Tag Archives: skunk removal

Skunks

Skunk Control

Leave a comment

“Dad!  Dad!  Dad!  Call Skunk Control right now!!  There’s a skunk in the house!”

I was working at home, because my wife was really sick today and was resting in our darkened bedroom with a cool washcloth over her eyes.  To be honest, I hadn’t really needed to stay home.  Our two girls are twelve and ten, and can pretty much take care of themselves, but they still needed someone to drive them to and from school, and I wanted to be available to get whatever my wife needed.  She rarely got sick.  In fact, the last time she was this sick was over three years ago.  But, I liked to really pamper her and take worries off her mind so that she could get well quickly.  She is the rock of our family, and we just don’t function very well without her.

So, when I heard my twelve year-old daughter, Kenzie, yelling about skunk control, I rushed right out of the home office.  “Shhhh!  Don’t wake your mom!  Now, show me what you’re talking about.”

My ten year old, Baylee, was holding her phone up, recording the whole thing.  “This is sooo cool!” she grinned.

“Dad.  It’s in the kitchen.  You have GOT to call skunk control right now.”

I started to walk towards the kitchen, my two pre-teen girls trailing behind me, alternating between squeaking with alarm, shushing each other, and giggling with excitement.  Ah, to be young again.

But, when I opened the kitchen door, it was skunk-free.  Kenzie jumped up into a nearby chair, squealing as softly as she could, “Where is it?  Where is it?”  Baylee just kept recording.

I picked up a broom and started walking from room to room.  Kenzie had jumped down from her perch to trail me, along with my video-recording Baylee.  There!  It huddled in the living room, tucked between the loveseat and side table.  I froze, unsure of what to do next, as Kenzie whispered, “Don’t scare it, Dad.  It’ll spray.”  That’s exactly what had been going through my mind.  If it sprayed in here, we would have to replace everything from the carpet to the furniture to the drapes.

The skunk caught sight of us, and decided it had enough.  It walked across the living room floor, bold and waddling its behind at us, as if to say it wasn’t worried about us at all.  The three of us followed at a distance, but I knew we’d all get sprayed if it decided it had to defend itself.  It was heading back towards the kitchen, so I urgently whispered to Kenzie that she needed to go the other way, back into the kitchen before it got there, and open up the door to the garage.  “Now!” I urged her.  She took off, threw the door open, and got out of the way just as the skunk walked into the garage.

“Baylee, give me your phone.”

“But, Dad, I’m still filming.”

“Baylee, give me the phone.  It’s time to call skunk control.”

As she did, my wife called down the stairs.  “Honey, what’s going on?”

“Nothing!” I yelled out, as I glared at my daughters, willing them to stay silent on the matter.  Skunk control would take care of this first, and then I’ll let my wife know.

Skunks

Skunk Removal

Leave a comment

I know, I know, if I’d taken the time to clean out the barn, I wouldn’t have to worry about skunk removal.  But, what’s done is done.  There, amongst the broken lawn mower, the old bag of dog food that I’d forgotten about, a couple of empty gas cans and all the random stuff we carted out of our newly remodeled home, lives a skunk.  It’s bigger than a poodle and fluffy, and it most definitely does not want to move out of my barn.

Usually, I take extra care to winterize our entire property.  As fall is ending and the cold weather sets in, I take care of everything, including giving the lawn a last good mow, placing tree stakes near all the trunks, cutting back the roses and cleaning out the barn before making sure the house is ready for the cold months ahead.

Things were a little different this last year.  Our last child graduated high school and then headed off to college.  We had the house to ourselves.  My wife was determined to remodel, and I think it had more to do with combating empty-nest syndrome than a desperate need to have a new master bath, but I was happy to comply.  College doesn’t come cheap, so we did most of the work ourselves, which made for an extremely busy fall.  It never occurred to me that skunk removal would be the consequence to ignoring my normal self-imposed duties.

But, here I am, standing in the doorway of my barn, dressed in a cheap hazmat-like suit purchased at the hardware store, armed with a net on the end of a long pole.  As the skunk turns and tries to burrow its way deeper into the debris littering the barn, I realize a net is probably not the best skunk removal tool.  I realize I am standing at a crossroads of choices – either press forward into the dark recesses of the barn chasing after this odorous animal, or back out gracefully and get a professional trapper who is experienced at skunk removal.  I’m a man, and I assume I can do it myself, so I press forward carefully.

In the dim light, I become aware of little brown pellets littering the floor, especially around the bag of forgotten dog food.  I realize the sorry state of my barn gave it a perfect place to hole up for the winter, and the dog food and rodents provided an excellent food source.

I stop, aware of a scrabbling noise on my right.  I can just make out the form of the skunk as it tries to squeeze itself further out of sight, and I approach carefully, stretching out my net.  Suddenly, the skunk whirls around and lifts its tail, and I realize I made the wrong choice trying to remove the skunk by myself.  But, by now, it is too late, and I can only hope the weak respirator I wear and the cheap paper covering I wear over my clothes will keep the worst of the skunk spray off of me as I run out of the barn.

