Menu
What's new

Trouble with Skunks

glenn bradley

glenn bradley

Member
Messages
11,551
Location
SoCal
So at least one skunk has moved in under one of my outbuildings. Although this looks like fun I do not think it would have the result I am after. I have made liberal application of the onion, jalapeno, cayenne mix all around the building's foundation. In the skunk's defense, SWMBO thought it was cute to put out the scrap vegetable matter for the bunny rabbits so, we probably lured the poor skunks here. We have no foodstuffs, garbage or compost in the open now.

I don't really want to hurt the little guys, although I am not against it, I just want them to go away. I certainly don't want to do anything that makes them spray under the building. Just in case the home remedy doesn't work, anyone have any methods they had luck with other than just shooting them? TIA.
 
I just pulled this up,
The use of repellents can make skunks move from your home and/or garden. Cat litter, also called cat box filler, can work well. Simply put it in or close to the skunks' den, giving the skunks no option but to travel through or by it. Other suitable repellent options include castor oil and capsaicin.
 
I have a trap... I have caught several in it... When I do, I throw a tarp over the trap so the skunk cannot see me... Then I pick up the trap and as I carry it past a water tank I have, I accidentally drop the trap in... I don't discover I did this for several minutes,,,, then it is to late to save the "cute" little rabies carring, stinking, destroys my lawn, varmint.... So I dig a hole, drop it in, cover the hole, reset the trap and wait....
 
Well, if the nice way doesn't work...
25493784._SX540_.png
 
Well you can't trap & move them. If you can make sure they're out.. closing the holes up with buried wire is probably the best bet. But you'd want to make sure they're ALL out otherwise you've just permanently trapped it under the house.

Skunks / Home and Landscape / UC Statewide IPM Program (UC IPM)

ipm.ucanr.edu ipm.ucanr.edu

The California Fish and Game Code classifies skunks as nongame mammals. The owner or tenant of the premises may lethally remove nongame mammals that are injuring or threatening at any time and in any legal manner. Fish and Game regulations prohibit the relocation of skunks and other wildlife without written permission of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The prevalence of rabies in the skunk population is one of several major reasons for denying requests for relocation. For further information on the legal status of skunks, contact the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
 
I don't have a lot of experience with skunks. My few run ins were at my grandfather's place at the beach. There were apparently quite a few on the island and his little Jack Russell terrier managed to have a confrontation with every one of them.

My only close encounter with a skunk happened while I was on a bicycle. When I was a teenager I was completely crazy about fishing and I would go fishing morning, noon and night while I was at my grandfather's house. His house was 2 1/2 miles from the pier by road but only about a mile as the crow flies but since crows didn't need a bridge to cross the canal.

One evening I was fishing after supper and it was getting dark and my grandparents wanted me in before dark. So I jumped on my big old Schwinn bicycle. It had a great big basket on the front from my newspaper route and a carrier on the back. I would load the basket with my tackle box, bucket and whatever and carry two rods; one in each hand to and from the pier.

So I am on my way home pedaling as fast as I could to get there so Grandaddy wouldn't yell at me. He was really good at yelling at you by the way. I had made the turn on the cross street where the canal bridge was so it was less than mile to the house. Just when I am at the end of the bridge a skunk walks out into the street in front of me. I dare not try to swerve around the darn thing because the two rods made it hard to control such maneuvers. So I held on for dear life and raised my feet. I hit that skunk at top bicycle speed, whatever that was, and rode right over him. I smelled the skunk but the spray did not get me or my bike so I rode on home and put my stuff away in the garage.

I told my grandfather about the skunk and he said I was lucky. He also said I shouldn't carry so much stuff on the bike so I could have better control.

Later that summer I caught a 69 pound tarpon and brought it home on the bike. My grandfather took one look, asked if it was good to eat. I said no. He said why did you bring it home? I took my tarpon tied to the basket down to the Intracoastal Waterway and unceremoniously dumped it into the water. :cry:
 

Attachments

  • tarpon 1964.JPG
    tarpon 1964.JPG
    162.5 KB · Views: 24
had one encounter with a skunk that had gotten into one of my fox sets. had the wife to be with me checking my traps and had read about letting them go with out getting sprayed talked to it and it calmed down,, got both sprigs loose and it walked out of the trap as it got about 6 ft away it stopped turned around and sprayed i dodged most of it but got some n my hip boots. the next one didnt walk away
 
I have a fairly large family of skunks living right down my dirt road. Never had any trouble with them. They never bother my garden areas. Only rabbits and grasshoppers do that. I even had a small family of them living under my old house. We got along fine. Even my old pal Arnold the dog got along with them. We'd sit out at night and watch them play and find bugs and other stuff to eat. They never bothered the garden there, either. They're just another part of Nature. So, me tries to get along with them.
 
I use to hunt a grass runway to remove deer. In the early morning hours I'd walk the runway to my stand and there were always skunks on the air strip. 1st time I found myself in the mists of a dozen or so. I just walked slow and they moved aside. The gauntlet was about 300 yards. They never tagged me.
 
Skunks used to get under the tent platforms at scout camp. One of the councilors was an expert bow shot and used to take pride in being able to put an arrow in a skunk, in such a stem to stern way that they couldn't squirt. It worked every time I saw him do it, but no way I'm trying it.
 
I have to go in defense of the little critters. I know in some cases they can be a nuisance. But, by and large, they are rather sociable critters. And, they can be good mousers on occasion.
 
You might try throwing some moth balls into the space the critter occupies under your outbuilding. Seems like the farmers around me use that method a lot and they claim it works well. Of course, that assumes you can get them (the mothballs) where they need to be. My sister (also a farmer) used pepeprmint oil under her deck to clear them out and claimed it worked.
 
Mothballs do work... A couple of years past I had a problem with rats getting under my house to nest... I put several hands full of moth balls under the house and they all left... 'course the house smelled of mothballs for a couple of months. We don't have too much trouble with skunks, though you'll smell one outside pretty regularly and see them on the roads.... we do have an outside dog that seems to keep things at bay around the house.... we did look out one morning to see her laying in the yard with a dead skunk next to her, but she evidently didn't get sprayed.
When I was a kid and we were living in west Texas, my dad hit one one night with the car.... we had to park it at the barn for a week or so.... another time when we were back in east Texas on a farm, he shot one in the well house... didn't kill it with the first shot and called for me to bring a box of shells to him... running to take him the ammo, I ran into the odor drifting on the wind... almost like running into a brick wall.... brought me to a full stop from a dead run..... fortunately the odor didn't get into the well.
 
Dave Hoskins said:
I have to go in defense of the little critters. I know in some cases they can be a nuisance. But, by and large, they are rather sociable critters. And, they can be good mousers on occasion.
Click to expand...

I'd love to have them dining on all the insects and any other small critters they can find. It's just the risk of side effects (already experienced) of them spraying the dog that I can't abide.
 
My uncle used to catch rabbits, raccoons, skunks, and the neighbor's cats in his garden with a large live trap. He would let the cats go, but took Polaroid "mug shots" of the rest and then deported them to a wooded area across town behind a defunct shopping center. He would put them in his utility trailer and tow them with the car. For the skunks, he would walk up to the trap slowly with a cut open black trash bag held in front of him, so they couldn't see him, and then place the opened bag over the trap. He could then pick up the trap to put it into his trailer for the deportation trip. It would take them a long time to walk back from there, so most never did. There were a few that did, as identified by their "mug shots", but they just got deported again if they did come back. I don't think any that did come back ever came back a second time. They must have learned their lesson and found new homes. My uncle had a 4' X 4' bulletin board on his garage wall that was full of the mug shots.

Charley
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top