Bud Gardner is a fixture in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. The grizzled-yet-affable man has worked for the city for the last 23 years. He’s a jack-of-all-trades for the city government, mending potholes and fixing water lines.
But,as The Gazette reports, many people in town don’t know that Bud’s also a trapper, in the grand Western tradition. In fact, Bud was hired by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife department after the agency discovered he’d been trapping skunks, muskrats and raccoons on his own as a young man.
He traps all kinds of creatures, but skunks take up much of his time. When it comes to skunks, he says, if you see one there more than likely are a dozen more. He has been sprayed so many times he’s lost count. Nevertheless, many see Bud as a sort of skunk whisperer.
“He does a lot of things that nobody is even aware of,” says Bud’s wife. “He just does it.”