How does one dispatch a skunk?

Cock, aim, FIRE !!

well, I can tell you what doesnt work.
Dont attempt to use havaheart traps with the idea that , once trapped the skunk wont "let you have it", cuz that is so not right.
We had a skunk family at our place in Delaware, and we wanted to trap them in preparation to sell the house. We figured that the addition of a skunk family that the kids had been feeding and had a truce with--didnt need to be in the FOR SALE ad.
We trapped and trapped, loaded the trap with spicy fried chicken (skunks love spicy fried chicken, take my word. They will plow through a minefield to get their mits on some spicy KFC)

We finally caught one and he was verry pissed. I say he, but I had no idea about its sexual persuasion. He made loud noises sort of like a wolverine in a higher octave.AND- to my surprise, cause I read some of the same crap you did, he shot all over everything and I, recognizing that Id been whupped, used a long pole to open the cage and get out of his way. he came running out of his cage on his front legs. Looked like he was a circus act. This is a verry serious defensive posture, so i quickly ran to the house. took many weeks of fried chicken offerings and parking the cars down near the county road so as not to provide him and his spawn a chance to ambush us from behind a tire.
we sold the place with the skunks still squatting and told the new owners that there were skunks around but weve learned that , if you leave em alone and even feed them, theyll be good neighbors.
The new people had a little yippie rat-like dog, one of those ugly never shut up hyper mutts who bite everybody that hasnt been anointed by their urine.

You're killin' me here, farm...

I've used the havaheart traps before to catch quite a few of the lil stinkers.

Tie a long piece of string/twine (50' or more) to the release and door. Once they were in the trap I used a large sheet of plastic (something like a 16'x20' sheet) and covered the trap and then slowly wrap the plastic all the way around the trap making sure the string is accessible. Once the trap is all wrapped up ya toss it into the back end of a pickup and head out into far off woods.

We'd unwrap the plastic and use the string to open the door and then just wait until they'd clear out of the trap.

There is a dead one on Craven's "Shrubbery" thread.

He seems to have some notion I had something to do with its death, but I didn't. He may be able to tell you how it died, and you could try to repeat whatever the circumstances were.

We don't have skunks in Oz, so I can offer no more advice.

Good luck!

They are quite cute, aren't they? Unless they are worried about something?

A possum pissed in our toaster once, making it bubble vilely and emit a horrid stench when it was turned on.

We thought it was possessed.

My six foot three friend, Richard, with whom I was living at the time, tried to jump into my arms because he was frightened.

We did not eat toast from it again.

Just thought I would share a misfortune with you, to try to make you feel better.

It is sort of odd, isn't it, that a possum would break into your home, apparently with the sole intention of pissing in your toaster, and scaring the crap out of you and your fella, when you were all vulnerable in the morning and such? I mean, it is evidence for an actively malevolent universe, I think.

mmm.. Toaster urine...

'Tain't no good gonna come of that, nohow.

I've had some success with fishin's "Tarp and Trap" method over the years. The preferred bait here is peanut butter (which works well for porcupines, too - and with the quilled ones, the tarp can be forgone). Just as an aside, there is likely no more comical a sight than a usually-imposing 150 pound Rottweiler that has just been full-face skunked from about 2 feet ... the poor critter is stunned and dazed to the point of staggering, the coughing and wretching and rolling and stumbling are at once pitiful and hilarious. An effective post-action remedy is as follows:
mix about 2 or 3 teaspoons of Johnson's Baby Shampoo with a half cup each of 3% hydrogen peroxide (the standard medicine cabinet stuff) and tomato juice. Wipe a good smear of Vick's VapoRub under your nose, thoroughly wet down then lather the dog well with the mixture, rinse, and repeat. Dry the critter fairly well with absorbent rags following the second rinse. Then liberally dust the coat with Arm & Hammer Baking Soda, and allow the unfortunate animal to air-dry overnight (outide, prefferably) before brushing the powdery residue from it. Having had ample opportunity to test many concoctions, potions, and proceedures, I wholeheartedly endorse this one; it works.

You have weird possums in yer neck of the world. I don't think our's have evolved to the point of toaster peeing yet. Perhaps ours are just more bashful and prefer to pee in the great outdoors.

I'm pissing my own toaster I'm laughing so hard...

Thank God I'm NOT a country boy (any more)...

Well, we lived very close to the city centre! All the li'l smeggers need here are a few trees. The brushy-tails are only a bit less common than bluddy rats!

If you know where their hideout is, its pretty simple. (All these guys taking chances...silly boys )
As long as you know there isnt another place they can nest say, under the house or such you wait till nightfall. They come out of the hole at night....plug the hole..they cant get back in...must find new place to hideout...hopefully its over at the neighbors.

And this from a city gal....with skunks however so, eh...what can you do?

This has worked previously however.

It was a live one deb.

Scared the heck out of me when it started pointing its butt at me.

LOL!!!!!!! Maybe I was astral travelling and took over its body?

You was being an insulting god at the time - as I recall!

My neighbours were invaded by a possum who turned on their answering machine and their stereo.

They were sooooooooooooooooo scared! It was the middle of the night, and they were fast asleep in bed!

I did catch a polecat in a havahart once by accident. (I was after 'coon). Approached the trap slowly with a blanket between me and it, and did not get sprayed...

I'm just thinking about picking the trap up, covered, and dropping it in sufficent water... But will a drowning skunk spray?

Now... I could just set the neighbor's dog on it. Stupid dog ate a baby skunk in about two bites once. Dog reeked from within for weeks!

This is a thread about possum possesion?

Talk about personalized ads. I notice that my banner ad for this topic includes a location for buying animal traps. Clever boy.