Skunk problem

[Randy C]

My Aunt that live close to Durango CO. has a family of skunk's that wont leave they are always at the house and now they may be trying to dig a den or get under the house, what is the best way to get them to go away? and find a new home. befor the :dung_hits_fan:

[WILCO]

Hi Randy! I no longer advise on such topics. See this thread:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?197427-OOPS!-My-bad

Good luck as you move forward on this issue!

[firefly1957]

First thing to try to do is find out what is legal in your area as in some places it is illegal to trap and move animals and they must be destroyed in other places it may be just the opposite ? Every state has it's own rules and laws here a 22 and traps have worked best for me but it sure stinks up the yard! The best way i have found for ridding the area of skunks is the conibear trap but do not even think of using them if a persons cat or dog might get in them! I have been lucky that no skunks have gotten into my live trap (yet) the conibear trap kills them but stake the trap well as i have lost two that had a 3/8" rod two feet in the ground one was carried off by a feral cat that the next door neighbor over 1/4 mile away dispatched and he returned scaring the **** out of me that i may have gotten his cat but it was not . The other was definitely dragged away by a skunk but it appeared that another skunk had dug the stake out of the ground as it was dug out not pulled out?

[Randy C]

This is what she did today I copy and past the 2 email she sent.

I'm boiling onion with jalapeno and water and hot red chili flakes. The recipe says boil 20 minutes and then strain and put in a sprayer. I'll put some cat food out maybe outside of the bay window area they can't get in so I can get to the front yard and to the end where I can spray. It says it lasts 3-5 days. I'll have to keep spraying until I can be sure they aren't in there and I can close up all that lattice along the front. I have to buy some chicken wire or something similar.


I didn't move fast enough. I wasn't sure I counted six. And I didn't have enough kitty food out there. OMG they ate fast. Then the sprayer quit spraying. I should have started on the other end. They must have gotten scared of something because a little guy came back around the corner and smelled and went in the hole and then a second one. I'll came in. Now one has found a place and pushed through. I needed to line the fence with rocks I guess. Now they'll probably all push through or he will get mad and spray because he's by himself.

[MaryB]

22lr to the head... I have them try to setup home under my deck all the time. Put down chicken wire and they dug under it. Buried it a feet and they just dug deeper. So I called the town cop and told him I needed to shoot some skunks, he was fine with it as long as it was the 22 and I aimed away from town (I live right on the edge of town).

[N4AUD]

If you shoot a skunk in the head it can still spray. Shoot them through lungs and they can't spray.

[Dean D.]

If you shoot a skunk in the head it can still spray. Shoot them through lungs and they can't spray.
THIS! I was taught this by my trapping mentor back when I was a licensed Nuisance Wildlife Control Officer in WA state. A head shot will spray every time.

[Randy C]

She is probably not up to shooting them, I shoot them all the time pick them up with a pitch fork set them on cardboard on tail gate of pickup haul them off.

[bob208]

catch them tame them and sell them as pets. you do know they love to eat stink bugs.

[Newtire]

I had a family of skunks and also raccoons setting up houskeeping under my house and the way I got rid of them was by turning on lights that we had installed under the house. So, if you can shine a couple of spotlights under there until they leave and then get in and string up some Christmas lights using clear bulbs, that should take care of your problems.

[portlybowlofpigfat]

if you dont have any pets to worry about mix some fly bait and cola ( anything liquid and an sweet)
in a pan and leave it 15 ft or so away from where they are digging .

most times you will find them dead with their heads in the pan or right next to it if you can get them to drink it .

[Swamp Man]

I had a problem some years back and was told to put a radio outside some place near where they were. I thought that was a crazy idea but I tried it anyway and it worked like a charm. I put an old boom box one of my kid left when they moved out out in my shed and turned it on at dark wide open. I guess the skunks didn't like it because they left and never returned.

[w5pv]

Powdered moth ball flakes will put them on the go.They don't like the smell or taste when it gets on their feet.

[Jon]

Peanut butter on a slice of bread works great for skunk bait, and it won't attract the neighbors cat.

[Blacksmith]

+1 on mothballs to keep them out. I would rather they decide to move on their own than put up with the stink of forcing them.

[firefly1957]

Something not mentioned if you have a hole or den were the skunks are get a Havoc smoke bomb toss it in mid day and cover the hole it is a good way to rid skunks as they die underground. You can not use them if there is a chance something will caught fire like under a shed or if the gas can get into a occupied building. I set two off under my farm house trying to run quill pigs out to much area it did not work but the house smelled of sulfur for some time afterwards.

[ridurall]

I've been in the pest control business for 35 years and did it in the Air Force for 18 of my 20 years. The last year of my service I trapped and killed 120 skunks. I used the tarp method of covering the trap and I never had one spray. I normally used eggs in the live trap if there were cats around as I didn't want to catch all the neighborhood cats. Back in the old days we had a method of killing the skunks using Ficam injected into the eggs. Cats would leave the eggs alone and we didn't have to disarm the skunk trap bomb. Of course I don't do that now and Ficam is off the market. It was amazing in how fast it would kill a skunk though. They would fall face first into the egg without finishing it and never sprayed. As for the tarp live trap method, we just held the dark tarp in front of us so the skunk couldn't see us and then slowly walked up to the trap and covered it. I would then put it in the back of my truck and take it to the field where I could shoot the skunk with the .22. (if I didn't use Ficam) I found that the bullet to the head would cause them to spray but if I broke their spine they wouldn't spray.