unwanted guest

[FourBee]

 [

b]If you've got a skunk in your backstop, I recommend a lot of gasoline and a long trail and a match.[/b]

Now that could be exciting !  

[Foxxtrot]

take a five gallon bucket, some gasoline, and fifteen tennis balls.

gas and tennis balls in five gallon bucket.

soak for five minutes

toss a rag with some gas in the hole and lite it

pour the five gallon bucket into hole

those flaming tennis balls will reach the bottom of the burrow for sure

wait for on fire rodent....bump fire with AR15 into rodent

[FourBee]

pour the five gallon bucket into hole
Huh-Uhhh !@   That fire would find the bucket before you could say don't do it and WHooosh !!!

[blind ear]

Work from an upwind approach. Shot one in the south end once. The cloud of magic mist was comeing right at me. The way I was parked on the pond levy to take the shot, I couldn't get out of the way. Poor forethought and preperation. eddieghr

[torpedoman]

take a five gallon bucket, some gasoline, and fifteen tennis balls.

gas and tennis balls in five gallon bucket.

soak for five minutes

toss a rag with some gas in the hole and lite it

pour the five gallon bucket into hole

those flaming tennis balls will reach the bottom of the burrow for sure

wait for on fire rodent....bump fire with AR15 into rodent

Hey hold my beer and watch this trick.

[rex6666]

this is getting way too exciting for me.

[Dee]

I don't know how many skunks I've caught in live traps, and hauled off for vaccination.
I learned a long time ago, if you move slow to the trap, you can cover it with something like an ole horse blanket, and the darkness will calm the skunk to where you can easily move it.
The haul him off, open the cage, take the blanket slowly off, back off, and have the vaccination apparatus ready on his or her exit of the trap.
Don't vaccinate the skunk while he or she is in the trap. It ruins the trap.

[mechanic]

I don't know how many skunks I've caught in live traps, and hauled off for vaccination.
I learned a long time ago, if you move slow to the trap, you can cover it with something like an ole horse blanket, and the darkness will calm the skunk to where you can easily move it.
The haul him off, open the cage, take the blanket slowly off, back off, and have the vaccination apparatus ready on his or her exit of the trap.
Don't vaccinate the skunk while he or she is in the trap. It ruins the trap.

Not that I'm doubting ya', but I'd rather bare hand a coon than mess with a skunk.  My grand dad used to tell me you could catch and hold a bumble bee and it wouldn't sting as long as you held your breath.......

[Dee]

Well I hate to tell ya, but I don't think I'd buy the bumble bee either either, but a skunk is not that big a deal in a live trap. You just have to work slow. Ask any trapper, and he'll tell ya the same thing I did. They are very much like a house cat and you can also accomplish the same thing squirtin him with a water hose, if you have one. I prefer the former rather than the later if I HAVE TO deal with one in a trap.

[FourBee]

They are very much like a house cat

That's the way it is here in SE Oklahoma with what we call Pole Cats, or Civit Cats.  They look similar to a harmless abandoned baby skunk. Will follow you like a little pet, and usually won't spray as long as you are gentle with it.

[Elijah Gunn]

Well, I'm embarrassed to tell you guys how my situation turned out. No, I did not get sprayed, because there was no skunk. This morning I put a gopher bomb in the hole, and covered it. I gave it awhile to fumigate the hole, and when I took the cover off I finally got a good enough look into it to see that it was only about a foot deep into the dirt.
I had a fiberglass stick,it's about 5/16" in dia. and about 4ft. long that I was poking down the hole with. Anyway, when I pushed it into different places in the backstop,I could feel what have to be some air pockets. So my best guess as to what happened is that the hole appeared when the little bit of dirt that was keeping it hidden eroded away. I know it wasn't from bullets chewin their way through the dirt because it was too high up from where the targets are hung.
I'm glad it wasn't a skunk because they are really good at getting rid of yellow jacket nests that are in the ground. So the critters do serve a purpose.
Thanks again for all the advice, and telling your stories.

[FourBee]

I'm glad it wasn't a skunk because they are really good at getting rid of yellow jacket nests that are in the ground. So the critters do serve a purpose.

I've heard that too.   It's said that a skunk will find a yellowjackets nest, scratch it up some, and turn around waving its tail over the hole, and the yellowjackets will swarm the tail getting all tangled in it.  Then the skunk will go lay down and pull them critters out of his tail and eat'em. Elijah; you're the only other person I know of that's attested to it, so maybe it is true after all.
4B

[mechanic]

Well I admit, I'm a mite disappointed.  I was hoping for an exciting sequel to this story.  Couldn't you at least pull a badger out of that hole?

[littlecanoe]

Hey EG,
Here is something that would work!  Maybe a bit pricey but it looks like a well thought out "tool".

http://www.rodentblaster.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrGnW0KLFZk

[Dee]

Technically skunks do eat yellow jackets but, it is actually the larvae in the nest that they are after in the underground nests.
If one has ever actually looked at the business end (tail end) of a skunk, I think one would quickly realize, that it would not be a good idea for the skunk to point his rear end into the swarm of angry yellow jackets, as his butt (rectum and ejection port from the scent gland), would definitely pucker from the stings. It would be much wiser for the skunk to  cover his rear with his tail to protect it.

[mirage1988]

Dee-
 You got waaaay too much time on your hands

[williamlayton]

Dee is SEMI-retired and like all of the rest of us retired folks---we got the time.
Blessings

PS---Dee
        Sorry for the poor pun.
Bill