Tag Archives: get rid of skunks

Grandma on the Defense

There are two skunks living under the deck in my backyard and I need for someone to get rid of them.  They’ve burrowed a hole down underneath the deck and you can hear them down there right around dusk scuffling around.  There haven’t been any instances where they’ve sprayed and caused a problem with smell – although there is definitely a skunky tang to the air around the deck especially early in the morning.  I realize that you probably think if they’re not spraying and causing any harm why can’t I just leave them there, but I hope any rational person would understand my dilemma of needing them gone without any further explanation.

The real problem is my granddaughter.  My daughter leave little Alyssa with me when she goes to work in the morning and we spend the day together.  She loves to be outside and will play through all hours of the night if I let her, and I used to entertain her energy and enthusiasm but now I’m too worried about the skunks under the deck to let her play outside without careful supervision.  I don’t want them to crawl out from under the deck and spray or attack my sweet girl.  She’s so innocent and sweet she still tries to pet every animal she sees so that’s a very real concern for me. I just want to protect her.

I’m in a pretty residential area or I would have my husband take care of this problem himself.  I assume trapping them will be fairly easy; they walk the same small path every night when they leave and the only way they can access the deck is through one small hole.  But, if I trapped them myself I’d have no clue what to do with them.  I need help.  Help protecting my home and my grandbaby!

Skunk Smell

skunk

 

It happened suddenly, before I even realized a skunk had sprayed my daughter.  One moment I was helping my son with his bike, and the next my little girl is gagging and coughing and trying to scream.

The day had not started out well.  Both children had missed the bus, apparently because I failed to yell “Hurry Up” enough times.  It never fails to surprise me how slowly my children can do normal, every-day things, like put a shirt on or eat cereal or brush their teeth.  So, the bus came and went, and my children were not on it.  That meant that I had to search for my purse and keys while tugging on a bra and tennis shoes at the same time so I could drive them.  Driving them was the only way to get them to school safely and on time, although I would have loved to have just made them stay home, do homework and stay in bed all day long after the morning they gave me.

Nevertheless, I got them to the proper place at the proper time so they do the requisite learning activities and I could have the next several hours to prepare for my afternoon meeting.  That meetig did not go well, unfortunately, and I didn’t get the bid, despite all the hours of work I’d put into my presentation.

I barely got home in time for the kids to get off the bus, and we headed straight into whining homework time.  I powered through, helping them with their homework, cleaning the kitchen, folding laundry and getting dinner ready all at the same time.

I realized it was too quiet at the dinner table.  I’d spent all the time I had with my children that day yelling at them to hurry up or do something or focus on their work, and they were just as tired as I was.  It was time to do something fun.

We pulled out the bikes and rode around the neighborhood.  It was a lovely, early spring day, one of those rare warm ones, and the evening was turning out to be beautiful.  We laughed and raced and spent some wonderful quality time.

Then my son’s bike broke.  Then, my daughter chased down a skunk and the skunk sprayed her.  I had no idea what to do.  I wanted to grab her and hold her and console her, but we couldn’t stop coughing and gagging on that nasty skunk smell.  I somehow managed to calm her down, get us and the bikes back home, stripped her down in the garage and threw away the clothes, and got her in the tub while I searched for how to remove skunk smell.  After many hours, lot of my daughter’s tears and some tears on my part, we managed to get rid of the skunk smell, mostly.  Compared to today, tomorrow can only be better.

Get Rid of Skunks

I thought I was doing a good thing when I tried to get rid of the skunk out of the window well, but, instead, it acted like I was some huge, vicious, nasty dog that was attacking it.

My wife had decided this weekend was the perfect time to do spring cleaning, which meant a) no golf, b) a big honey-do list, and c) the kids would be bored out of their minds.  My wife does an amazing job with the house and the yard, and she works, and she takes care of all of us, so when she gets her mind set on spring-cleaning, I try to be as supportive as possible.  I tried to prepare the kids.  I gave them each a list of simple chores they could do, and when they were done, I presented them with a soccer ball and backyard goal.  My wife was happy they did their work, and she was happy they were happy, and she was happy that I was helping her out.

