i protect my small crop with box traps every year (do about a half acre) if you snap an ear down and put it in the box its better than losing a few rows worth to the animals. we catch alot of possums, skunks, and coons this way as well as groundhogs and rabbits.
i normally release the rabbits unless its looking really tasty. everything else dies.
never had a problem dispatching skunk in the head, i try not to alert them and with the scoped 22 mag this is easy.
the reason the one sprayed was i was out hunting squirrels and had my montgomery ward .410
my friend used to throw bad eggs at his chickens and they would tear them up! and chicken meat too.