Killing a skunk without getting sprayed?

sage5907 said:

jmorris, very interesting trap, but to get them out I guess you would stand to the side, lift the door and run before they could back out.

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Would make me less nervous than I was when I made the video in #4.

In my experience, they'll stay in there until nightfall.

Covering trap with tarp/sheet/etc. and dropping in body of water is probably the safest bet if avoiding spray is your #1 goal. However....

Another option you MAY have is shooting it in the head, then quickly putting in a plastic bag before it goes off. I've had success with this in the past. Once out of one skunk, so 100% success rate! Obviously the possibility of this depends on your situation.

I'm skeptical that drowning is actually cruel compared to other options. I've shot vermin even right in the noggin and judging by how long they kick, twitch, etc. I'm not sure death is absolutely instant, or even close to instant. Where do you need to shoot to actually go "lights out" instead of killing the critter by hemorrhaging? If there's .125 inch difference between the two, I'm not sure you could say you have the capability to do it right every time. I've had some that I'm pretty sure would have been faster to drown, at least faster to unconsciousness. I've never drowned, I've panicked underwater though. I've never been shot in the head, so ultimately I can't tell you which one is less painful. I can tell you that unconsciousness seems to come rather quickly to these small(er) animals when drowning, even if it takes another minute or two to actually die. Just some thoughts.

Spinal cord shot right behind the head.. Only real way to 100% insure they don't spray.

There is no 100% way.

Talk about the "pew-pew" life!

One sprayed me. That was okay with the wife. Another sprayed our dogs, several times, that was okay too. Then one sprayed her and then chased her inside. That was not okay apparently. She who rules over my life at that time gave permission to declare war and go on offense. Over the next three years I snipped them, stalked them, attacked them with shotguns blazing in full frontal assaults. I have not seen a skunk around here in a long time.

I have problems every year and they dig the backyard to pieces finding grubs. Tried all methods and the most scentless one is to have a large tote from Wally world set up and full of water. Set up a havaheart style trap with cat food inside, approach with a large sheet in front of you and cover the trap. Pick the trap up by the handle and lower it in the tote, have a stick to keep entire trap submerged until movement stops. Get rid of skunk and reset till no skunks left in your area. Lot of work but only reliable way to deal with them and stay smell free. Good Luck

Mauser lover said:

and judging by how long they kick, twitch, etc. I'm not sure death is absolutely instant, or even close to instant.

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That is the phenomenon know as “dis-inhibition”.

I was off-put by the sight when I began hunting.
They are, absolutely, lights out gone. A 12 gauge decapitation is instantaneously lethal.

When the body is attached to the brain it doesn’t just tell the body to do stuff, the brain also tells the body not to do stuff. Inhibiting twitches and nerve impulse storms, telling your legs not to run even thought your are feeling the adrenaline rush of just shooting quarry.
However, after expiration there is still energy in the muscles and signals being transmitted through the nerves, and, not finding reply from the brain to not do it, the nerves tell the muscles “move”.

Or in this case, spray.

When the body is in full on “get outta here”, when the game is alerted, this can happen more it seems, with brain disconnection or destruction.

But when when bled out, they just “go to sleep” and don’t move anymore.

Of course, no way is a guarantee of the outcome.

And no one likes getting swatted in the face by a halibut that should have been dead for an hour already...


And, yes the tarp/blanket trick works. I let them go, then shoot them.
Over by the crazy horse lady’s house.

If they don’t spray, I shoot them again...

I knew a cop that would shoot them in the neck and sever the spinal cord and claims they wouldn't spray as long as it was a good hit. I know he Clintoned a lot of skunks because their elderly neighbors would feed them table scraps and attracted hundreds of skunks in the 1990s and early 2000s.