Skunks

Skunk Problems

Leave a comment
Skunk
Skunk getting ready to spray.
(Artwork by Sharon Davis. Contact us for her contact info.)

She backed into the far corner, shuddering and quivering with fear, eyes wide but never blinking, she and her fellow hens terrified by this problem skunk.  The black and white furry creature started digging around her hen house several nights ago.  When the digging had stopped last night, she thought the nightmare was over.  She knew it was still in the area.  It was impossible to think otherwise after the spraying incident.  The dog had gotten too protective of his territory, barking and going crazy, and she guessed he’d gotten too close.  The smell had been overpowering, and the dog had whimpered all the rest of the night.  But, she and the other hens had kept quiet through it all.  They were just happy the digging had stopped for a while.

During the day, they had inspected the ground around their roost and knew the skunk was getting closer and closer to finding a way inside.  The claw marks were obvious, and its scat lay all around the yard.  They avoided approaching the house, because they knew the space under the wooden steps was a perfect place for a skunk den.  Each day, there was more garbage strewn around, and the man who took care of them seemed distressed over his vegetable garden.  At first, some of the hens had pecked around in the garden, feasting on the grubs and worms that were now closer to the surface, but they were soon chased off and now gathered closer to the hen house, eating the seed that was scattered for them.

And then tonight, the scratching and scraping had started up again, and she had correctly feared tonight would be the night the farmer’s skunk problemwould become their skunk problem.  Their protector, the dog, was locked up inside the house.  It seemed the farmer worried that he would be sprayed again, or worse, bitten.  The farmer didn’t want a chance of rabies or anything else infecting his dog.  So, the hens were locked up tight and then left to fend for themselves.

Sure enough, a loose plank was made looser until a black snout poked through.  The snout retreated and a paw came in, patting about and clawing further.  The hens were shrieking and clucking, but many wouldn’t leave their nests.  She huddled into the far corner with the others, hoping for a miracle, but expecting the worst.  Soon, the skunk worked its whole body into the hen house, and surveyed the space.  She hoped they had just made enough noise to wake the farmer in time.

The skunk walked over to the nests, and several of the more protective hens shrieked and flew off their nests in a flurry of feathers.  It snuffled and chuffed and then, just as it started toward an egg, the door burst open.  Hens, grateful for this unexpected exit, pushed and clucked their way out while the startled skunk ran back and forth, unsure which direction would carry it to safety.  Feeling trapped, it turned and lifted its tail.  All the chickens had fled and the farmer slammed the door shut just in time to barely contain the spray.  It was going to be a long night, but at least the hens were safe.  All she knew was the skunk as alone now in the henhouse, alone with all the eggs.

Skunks

Skunk Removal

skunk removal
I love my husband, I do, but he knows nothing about skunk removal.  He’s strong, he’s good to me, he’s good to the kids, he works hard, he takes care of the house, he makes sure the yard looks good.  He’s an all-around good-guy.  So, please don’t take this the wrong way when I say, sometimes, only sometimes, he’s a stupid man.  If only he’d just listen to what I say. 

            It was pretty clear we had a problem on the property when the dog came in whining and reeking of skunk.  The poor dog just looked sheepish as we contemplated calling in a Hazmat team to clean him up.  We finally sucked it up and did the awful clean-up ourselves, but I swore I’d never do it again.  He’s still afraid to go outside! 

            My darling hubby went out that night and bought us a skunk trap.  That was smart, I thought.  He set it up in the backyard, close to the house.  We had it out there for two days before we caught anything.  It was a long two days, because I didn’t want the kids playing outside until we were done with the skunk removal.  Awful enough to clean up a dog, I couldn’t imagine how bad it would be with a child!! 

            This was an event, for our family, catching the skunk.  I “suggested” ever so gently that my husband bring out an old towel or two to throw over the cage, place it and the skunk in the truck, and drive off with it somewhere to leave in the great wide wilderness.  He insisted he didn’t need to go to those lengths.  I just grunted, and muttered something about how this was his responsibility so I’ll just keep out of it.  Then I grabbed the video camera.

            It must’ve taken my husband a good fifteen minutes to creep across the yard towards the cage, the skunk eyeing him the whole time.  He was completely unarmed – just wearing his jeans, t-shirt and a ball cap.  I guess he figured stealth and the LA Dodgers logo were his best defense. 

            Finally, he arrived at the cage.  Another three minutes to slowly lift his arm and reach out to the trap’s door.  I think I finally realized what his great plan was – he was just going to open the trap and let the animal go.  Was that wise?  I started to question him, but he just shushed me and moved the other hand up to steady the cage.

            I kept the video camera going as I watched the man who is usually my hero, kneel directly in front of the cage and open the door, to let the skunk out.  I think the skunk was just as surprised at this course of action.  It crept up to the front of the cage, and quickly ran out, stopped for a moment to look at this strong man, and ran off out of sight.  My husband is a truly lucky man, not getting sprayed, but I just had to ask him, “What was the point of setting a skunk removal trap when you’re just going to let the skunk back out into our own back yard?”

            We have agreed to not talk about this ever again with each other.