Watch out skunks, we are back at it again! It's time for our fall trapping season. We opened our traps last night, and the skunks delivered! At least one did. SG-006 went after a tasty midnight cup of sardines and walked into one of our Tomahawk traps. Just like he was supposed to, he stepped on the treadle and closed the trap gate, so Ben could find this face looking back at him during morning trap checks.
You'll notice that the trap doesn't look like how we left it the previous night. He's knocked all the bark off the top of the trap, and he's pulled in a bunch of the burlap to make himself a nice nest inside the Tomahawk trap (which you can't see from this angle).
He was a whopping 725 g! One of our biggest we've caught to date. You'll notice in this picture that his antenna does not look the same as when we first put the radio-collar on him. Because these animals burrow during the day, they can do some damage to the antennas. They squeeze into some really tight spaces, which means that they rub the antennas against rocks, dirt, roots, and branches on a daily basis. Sometimes, the antennas will almost be completely missing from all the wear and tear they put on them. This antenna is missing the plastic coating that provides some protection to the antenna. Once the antenna breaks off, it becomes very difficult to track the animal. The radio signal will only travel a short distance before it becomes so feint that it doesn't register on our receivers.
Now that Alex is back at school, the crew is down to 3 people.
