cats will be attracted to them.

[Rick Gibson]

A few years ago we had a lhasa apso (fancy name for musky bait). The wife let it out in the morning and the thing spied a skunk back near the shed and took off like a rocket. Got within a couple feet and the skunk gave it to him right in the face, this dog was so stupid it went back for a second shot before heading to the house. The wife tried a bunch of the usual remedies and after a while she couldn't smell it any more and let the dog in the house. I got home that night and when I walked in the house I almost barfed. Dog spent the next couple weeks living in the shed until the odor finally went away. Never did find anything that really worked.

[David G Baker]

When I was a kid we had a Border Collie that was a serious raccoon dog. One day we were dismantling a small building, a little larger than an out house, as we tipped the building over we saw movement in the dirt under the building. Before we saw what caused the movement our dog ran in and grabbed an adult skunk by the back of the neck and chomped several times on its spine and tossed the body over its head. The dog then grabbed three baby skunks and killed them so fast that we barely saw what was going on. In less than 20 seconds the whole family was dead. I had never seen anything like it before or since. It happened so quick the adult skunk didn't have time to spray.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I had a skunk trapped under a porch stoop in Maine.

Yup trapped.

I couldn't get near to let it out and I couldn't get a clear view for a head shot.

The instant lessons were: (1) rig a way to release a trap remotely with a rope or something and (2) leave yourself a nice vantage point to take head shots in cage type traps.

Anyway the skink didn't die happy and he stank up the place.

Not knowing what else to so I took a gallon of straight bleach and used it in a garden sprayer and treated the trap the area and adjacent wood.

The stink went away.

[David G Baker]

Cliff,
A friend of mine had heard that if you shoot a skunk before it has a chance to spray it will die with out releasing the spray. He found out the hard way that it was one of those Urban legends. He didn't take a direct hit but the building he shot it in probably still stinks 30 years later.
I went to Sam's Club today and purchased 2 large bottles of hydrogen peroxide just in case. I didn't get one last night.
I am rigging up a 12" stainless steel cable that I can use to add a pull rope to when I let the critter go, if I ever catch it.

[Joe Pelonio]

I was telling an old guy about your fun and he says that they will eat
anything, if you have trouble with cats try grubs, fruit, nuts & berries.
Even egg shells and fruit peels will work as bait. Marhsmallows would work except as he says birds especially crows might steal them.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Cliff,
A friend of mine had heard that if you shoot a skunk before it has a chance to spray it will die with out releasing the spray. He found out the hard way that it was one of those Urban legends. He didn't take a direct hit but the building he shot it in probably still stinks 30 years later.

I heard that a head shot will do it. Never tried it.

It may make a difference whether the animal is on alert or pissed when the shot is taken.

I used to have a raccoon problem so I built that trap from an old incinerator and some steel oven racks. When I'd shoot a coon I did it in the trap I used a 22 long hollow point in a bolt action rifle. The coons would glower at me - they were pissed about spending the night in the cage. Then when they held still I'd nail 'em in the head and they critter would slam back and forth in the gage on autopilot for some seconds after they were dead. The violence of the dead critter's motion was amazing.



I went to Sam's Club today and purchased 2 large bottles of hydrogen peroxide just in case. I didn't get one last night.

Does peroxide work?



I am rigging up a 12" stainless steel cable that I can use to add a pull rope to when I let the critter go, if I ever catch it.Good idea.

I wonder if dropping the cage in a barrel of water would kill 'em without the spraying.


On another note:
My neighbor had a family of skunks that played in his back yard. There was a mother and a passel of cubs. She'd escort 'em into the yard to a big rock. The rock has a long sloping side. She'd nudge 'em one at a time up the rock and then show 'em how to slide down. then they'd all play at that.

It was pretty spooky to see what I'd normally consider a mindless lower form critter engage in play and that sort of nurturing.

Now a days I have a hard time killing the critters. I'll do it if they piss me off but, I don't want to.

[Curt Fuller]

Well, I got the SCOE 10X from Biofog (I'm not affilliated with or endorsing them, blah, blah, blah) and it really worked well. After using tomato juice and hydrogen peroxide with baking soda on the mutt he still had a secent if you got up close and personal. But the Scoe 10x stuff seems to have rid both the dog and the house of the scent. It was a little pricey but cheaper than new carpet.

[David G Baker]

Cliff,
The peroxide is an ingredient in a formula to kill the odor.
This formula was posted by Mike Lawler and is one of the more successful formulas from what I have read.
1 qt 3% hydrogen peroxide
1/4 c baking soda
1-2 tsp liquid dish soap
No way am I going to try putting a skunk in a barrel of water. I am to old to play Russian Roulette.

[Bryan Rocker]

Grrrrr, LOML let the dogs out and there was skunk right by the fence. The lab charged it full tilt, the dog lost that one too. Gawd it stinks around here. The formula works like a champ. Now if it would only deoderize the air we would be set........