anyone know how to trap an skunk or maybe bait it into the open, so i'm not shooting in the farm yard where i might get a ricochete and hit a building or horse?

you can trap them useing sardines for bait ; but when you catch him you gonna have a stink on your hands.the only way to get him out of your live trap is put it into the creek till he drowns and the smell is washed away.
you may use them to lure him into the opening???

i have no intention of handling them. The purpose of the trap is so that i don't have to stay out and wait for the bloody thing and shoot at it in the dark when i can't see through my scope. I would trap it, shoot it in the morning, then dump it in the windbreak far far away.

I too have a skunk that comes into my yard at night digging for grubs. I am not going to trap it or anything. What I am going to do is shoot it out my window in the head with my pellet gun or maybe the .22 with some CBN shorts that ought to do it.

FWIW every skunk I've ever shot in the head sprayed. I've heard if you shoot in the lungs they don't spray most of the time.

shot high

even a lung shot skunk will spray, there really isn't any good way to shoot a skunk without it spraying. The best way to catch and kill a skunk without making a huge stink is to catch it in a live trap, use a smaller live trap that the skunk can't stand up in, they have to stand up to spray well. Leave the trap in a cardboard box and bait with sardines or a can of tuna, when you catch the skunk leave it in the cardboard box. Take a piece of metal flex hose, like is on a dryer, and run it from your tailpipe of your truck to a whole cut into the box, let your truck run for a half hour or so and come back. The skunk will just got to sleep and never wake up, carbon monoxide poisoning. They still might spray a little bit but it won't be nearly as bad as if you shoot them or leave them in a position that they can stand up in. I have used this method several times, works like a charm.

I have shot skunks quite a few times, and I have found that they generally don't spray if you are quiet and shoot them 10 times in the lungs from about 50 yards away. I also have found that shooting them with a 12 gauge and 2 shot 6 times from about the same distance and leaving them there works too. Anyone ever wonder why everything else can get out of you traps, but skunks can't? Go for the lungs.

Use a double spring 220 connibear trap

Not to say jersey doesnt know what he's saying, but DON'T use a 220 connibear, I've caught plenty more than one skunk in these while coon trapping, and majority of them weren't dead....well they looked dead until i got SPRAYED! Then the guns come out. I don't want to sound unproffessional about this, but I would "stick to my guns" on this one.

sounds good to me. I rather not make a trap unless i need too. guns solve so many problems.