That's not what I wanted to catch!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Last night while cutting the lawn I spotted a woodchuck, and saw it run back to its nice hole in the ground. Since my wife and my neighbor, both avid gardeners, have had trouble with woodchucks raiding their vegetables in the past, I was elected to eliminate the varmint. I got out the havahart trap (note, I do not actually have a heart, that woodchuck’s going to the big burrow in the sky once I get him), baited it with some lettuce and watermelon, and set it out about 10 feet from the hole.

This morning, I looked out the window and was elated to see that the trap had been sprung, and something was inside. My spirits were quickly dampened though, when I saw the black and white fur on the creature. Yup, I caught a skunk. I pointed it out to my daughters, and told them I’d have to figure out a way to let the skunk go. For the record, all of them were more worried about the skunk than me, and two of them thought it would be funny if I got sprayed.

When I got outside, I saw that the damn thing had somehow rotated the trap 180 degrees, which would make releasing it even more difficult - on this trap the bars to open the doors are on one side, and this side was now fairly inaccessible to me with the long stake I was trying to use. After some tumbling about, I managed to get the door open, and the skunk slowly walked out. It initially lifted its tail, but then ambled off, looking for a place to hide out for the day.

Oh, and some pictures of the skunk in the trap.

2

[QUOTE=muldoonthief]
Last night while cutting the lawn I spotted a woodchuck, and saw it run back to its nice hole in the ground. Since my wife and my neighbor, both avid gardeners, have had trouble with woodchucks raiding their vegetables in the past, I was elected to eliminate the varmint. I got out the havahart trap (note, I do not actually have a heart, that woodchuck’s going to the big burrow in the sky once I get him), baited it with some lettuce and watermelon, and set it out about 10 feet from the hole.

This morning, I looked out the window and was elated to see that the trap had been sprung, and something was inside. My spirits were quickly dampened though, when I saw the black and white fur on the creature. Yup, I caught a skunk. I pointed it out to my daughters, and told them I’d have to figure out a way to let the skunk go. For the record, all of them were more worried about the skunk than me, and two of them thought it would be funny if I got sprayed.

When I got outside, I saw that the damn thing had somehow rotated the trap 180 degrees, which would make releasing it even more difficult - on this trap the bars to open the doors are on one side, and this side was now fairly inaccessible to me with the long stake I was trying to use. After some tumbling about, I managed to get the door open, and the skunk slowly walked out. It initially lifted its tail, but then ambled off, looking for a place to hide out for the day.

Oh, and some pictures of the skunk in the trap.
[/QUOTE]

FWIW, we used to cover it with a blanket to calm the skunk down and minimize any spray should it… errr… “go off”.

Last time I tried to catch a woodchuck in my yard, I ended up with a possum instead. Had never seen one around my house before. I opened the cage and it just waddled away.

3

So, you are saying you didn’t get sprayed? Not even a little bit? Maybe you got a few nervous skunk drippings on your hands while cleaning the trap?

4

You can keep the skunk but I’m envious of your border rocks, granidiorites perhaps? How nice to be in a locale famous for glacial erratics.

5

[QUOTE=lieu]
You can keep the skunk but I’m envious of your border rocks, granidiorites perhaps? How nice to be in a locale famous for glacial erratics.
[/QUOTE]

If “granidiorites” is Latin for “really frakking heavy for their size, especially when you don’t even give a damn for all these borders, but your gender-induced upper body strength makes you the logical person to move them around”, then yes, they are. We’ve got a huge pile of them left if you want to drive up and take some.

And actually, it’s not as nice as you think when you’ve got to dig a hole for the tree someone brought home to be planted (that g-i. u.b.s. again) and the ground is pervaded with rocks head-sized and larger.

6

You complain about the rocks, but I guarantee you you’re going to have a tougher time with that woodchuck. It’s one critter that actually deserves that tiresome “nuke it from orbit” line.

7

[QUOTE=muldoonthief]
Oh, and some pictures of the skunk in the trap.
[/QUOTE]

Polekitteh! Sque-ak-ak-kaf-kaf.

When you say it like that, it’s clearly a medical condition.

8

I worked with a guy in Oregon who had what amounted to a clan of skunks living under a shed; for a while, he trapped at least one a day with the same style trap the OP used. He claimed he had never captured a skunk that would spray while in such a trap; I took his word for it.