If you take the pellet gun route do not overlook the RWS brand. Mine goes through both sides of a plastic laundry detergent bottles at 25 yards and is very accurate. I am also thinking of picking up a can that can screw onto any of my 22's I like the idea of it being multi-tasking..............
...good idea...once you've jumped through the legal hoops and spent a bit of money...I'd love to have one on a 10/22 someday...I'd rather use one that clamped on rather than have to pay to have the barrel threaded...
Not sure how effective a conventional silencer is on a typical springer airgun. Most of the noise comes from the receiver, not the muzzle.
And the high-powered ones are just over supersonic.
Best bet would be a .22 airgun with a pro tune job ($100), possibly followed with the addition of a can.
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“Sometimes there is no alternative to uncertainty except to await the arrival of more and better data.” C. Wunsch
depends on the muzzle velocity
if its subsonic then it could work.
But you have to allow for some spread in the can, so the bore has to be opened up which reduces effectiveness.
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“Sometimes there is no alternative to uncertainty except to await the arrival of more and better data.” C. Wunsch
If you get a rifle that shoots .22 shorts as well as long rifle, you can get what are called "CB Caps" for the lowest noise, or you can actually get a "CB Long", but they will not cycle an automatic action. These rounds usually have no powder as a propellant, and use just the discharge from the primer to propel the bullet. In a rifle you'll get 500 feet per second, and I've killed many a squirrel with them, so I know they'll dispatch a skunk.
I like CB caps. I can get about 2 dozen in the mag tube of my old Stevens bolt rifle, and spit them out accurately until I get bored with it.
The only sounds you hear are the click of the firing pin and the thunk of the bullet.
Work that silky-smooth bolt and repeat.
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“Sometimes there is no alternative to uncertainty except to await the arrival of more and better data.” C. Wunsch
Aguila also makes the Super Colibri, which is about like a CB cap, but in a .22LR form factor. They shoot pointy little 20grainers somewhere between 450 and 600fps (depending on your barrel). I know folks who use them on squirrels quite successfully. Out of a rifle barrel, they're really quiet.
My father in law gave me a box and he uses them for opossums in his dove pen. He swears by them.
"I am a Free Man, regardless of what set of 'rules' surround me. When I find them tolerable, I tolerate them. When I find them obnoxious, I ignore them. I remain free, because I know and understand that I alone bear full responsibility for everything I do, or chose not to do."
Colibris are great rounds! I use them to dispatch rats in the back yard (they like to hang out under my deck) with my AR-7. I've also introduced them to the president of the HOA, and he loves them too! "That's it?? Oh man these are cool!!" Not so sure I'd try to tackle a big skunk with them though.
We've had a terrible skunk problem here for the last couple years. 3 neighbors and I have been responsible for getting rid of 25 of them. Two of the neighbors have shot them (.22 pistol and 12ga) and so far without attracting police attention. The rest we trapped. Our town will euthanize them since our county has a history of rabies in skunks. We can call animal control the first thing in the morning, when we discover that we've had a successful night with the trap. They are here within a couple of hours afterward. They have a pretty nice setup with a syringe on the end of a stick but I doubt that the rest of us could get the "blue juice" to go in it.
A trick is to put the trap behind a cardboard barricade about 3 feet high. That way, they cannot see someone approaching. Their eyesight isn't that good anyway. We haven't had anyone sprayed, at least not yet. I cut extra holes in the wire in the top of the trap so that the animal control folks can get their pole into the cage. I suspect that you can do the same with a gun barrel though once they are in the trap, they are pretty active.
I saw a neat video where a guy built a cardboard case that fit right down over the top of the trap. He loaded it into the back of a pickup. I'm not sure I'd be that brave.
Just be extremely cautious if you decide to shoot a skunk to dispatch it. Unless you get a hit in the nervous system and take it out immediately, there is a high probability that they will spray. Don't ask me how I know.
Keith
Texas LTC Instructor, Missouri CCW Instructor, NRA Certified Pistol, Rifle, Shotgun Instructor and RSO, NRA Life Member
"That's it?? Oh man these are cool!!" 
Not so sure I'd try to tackle a big skunk with them though.