I was in the middle of a particularly grimy job in the garage when my little nine year-old girl came in screaming.  Her scream echoed in the nearly empty garage and pierced my ears, but then I finally understood the words she was hurling at me.  “Skunk!!  Daddy, there’s a skunk in the backyard!”

Skunk spray
A skunk getting ready to spray you.
(Artwork by Sharon Davis. Contact us for her contact info.)

I rushed out, calling out to the kids that they were to stay far away from it while I assessed the situation and figured out a way to get rid of the skunk.  Following my daughter’s directions, I saw the skunk trapped in one of the deep window wells.  I cursed myself.  Getting window well covers was actually on my honey-do list, and I was putting it off until the next day.  Woulda, coulda, shoulda, I told myself.

We get a lot of wild animals around our house, so I had already rigged up a make-shift animal catcher for emergencies.  My wife came out of the house, and stopped, eyes wide.  “Don’t you dare,” she warned.  “That thing’ll spray you, and the smell will get all over the house.”

“Trust me.  I know how to get rid of skunks,” I assured her, even though I knew I’d never done it before.  I actually managed to slip the leash around the skunk and pulled it free of the window well trap.  Thinking I had done my good deed for the day, I expected the skunk to give me a warm look thanking me before trundling off to freedom in the woods.  Instead, it bared its sharp teeth at me and growled, as if I had attacked it.  When it turned around and prepared to spray, my wife and kids retreated around to the other side of the house, while my wife grumbled something that sounded dangerously like, “I told you so.”  Well, some of us learn the hard way, I guess.

Get Rid of Skunks

get rid of skunks
            Thinking of ways of how to get rid of a skunk is just not something you want to do while running at five-thirty in the morning.  But, in my neighborhood, you’d better give it a little bit of thought, for your own safety.

            Around the end of April, my scale and an upcoming trip to the beach reminded me of my New Years Resolution to get fit and trim down.  I spent a lot of time calculating how many calories I needed to burn each day to make my beach trip something more than a Mumu-fest.  I invested in a great pair of running shoes, planned out a route, got a lot of great tips online, and decided which the day I would begin my valiant efforts to get fit.  I figured the best time to get running into my schedule was to go early in the morning before the kids woke up.  So, I also bought a small light to wear on my hip, to alert the few possible drivers of my presence.  A crash diet was possibly in order, but having a car crash into me wasn’t.

          I went to sleep early and excited about my new routine, and woke up angry at the vicious alarm clock and moaning about the indecency of running while it was still dark outside.

            But, I did it.  I started my routine, and after about a week and a half, it got a lot easier.  I didn’t moan as loudly when I woke up, and I finally stopped swearing at the alarm clock.  My breathing was getting easier and I was almost able to run a full mile without stopping.  And, if I was truly honest with myself, I enjoyed running while it was still dark outside.  I felt so virtuous, thinking of myself as a “hard core” runner, alone and free out there in the dim pre-dawn.  It was the only quiet time I had each day, and I was beginning to actually enjoy it. 

            I heard a sound, and then the light on my hip caught a flash of something moving just ahead of me.  I couldn’t make out quite what it was, but it was large enough to make me stop.  Adrenaline pumping, I tried to calm my breathing and squinted, grabbing at the small light.  It moved again.  A cat?  Noooo, what is . . .?  Then my mind finally put it together.  Skunk!!!  Rooting around in someone’s garbage.  Long nose, bushy tail, and of course the white stripes on black fur.  If I hadn’t stopped, I would have run right next to it, probably startling it enough to spray me.

            I backed up slowly and eased over to the other side of the road, warily watching the black shape moving around.  As long as it didn’t turn its tail towards me, I was okay, right?  Unless it was rabid?  No, probably not rabid or it would have charged me by now.  Right?  Maybe?  How many days had I run right by it?  Where was it living?  How do I get rid of a skunk in my neighborhood?  My stomach churned, thinking of how I might have been sprayed before I even knew there was a skunk in the road.