skunks

[CampingJosh]

I just noticed this part of your post. It explains a thing or two I've noticed during this ordeal.

Yep. Skunks dislike the scent, too, and occasionally use it as a weapon against each other. They sure avoid hitting themselves.

 

[Hkindiana]

I have skunks frequently here at the camp.

Live trap them. The raccoon-size traps from TSC or Rural King work well (the larger size in the two pack). Once they are trapped, they are pretty docile. Just walk up and put a towel over the trap. Then you can relocate them without worrying; they don't want to spray in a confined area.

I always drown them. No idea if they spray in the process since they are underwater.

i always trap them the same way. However, instead of drowning them, I just relocate them and open the trap. They mosey on out, and never spray.

 

[Cameramonkey]

i always trap them the same way. However, instead of drowning them, I just relocate them and open the trap. They mosey on out, and never spray.

Just a heads up, relocating is only legal in IN so long as you release the critter in the same county it was trapped in. Obscure law.

 

[mom45]

i always trap them the same way. However, instead of drowning them, I just relocate them and open the trap. They mosey on out, and never spray.

We release them on the back of our property closer to the neighbors.

 

[CampingJosh]

i always trap them the same way. However, instead of drowning them, I just relocate them and open the trap. They mosey on out, and never spray.

I have yet to find anyone who wants them. Maybe I'm just not asking around enough.

 

[JettaKnight]

Am I the only one that thinks that skunks are cool?

 

[gregkl]

Am I the only one that thinks that skunks are cool?

Nope. I do also. They are cool looking, awkward walking, docile animals. It's a good thing they have the ability to throw out an odor. It really is the only defense they have.

I just don't want them living under portions of my home. The 8 we had last year under our front porch(which is where our front door is) were a nuisance. They come out at night and cruise or party in the yard(whatever they do) and tend to let a little of their odoriferous aroma out. To the point that it was permeating our front door and lingering in our foyer(is that Foy A?). A couple nights my wife and I were laying in bed and all of a sudden the distinct smell of skunk hit our noses. I think they were walking along the wall outside beneath our windows and decided to mark the territory or something. The windows were closed but it still seeped in.

And my dog's days were numbered with her sticking her nose in their hole every time she went out to pee.

 

[mom45]

I always really loved when the skunks would go in the garage and fight with the cat RIGHT next to my truck with the cloth seats...that was super duper nice. Just loved it! I wish they would do that again.....and then when the cat runs into the house the next morning...that was super special too.

Oh the memories.....

 

[BobDaniels]

I tried the mothballs to get rid of the 8 skunks living under my front porch. It didn't work. They just pushed some of them out and lived with the rest. I have heard that they don't like to dig through stones that are at least 1-2" in size.

I dug down along my porch about 10" or so, laid some hardware cloth along it, and covered that with mortar. I then back filled it with dirt, put down some landscape fabric and added 2" river rock on top of that about 2-3" deep.

I am hoping that will keep them out. The previous owners of my home let them come back every year and have their kits under the porch and just waited until they were old enough to wander off.

I think what you are doing will help. Just watch the area. If the pavers don't cover a large enough area, they will burrow under the pavers and have a new home.

Oh, and I live in a neighborhood, lol. I have more wildlife here than any other place I have lived. Just yesterday I had 5 deer ripping around my backyard like a bunch of school kids on break. It was comical. They didn't even mind us watching, filming and my dog barking at them.

In my situation, they are living in a burrow underneath my barn floor so it is a confined space. Does your front porch allow for some air flow underneath? Last night I dumped the entire box into the hole inside the barn and pushed the dirt back over the hole (for the 100th time) and for the first time the hole was not dug open by morning. It's a small victory but a victory none the less.

I thought about using pavers because that's what I have laying around and I had thought about them just digging around the pavers. Now I am thinking about digging out the opening then filling it with concrete, back fill some dirt, then pavers on top. Even with that, they can just dig around the concrete. My goal is to eliminate the ease of opportunistic critters from moving in.

I like your idea of the stone around the perimeter and might employ something similar around the barn.

 

[BobDaniels]

I always really loved when the skunks would go in the garage and fight with the cat RIGHT next to my truck with the cloth seats...that was super duper nice. Just loved it! I wish they would do that again.....and then when the cat runs into the house the next morning...that was super special too.

Oh the memories.....

We cut and baled about 170 bales of hay this past Sept. So after picking it out of the field and stacking it in the barn I was taking a much needed shower. All of the sudden my nose and eyes started burning and I yelled "honey, it smells like skunk in the house!" and she yelled back "the damn cat got sprayed by a skunk and ran in the house!"

