[FastCarFan]

Years ago my wife & I began to smell skunk every morning around 5:00. We noticed tracks in the snow heading under our deck (which was very low to the ground).

So we hired an animal trapper to help. He set a live trap baited with 'Nilla Wafer cookies. The next morning we had trapped a skunk.

The trapper suggested setting another trap in case there was more than one. Well, next morning we had another...& another the next morning...& another the next morning. In all we trapped eight skunks! One morning we had trapped a skunk in the trap & there was another skunk on top of it trying to get his buddy out!

We also trapped a squirrel, a racoon & a possum -- I let those out so I wouldn't have to pay the trapper ($40/animal!) to take them away. They took them to some woods where the state had authorized them to release skunks. We joked he took them to a nearby neighborhood & let them loose so they would get more business!

I asked him about his technique. He said he approaches the trap holding a sheet in front of him so the skunk never sees him. He places the sheet over the cage, picks it up & puts it in his truck. He said, "If the skunk doesn't see a threat, it won't spray." I watched him do it once. He said it is trickier letting it out. He rolls back the sheet a bit, opens the cage & runs away.

People asked how we knew we weren't trapping the same skunk over & over. Interestingly they all looked quite different. Wide white stripe, narrow white stripe, two white stripes...one skunk was almost all white.

Ever since my family has called 'Nilla Wafers "skunk food".

A week or so later the owner of the trapping company called my wife to see if we were satisfied with their service. He asked if they even trapped a skunk. My wife replied, "You caught eight!". The guy replied, "That's nothing. There was another house with a large, multi-level deck where we caught 23!" And I thought our "experience" was expensive!

Update: Last night after making my post I took Shelby, our yellow Lab, out for her last time before bed. We have an invisible fence. I walked out with her (wanted to make sure she didn't start barking at something & bother the neighbors late at night). Well, as soon as we got outside I smelled skunk (which thankfully doesn't happen much around this house)! Our backyard is pretty dark so I couldn't see much. Thankfully, she quickly did her business & came back inside -- it was not one of those evenings where she had to sniff/explore every single inch of our yard looking for the perfect place to do you know what. But I thought it was ironic to smell skunk after becoming involved in this skunk "discussion".