National Lampoons hunt for the skunk

[JCLP]

Hello Foggers,
For over a week now I have been at war with a skunk under our shed. I have tried all kinds of chemicals, flooding the den with water and barricading the bottom of the shed with rocks and wire mesh with no success. Short of getting a gun, wish I can't do in the city, I am lost for ideas.
Does anyone have any miracle solution?
Thanks,
JC

 

[rvieceli]

You need to get a live trap.
http://m.homedepot.com/p/Havahart-Large-1-Door-Live-Animal-Cage-Trap-1079/100336697

Bait it with sardines. When you trap it. Throw a blanket over the cage to avoid getting sprayed.

 

[JCLP]

You need to get a live trap.
http://m.homedepot.com/p/Havahart-Large-1-Door-Live-Animal-Cage-Trap-1079/100336697

Bait it with sardines. When you trap it. Throw a blanket over the cage to avoid getting sprayed.

Unfortunately our City will not allow anyone to trop and re-locate. If you get caught, you will have major issues with City Hall. Need to find a way to discourage the skunk from hanging around the shed.

JC

 

[RustE]

Can you expose the area under the shed such that the skunk no longer feels safe there?  Then it will likely move somewhere else to find a safe space.

 

[rst]

They do not like light, stick a light under the shed and on daylight sensor so it comes on a night.  After my dogs got sprayed twice this cured the problem for me.  Skunk left for someone else' deck or shed.

 

[JCLP]

Can you expose the area under the shed such that the skunk no longer feels safe there?  Then it will likely move somewhere else to find a safe space.

Thought of that, but I would need to empty the shed, not a fun job, and remove the floor. If all fails, I will have to do that.

Thx.

 

[JCLP]

They do not like light, stick a light under the shed and on daylight sensor so it comes on a night.  After my dogs got sprayed twice this cured the problem for me.  Skunk left for someone else' deck or shed.

Great idea. I will need to try this. Been flooding everyday but it keeps coming back. When I do flood the den, it does leave the shed even in the middle of the afternoon. I think he may have scuba gear under there.
JC

 

[tjskinny]

You also might try a preditor urine to encourage the skunk to move on.  We had a problem with mountain beavers and used coyote urine around their dens, it seemed to work.
https://www.predatorpeestore.com/FoxPee-Fox-Urine-for-Skunk-Problem.html

 

[Wooden Skye]

Call animal control if you aren't allowed to trap it yourself.  If they don't help you, I heard peppermint extract/oil deters animals.  I personally wouldn't want to discharge a gun with neighbors close by, so I would get poison.

 

[JCLP]

Call animal control if you aren't allowed to trap it yourself.  If they don't help you, I heard peppermint extract/oil deters animals.  I personally wouldn't want to discharge a gun with neighbors close by, so I would get poison.

I called The city and they told me to leave it. I called the Orkin Man, pest control company, and they don't trap and release either. All they do is scare them away and then make your shed skunk proof. I have some Diazinon that I going to mix with crushed moth balls. Hopefully I don't blow myself up.

Cheers,

 

[kevinculle]

Take any gasoline powered implement (lawn mower, power washer, weedwacker,etc.) and start it up and arrange it so the exhaust is directed under the shed, use a length of hose that will withstand the temperature if necessary, treat the skunk to an extended dose of carbon monoxide long enough and the only problem you'll have is removing the carcass before it smells worse than a live skunk.  A bullet to the brain would be more humane but apparently your local authorities can't understand that.

 

[woodwrights_corner]

We had this problem many years ago.  A mother skunk and four kittens made their home under the floor of an shed set on timbers about six or eight inches above the ground.  Every evening about dark the mother and her kittens would crawl from under the shed and take an evening walk.  So with the advice of the local conservation agent we did this.  We waited until the mother and kittens left the shed for their regular stroll.  Once we were certain we wouldn't frighten them and cause them to run back under the shed we attacked with full strength clorox bleach.  We poured several gallons around the entire perimeter.  Then we attacked with hardware cloth with small squares.  Finally we restacked the bricks that were around shed and added a few more that were lying around.  It worked.  The skunks didn't like the smell of the clorox and they didn't even try to breech the barrier.

 

[Holmz]

I heard a story in Minnesota once.

The woman had a skünk under her porch and called animal control, who said that they could be out in 3 to 4 weeks.
Frustrated she asked is there was any DIY type of remedy.
They told her that one can use lüdefisk, but it not advised.
So a month rolls around and animal control calls to say that there is a window next Thursday, and would she be home between 1 and 5.
She says Ÿes but the skünk is gone.
Animal control asks how she got rid of it?
and says with lüdefisk.
and they ask if there were any side effects.
She says ÿes I have a family of Norwegians under the porch now.

Later that day I coincidentally heard an almost identical story, but with herring and Swedes replacing the lüdefisk and Norwegiäns. In both cases no skünk.

[member=44099]Cheese[/member]

 

[Cheese]

I heard a story in Minnesota once.

The woman had a skünk under her porch and called animal control, who said that they could be out in 3 to 4 weeks.
Frustrated she asked is there was any DIY type of remedy.
They told her that one can use lüdefisk, but it not advised.
So a month rolls around and animal control calls to say that there is a window next Thursday, and would she be home between 1 and 5.
She says Ÿes but the skünk is gone.
Animal control asks how she got rid of it?
and says with lüdefisk.
and they ask if there were any side effects.Funny
She says ÿes I have a family of Norwegians under the porch now.

Funny...you just forgot to add the oof da part... [thumbs up] [thumbs up]

 

[Holmz]

Yeah [member=44099]Cheese[/member] but the uff da was only in the later Norwegian1 version

1) Haugen, Einar (1957) Beginning Norwegian: a grammar and reader (George G.Harrap & Co Ltd) ISBN 978-0245531378

 

[Bob D.]

Didn't expect to see this topic pop up here but I have this same problem. We have a pair of skunks that have taken up residence under our deck which is low to the ground, about 6 inches above grade.

I had thought of tearing up some deck boards to expose the area and then try to flush them out but that would be difficult to leave open holes in the deck than someone could lose a foot in and twist an ankle.

Trap and release is not allowed here and can't discharge a firearm what with my property bordering on a elementary school and no firearms use within 1000 feet of a school is allowed.

I would like to coax this pair to move on before they expand their family. Our neighbors cat had one run in with one of them last Fall, that was a mess and somehow my fault (according to my neighbor) because I didn't trap or destroy the skunks.

I used mothballs to evict a groundhog who tried to make a home under the deck a few years ago but I doubt that would impress the skunks much, they might even like it.

 

[antss]

A high powered air rifle in .22 will dispatch them and get around most municipal firearm ordinances. They are rather expensive though.

 

[Cheese]

How about smoke bombs to get them moving and then 1/4" square wire cloth to seal the deal?

The smoke bombs worked on gophers until we found out that water and a hose was a lot easier.

 

[Bob D.]

A high powered air rifle in .22 will dispatch them and get around most municipal firearm ordinances. They are rather expensive though.

I couldn't get the one I wanted because it has what my state calls a flash suppressor (it's an air gun there is no flash doesn't compute with them). Wife is not keen on this method either. I am looking at other models or maybe borrow one for this one time use but would rather not go this route.

 

[Bob D.]

How about smoke bombs to get them moving and then 1/4" square wire cloth to seal the deal?

The smoke bombs worked on gophers until we found out that water and a hose was a lot easier.

I would have to seal off about 90 feet of deck perimeter to accomplish that.
Deck is about 1200 SF and open on three sides.

I believe they have gone underground somewhere near the middle of the deck. It's too close to the
ground to crawl under there (