This was at dusk/nightfall so I thought it was just dumb luck about the skunk. Turns out it should have been my sign.

 

[mom45]

We cut and baled about 170 bales of hay this past Sept. So after picking it out of the field and stacking it in the barn I was taking a much needed shower. All of the sudden my nose and eyes started burning and I yelled "honey, it smells like skunk in the house!" and she yelled back "the damn cat got sprayed by a skunk and ran in the house!"

This was at dusk/nightfall so I thought it was just dumb luck about the skunk. Turns out it should have been my sign.

Yep...that will wake you up for sure! This cat had a habit of coming in for a bowl of milk every morning. He was waiting at the front door per his usual routine. I opened it...he ran in and I promptly put him right back out to have his milk on the sidewalk. Airing out my vehicle was loads of fun....the seats had a film on them and it was BAD!

 

[Hardscrable]

Yep...that will wake you up for sure! This cat had a habit of coming in for a bowl of milk every morning. He was waiting at the front door per his usual routine. I opened it...he ran in and I promptly put him right back out to have his milk on the sidewalk. Airing out my vehicle was loads of fun....the seats had a film on them and it was BAD!

I have lived on a farm(s) for 55 years and the last 10 in a very rural non-farm home. Always been around skunks, have raised infants that were orphaned, etc. Our paths have crossed on a regular basis. I respect them and they have never bothered me. I have always had 1 or 2 dogs but have only had 1 dog in all that time tangle with a skunk...and she did it numerous times. Couple of those times didn't find our until after she came running into the house...very "pleasant" experience as was bathing her in Skunk Off trying to eliminate that smell ( after spending at least overnight in the barn ). One time she had on a brand new collar - an orange vinyl one. Collar was actually stained/dis colored in front where the spray hit. I washed the collar repeatedly & hung it in barn for several years before all of the stench was gone.

 

[tmschuller]

I live in the sticks and have dealt with skunks in the past.. been sprayed with the dog right before church.. yeah that was a good service (I do sound for our church and people around me kept asking if I smelled a skunk...) I have used music played really loud to run them out of the garage.
I just had started a new job and one day I had to trap a skunk from under a building, caught it covered it with a old rain coat.. took it to the lake and gave it a bath. Well not long after the folks at the lake called complaining about the skunk smell, so yes they can spray underwater. Pulled the trap out took it down the road, not familiar with the area I saw a spot that looked good . Stopped the truck and emptied the passenger out in the ditch. Well the next day I was speaking with a secretary and she talking to a professor on the phone... she informed me that his dog had brought a dead wet skunk into the attached garage, then proceeded to take it into the house.

Also I was told that in February it is skunk mating season so activity really increases.

 

[Hkindiana]

I was camping a few years ago and left a pot of stew on the fire while I went to relieve myself. When I returned, there were three skunks circling my pot of stew. I just walked forward slowly, and they backed off - without spraying. On another note, I purchased a stuffed skunk at a gun show and gave had LOADS of fun with it. It's a blast to watch people freeze and go pale when they "stumble" upon it. Best $25 I ever spent towards pranks.

 

[AngryRooster]

We release them on the back of our property closer to the neighbors.

I'm hoping that this is the neighbor you had problems with right? Fitting since he can't shoot them.

 

[mom45]

I'm hoping that this is the neighbor you had problems with right? Fitting since he can't shoot them.

You bet...he's my favorite neighbor ever! LOL

 

[wagyu52]

Head shot a skunk probably 10+ years ago right next to our pole barn and he sprayed the side of that barn, I can still smell it after it rains. That was the last skunk I ever shot around the buildings, live trap and drowning seems to work. Best way I've found to keep them away is no or little cat food lying around.

 

[Hardscrable]

The summer when I was about 14 or 15 we had an over abundance of young skunks. I have no idea how many times but it was a bunch, they would be in the windrow of hay or straw that we were baling. All of a sudden you would smell the STRONG odor. Live ones, dead ones, & everything in between would be in the bales as the exited the baler. The worst bales were dropped onto the ground and left behind. Even by only keeping the bales that moderately stunk, our barns smelled of skunk for months. Occasionally handling the bales transferred the odor to clothes, hands, etc. Was anything but pleasant.

 

[dtkw]

Reminded me about an incident at my friend's home. It was a colder night before, a skunk got into his garage and slept underneath his wife's car. Since it's warmer there. At morning, his wife was ready to go to work, didn't notice the skunk, and started the engine, It might had scared the skunk and it sprayed. OH man, his wife couldn't use her car for a bit until the smell was gone.

 

[BobDaniels]

Found another one in the trap this morning bringing the total to 4. I am really over the whole skunk thing.