2017-2018 Species Log

Re: 2017-2018 Species Log

Postby SpinnerMan » Wed Feb 07, 2018 4:19 pm

Rick wrote:Just looking at that, much less figuring out how to set up and operate something similar makes my head hurt. But congrats on the skunk. Or was it a buddy's...

He was under my front porch. I actually trapped him, but I felt like freaking Elmer Fudd after Bugs Bunny before I finally got him.

How hard could it be to trap a skunk? It was getting embarrassing before I finally got him.

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Re: 2017-2018 Species Log

Postby aunt betty » Wed Feb 07, 2018 8:08 pm

How hard is it to trap a skunk in Illinois? EASY!
You make a dirt set or any type of set and use bait. Cat food or guts from a bird you shot pretty much any kind of meat bait and you will catch a skunk. How do I know?
Learned the hard way to not use bait.

A good dirt set done right and you can target foxes or coyotes depending on trap placement.
That's a whole lot tougher. Takes a while to quit catching skunks. The first time you get sprayed gets you thinking a whole lot harder about how to not let it happen again.

It takes a good week for the smell to get off you.
I've heard that it's incredibly stupid to fuck around with a crazy man's head.
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Re: 2017-2018 Species Log

Postby Rick » Thu Feb 08, 2018 7:35 am

When my pigeon loft was in the country, I caught them pretty regularly in the live trap I kept set by its door. Was tickled to find that the grown ones couldn't get their tails cocked to squirt when transported in my trap - and not at all tickled to find the young ones could.
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Re: 2017-2018 Species Log

Postby SpinnerMan » Thu Feb 08, 2018 9:39 am

He dug a hole under my front porch (just a big concrete slab).

1. Filled in the hole when he was out at night. - He dug back in.

2. Put about a 6 x 2 piece of wire mesh over the hole with some cinder blocks - he dug up about half of my flower bed to get back under the porch. :evil:

3. Got a poison smoke bomb like you use for groundhogs and such, tossed it in the hole, filled it with dirt and sealed it up, covered it with boards and cinder blocks - he was dug out next morning. :shock: I saw some smoke leaking out, I know the bomb worked. I have no clue how it did not at least asphyxiate him.

4. Got a skunk sized conibear, had to dig up enough of my flower bed to be able to set it below ground, set it right in front of the hole, covered it over with some plywood so I wouldn't catch the neighbors cat or dog (the reason it had to be below ground). Didn't want to go this route because I didn't want him to stink up my house, but at this point I am desperate. Lift the plywood and he had squeezed out along the side without going through the trap and dug out :roll: :o At this point, I'm thinking this skunk is invincible.

5. Rearranged the trap a little, put some sticks to block him from squeezing out between the concrete and the trap again, put the plywood back over it. Next morning, no skunk aroma. I figured I was thwarted again. But nope finally success :thumbsup:

aunt betty wrote:How hard is it to trap a skunk in Illinois?
This one was one determined and one tough skunk. It's when you don't want to catch one that they are easy.

Rick wrote:I caught them pretty regularly in the live trap I kept set by its door. Was tickled to find that the grown ones couldn't get their tails **** to squirt when transported in my trap - and not at all tickled to find the young ones could.


The only dog I have ever had that got skunked, got skunked in my back yard. When the skunks dig under my fence, I trap and relocate them before I fix the hole they created. They are free if they stay in the front yard, but once they bust into the back yard, they have violated the Bunny Peace Treated of 2005, and their punishment is relocation to the coyote friendly park down the road on the way to work. I'd let the dog out in the morning and if I heard her bark at a bunny in the trap, I'd go out and grab the trap quick and put the terrified bunny in the back of my truck for transport.

One morning I let the dog out, and I head upstairs when I hear barking. I hustle down so the bunny is not tormented too much. I round the corner of the house :shock: That's a funny looking bunny. While he couldn't get his tail up to spray, he still did his best with the big Chessie giving him hell from a few inches away. Boy did I have fun getting him out of my fenced in back yard without getting skunked. Thankfully I have a long push pole for my boat. He was a catch and release. They don't get logged in the kill sheets.

