box trap stinks of skunk :(

[Use Less]

I loaned my box trap to my BIL. They had a skunk tearing up their yard. Now I need it for a woodchuck trying to move in under my shed. I picked it up today, and came close to being sick from the stink in my SUV.

He should have tried harder to clean it, imo. 

But the question is, will that scent warn other critters off, so that my trap is now useless?? Anything I can do to freshen it? It sure isn't going back in the garage. 

[feather]

I asked Trapper. (Trapper is the second mr feather, lol) He says that woodchucks and skunks sometimes live in the same hole and the stink of a skunk will not scare off the woodchuck.

To remove the smell, a bucket of water, add vinegar, lemon juice, baking soda, mix, and use a scrub brush on the trap, then rinse.

[christie]

Skunks often move into holes dug by woodchucks. Which is why removing said woodchuck is necessary!

[mogal]

I'm so glad we have a wire live trap. SO glad.

When we first moved here, there was a mama skunk raising 4 kits under our back porch. I saw mama out foraging even during broad daylight which unnerved me. I thought skunks were nocturnal unless sick and my first thought was rabies. As luck would have it, I knew the conservation agent who worked at the dept's area east of us so I called him. He told me to flood the area which would run mama and her kits out. I did that while I waited for him to bring me a live trap. He put it at the edge of the hole then we chatted a while out in the front yard. He told me to call him back if/when we caught her because he would remove trap and contents if necessary--he knew how to read their behavior to protect himself from their spray. They couldn't all fit in that trap even if the first ones didn't trip the trigger, regardless. At that point, I didn't know it was more than one skunk. So, when I went back there, I was intent on the hole--never noticed mama and 4 almost full grown kits staring at me. I called his office again, they called him on his radio and he came back and chased them away with the garden hose. He said they might come back but wouldn't reoccupy the hole since it was so wet. Fine. DH had a meeting that night so I went for a swim (our pool has since collapsed, doggone it) only to come up on the end nearest the house to see the skunks. I had a flush of bravery so got the hose and sprayed them again. They left and never came back. Thank goodness. We've had woodchucks under the porch since then and on one occasion, one of the Pyrs we had at the time tangled with it. Such a noisy fight, you would not believe.

Good luck getting the smell out of it. Too bad you didn't have a rope and a luggage rack to lash the trap to on the way home. I don't even think buck in rut smell compares to it. Yuck.