Wednesday, January 28, 2009

NEW JOB DISCRIPTION....SKUNK WRANGLER

Actually John is getting more experience than I am. We caught one skunk Monday night in the back yard. When John went over to shut up the chickens, we found another one behind the nesting boxes. So we gathered up the chickens, we only have 7 hens & Rowdy the rooster, thank goodness, & put them in the garage for the night. Set the trap & sure enough, yesterday morning we had caught another one.

This is a good way to move a skunk, if you don't want to get sprayed. They won't spray if you cover the trap with a blanket. So John hauled him about 1/4 mile away close to the San Pedro river. When we let the 1st one out it was dark, we opened the trap & it took off. This time it was daylight, with a close proximity to the golf cart. You can guess where this story is going............!!!!

The golf cart looked like a nice dark place to hide, & away he went. John thought that might not be a good idea, got a stick & poked him. It wasn't a full blown spray, but he did let loose enough to let John know he would prefer to be left alone. John agreed, & walked back home. We finished chores, took the quad down & retrieved our smelly golf cart & hay wagon.





Came home took the chickens back to their pen & life goes on. John went over to shut them up last night & there was a skunk running around in the empty pen. Same scenario as the night before, including moving the chickens to the garage, except I had run out of brisket fat & had to resort to tuna salad as bait.


This morning we had another little guest, & evidence where some of his close friends had tried to dig him out of his prison. So we think that probably means, tonight will be a replay of the last 2 nights.

We're becoming such good wranglers & seem to have an almost endless supply of hooded skunks, we're going to borrow another trap & set 2 each night instead of one.

Just got a call from the vet office & they are going to be out in our area & want to come by to draw the blood from Judy Mule for her Cushings retest. That will save us having to haul her into the office again. Right now she is still pretty lame on her left front. I soaked her foot yesterday morning & last night she was walking good. But this morning she is lame again. Which pretty much sounds like a hoof abscess. I poked & prodded when I soaked her yesterday, but couldn't find any place that was sore. I'll soak her again today, but this time I might wrap her foot with some drawing salve & hopefully if it is an abscess it will open & stay open to drain.

4 comments:

montanasmama said...

If you really want to live trap and relocate those skunks you need to move them at least 15 miles away! Have fun! LOL..........Leslie

Tish said...

Oh! great! I told John last night we should start spraying them with paint to see if they are coming back. But we couldn't decide who was going to spray the paint.......!!! At least with rattlesnakes, you don't have to take them very far.

montanasmama said...

15 miles was what the DNR told me when I was trapping skunks and raccoons. I never had one try to spray when it was in the trap. You could use some spray sheep marker; but if you don't take them way far away they will come right back.

Tish said...

We've got another one this morning, but we knew there was at least one other one running around. The idea of taking one 15 miles with the golf cart doesn't sound like fun. And having one in the van for a road trip doesn't sound like much fun either. (G) This is one reason we're never bored I guess.