Glad for the fenced in back yard because the dog was not coming back in the house :lol:
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Re: 2017-2018 Species Log

Postby aunt betty » Thu Feb 08, 2018 9:59 am

The very first time I took my first lab to a walk-in hunt he took off on me after a cat. Long gone.
I got lost and wandered around for quite some time. Actually ended up in Allenville in someone's back yard. They had a pond. LOL
I was young, dumb, and totally inexperienced.
Then as I was trying to find myself after the sunrise I turned around and there he was but something did not look right about his fur. I was happy to find the dog so went over to give him a hug and pet him. EWW EWW skunk sprayed dog.

I was driving a brand-new truck that day and it started raining. Did not have the nerve to make the poor dog ride in the bed in pouring rain for two hours so he rode in the cab with me depite his skunkiness.
The point that I'm trying to make is that skunk smell does not rub off onto other things. The truck was fine.


Blackie was his name. Got him from Elvis' son at the trailer park I lived in. (I swear the kid looked exactly like Elvis) $25-dog. Blackie was one hell of a dog. He pointed pheasants, chased rabbits around in circles so I could shoot them and he'd swim a mile to go get a goose. He almost never lost a bird and would dive and swim underwater to get them. Once we took him to Turkey Run and was tossing rocks into Sugar Creek. (skipping stones) It's all rocks. That dog would dive and come back with THE SAME ROCK that I'd just thrown. AMAZING!
All my dogs are rock dogs. Blackie hardly ever had to have rocks thrown because he marked like perfectly. Dogs are a whole lot smarter than we think.

Rock dog defined: a rock dog is one where if you toss a rock the dog will swim that line. Once a duck was in a bad spot. ICE everywhere and the dog had to swim a certain route. Accomplished by tossing rocks where I wanted him to swim to. When he arrived at that point another rock. He'd go right where I put the rock.

Milo is a rock dog too but nothing like old Blackie was. Not even close. He will not fetch rocks and sticks. Ducks, geese and training dummies only. He will refuse. He did fetch a crow they shot. I was mad as hell because it was not dead and almost pecked his eye out. Try stopping a dog in mid-fetch.
I've heard that it's incredibly stupid to fuck around with a crazy man's head.
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Re: 2017-2018 Species Log

Postby SpinnerMan » Thu Feb 08, 2018 11:24 am

aunt betty wrote:Try stopping a dog in mid-fetch.

Better trainers than me can do that.

aunt betty wrote:The point that I'm trying to make is that skunk smell does not rub off onto other things. The truck was fine.
I will take your word for it, but I'm not going to test it.

aunt betty wrote:Blackie was his name.
That was the name of the beagle we had when I was a kid. This dog was retarded. We tried everything to get him to chase bunnies, but absolutely no luck. He had another beagle run a bunny almost right over top of him one day. Nothing. We got my first Chessie when blackie was maybe 10 or 12. We took him along when we would go. One day he starts baying with his nose to the ground like he is trailing something. Yep, the old dog finally learned his new trick. Actually saw the bunny he was tracking. He was way to slow at this point to be useful, but he was definitely doing what beagles do. Only a decade too late. :lol:
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Re: 2017-2018 Species Log

Postby Rick » Sat Feb 17, 2018 7:47 am

Crap! Now see I omitted scaup from the season total's species list, which should read:

2017-2018 Regular Season Totals:[/b]

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks - 5

Blue-winged Teal - 60

Canvasbacks - 2

Gadwall - 26

Green-winged Teal - 218 (1 banded)

Mallards - 191

Mottled Ducks - 15 (2 banded)

Pintails - 48

Redheads - 1

Ringnecks - 64

Scaup - 14

Shovellers - 69

Wigeon - 3

Wood Ducks - 19

Speckle-bellied Geese - 9 (1 banded)

2017-2018 Regular Season Totals - 735 ducks (3 banded) and 9 geese (1 banded)


2017-2018 All Inclusive Total - 893 birds (4 banded)
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