Lil' Stinker (my lil' happy ending story)

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

We had seen some fresh holes and a big woodchuck living under our small barn next to my tomato garden. We put out a Have-a-Heart trap next to my garden with some apple in it, and the next day we had our Chucky. We drove him way out into some expansive wild (unfarmed) fields and released him. Two weeks later we saw another one moved in. Again we set the trap with apple, and again got the new woodchuck and drove him far away to release. Then last week DH found a little red squirrel in the trap we reset and opened the door and shooed him out.
Just to be sure, we set the trap again yesterday with more apple.

This morning I went to check it and found....
Attachment 4116

Lil' Stinker!!!

This presented a problem....you can't really grab a trap with a skunk in it and throw it in your car and drive around.

We decided to simply release him again so he could go home, wherever that might be. We don't have dogs in our yard that might attack the skunk and get sprayed, so that does not present a problem, and the skunk will not bother my garden much. They mostly just come out at night and are pretty shy.
So DH and I got a big blue tarp that we held in front of us as a shield- we slowly approached the trap, holding the tarp up in front of us, and then gently laid the tarp over it and tucked it in all around as a spray barricade precaution. We had heavy gloves on. Working from behind, we opened one end of the tarp where the door was and used a long metal hook to unhook the trap door and then hooked it open. Stinky remained calm while we moved slowly and quietly.
Now the trap is open with tarp covering part of it. Stinky keeps looking around with his pretty sparkling eyes and his twitching pink nose, but is he trying to stay hidden in the far closed end of the trap where he has tarp cover and feels safe. His fur is very glossy and beautiful. I know that tonight he will venture on out on his own to continue his little stinky life journey.

Needless to say, I think we won't set the trap again until we see another woodchuck.