Tag Archives: skunk trapping

Skunks

Grandma on the Defense

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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!

Skunks

It’s a Dog-Eat-Dog World

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There is a skunk in my yard and he is at war with my dogs. It started about two weeks ago after we had about 3 days of hard rain.  The skunk was denning underneath our shed out back, and I think that the rain may have flooded it out which is why we’re just now seeing activity from it.  The problem is that now that it’s out it is wandering around our property and we have two small dogs.  Needless to say the two types of animals do NOT get along.

Even though I know the skunk is out and about, the sightings are scattered.  We will smell him long before we see him, especially with the dogs.  It has been a nightmare dealing with it, if we let them out and forget to watch them they’ll be long gone, chasing after the skunk before we realize it and can stop them.  In two weeks, they have each been sprayed twice; the hydrogen peroxide and baking soda are practically all gone from using them so much and I can still smell the skunk lingering in their fur.         I’m not even sure if the skunk is in the yard or if it’s hiding out under the shed still.  I know that when I let the dogs out the immediately head for the foundation of the shed, but they just sniff and don’t usually bark or scratch.  When they see the skunk, though, they go absolutely bananas!

We need help getting rid of this thing.  The skunk is turning our backyard into a war zone, world war three is happening: dogs vs. skunk!  I’ve looked up skunk traps and skunk repellents, but it seems unlikely to me that they would help get the skunk out of my yard for good.  I’d rather have him trapped and relocated so that I know he’s gone.  I need a professional skunk trapper and I don’t even know if that’s a real job!

Skunks

Skunk Trapping

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Momma skunk with her babies
A mother skunk with her babies.
(Artwork by Sharon Davis. Contact us for her contact info.)

From my perch up in the tallest tree, I can pretty much see everything that goes on around me on this property, and one of the most interesting things I’ve witnessed over the last few weeks was the owner’s attempt at skunk trapping.

As a bird, I’m not really that opposed to skunks myself.  They can’t really hurt me, as a raven, and if they spray some stupid dog or fox, I just fly away from the smell.  But, I could tell this skunk was really getting on this guy’s nerves over the last few weeks!

First, it made free to dig up in the guy’s vegetable garden as it hunted for bugs to eat.  Destroyed some of the crop and left a horrible mess.  Then, it decided to burrow under the guy’s front porch.  He was afraid he’d be sprayed if he surprised the skunk while walking out to his yard, and even I could see it was going to damage the concrete, making it sink down eventually.  One night, the skunk got hungry and toppled over the garbage can, munching on everything edible it could find.  The owner came out the next morning to find a horrible mess on the lawn.

What really sent the owner into a horrible rage was when the skunk got into the chicken house and ate up some of the eggs.  It even attacked one of the chickens.  At first, the owner thought maybe a fox was to blame, but when he figured out it was a skunk, he reached the end of his rope.

He went out and got himself a skunk trap, set it up in the vegetable garden, and caught that smelly skunk.  Problem was, he had no idea what to do with it after that.  He was so afraid to approach the skunk in the trap.  He tried walking up to it really slowly and quietly, he tried throwing a tarp over it.  I spent a good three or four hours just watching this guy circle the cage, try all kinds of things, work up his nerve just to get scared again.  Highly entertaining!  Truth is, that guy just didn’t know what to do with the wild skunk, and he didn’t know what it could do to him.

He should have called a professional to come out and trap the skunk in the first place.  A wildlife removal specialist already has the skills and experience to get rid of a skunk, and will do it legally.  Eventually, he called in an expert at skunk trapping, who not only got rid of the skunk, but repaired the damage the skunk caused.

Now, I wonder if we can get another wild animal to attack the guy’s house again.  I’ve got to get my entertainment one way or another, and watching him fumble around with wild animals is always good for a laugh!