First skunk of the summer.

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davelarson

Member
Feb 11, 2019
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Montana, United States
Last night I got a skunk with the .25 and I used the heart shot because I had heard that they don’t spray if shot there. It worked well, there was a little bit of spray, but almost gone this morning! I have a huge skunk problem every spring and in the last 5 years have had to shoot nearly 30 of them. Out of all those only two didn’t spray. All were good head shots, but still it was like breathing pepper spray afterwards. It will be interesting to see how it works with the other ones, I will definitely be using the heart shot. Seems pretty humane as well, it only got 4 feet from the bait and died quickly. They den up under the buildings here and have litters. Big problem if you have a curious dog!!

Mod edit: moved to Hunting section. Please respect the rules.
 
If you have a huge skunk problem you probably have a huge mice/rat/snake problem too. Skunks are stinky, but they eat other pests.
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I saw a skunk and a feral cat arguing over who would get a dead gopher I threw out in the alley. The skunk won carrying off his prize. He never sprayed the cat but let him know he would.

I have found no reliable shot placement that will guarantee they won't spray when shot even with a powder burner. Spine shots close to the tail while not quick kills do seem to work most of the time. If they can't raise their tail they can't spray. I trap them anymore and transport them to a good place to kill them which for me is near where several Great Horned Owls hangout. They will eat them usually.
 
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I shot one right in the bung hole once that had it's tail raised and was fixing to try and spray me. It must have broken it's spine since it's tail dropped and it dragged itself off to die at my neighbor's property. He's got a bunch of out buildings they like to inhabit. I wish that would happen more often. Getting rid of them after the kill is a real PITA. Trapping is not much better.

I built a skunk specific trap a few years ago when they started to proliferate. It's a 6" PVC pipe about 4' long with a trap door on one end and a grate on the other. Once trapped they can't lift their tail and won't spray until they get released if they even do then. They are remarkably calm in the trap. I can release them from as far away as the rope that trips the catch is, about 50'.
 
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Interesting about the great horned owls, I heard they are one of the few animals that can eat skunks. Supposed to be that they don’t smell the stink. I used my Crown .25 at about 17 yards. I’m going to order some short poly mags that will fit the magazine. Those should be better than the JSB 25.39 I would think. I’ll post about the next time I deal with another one, hopefully it’ll be like this time.
 
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The skunk trap sounds like a good idea. In fact I think that I’ll try and alter the bait station so that the skunk has to enter a narrow tube with bait near the end. But block the end with a couple wires so they couldn’t get the bait from the end. If you did it right you could take the shot while skunk is in tube, just place the wires so they wouldn’t be in the way of the pellet. That would be great, just pour out the dead skunk into the hole and fill in! 
 
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My dad, 76 years old, is a skunk killing specialist. He lives in a neighborhood and has been having skunk problems for 20 years. He has tried every pellet gun I have ever owned dating back to my 1983 Webley Vulcan. His no spray, don’t tick off the neighbors method is a fast shooting .177, round nose or pointed pellet, liver shot. He says they don’t even know they are hit and just wobble off, never to be seen again. He said my .22 and .25 just smack them too hard, alarming them. Head shots with those guns was no different than a .177. It was a roll off the dice if they would spring a leak. He has my BSA .177 at his house and isn’t giving it up so that was my excuse years ago to buy a TX200 for a skunk or two a year. He will be calling me in a week or two to refill the gun because my mom told me he has been slinging lead. She operates the lights at night for the old sniper.
 
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