Tom Lumpkins Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Hello everybody, Me and the wife live in Woodlawn,TN out in the woods and we got us a problem. Here latly the dog will raise cane and you go out and the scent is terrible, We got a Skunk that is living in the woods behind our house and I think he is coming up and eating the Cats food , I told the wife to watch the cat while he is eating then take the food away... Do you all have any other idea's.. I realy don't feel like goin Skunk hunting.. lol... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy k Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Tom - Removing the food will be the fix, but you can put the food in an area were the cat has/can to jump "up" to get at the food, were as the skunk will not be able to get at it. Just for instance on a 55 gal drum?. Set the cat up there a few times to get it to know were the food is. I hope your pesky smelly pepe' will move to different a territory. - JK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucegodlesky Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Yep, move the food. We have the same problem here 'cept it's bears gettin in the dog food. At least they don't stink as bad :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Einhorn Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 (edited) Well, I guess around here this close to Washington DC we do things differently. The skunk would be sent a firm letter of protest of its actions of incursion into your home territory, with emotional angst and vague implied threats of maybe someday in the distant future doing something. Heaven forbid that you move the food or put up a fence or other barriers to the food, as that would be seen as being much too extreme. :D Edited October 12, 2009 by UnicornForge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy seale Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 we have skunks here time to time.....but nothing a good shootin won't cure,jimmy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerkid Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 I `am going have to agree with Jimmy. A good shooting would cure it lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 Track that skunk and shoot near the fence line. They have a bad habit of spraying as they die. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBrann Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 I am for moving the food, perhaps putting a few mothballs around, they tend not to like the smell... maybe some other less lethal pursuasive ideas... if all else fails.... well ... there are varmint guns for a reason.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wedwards Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 I am for moving the food, perhaps putting a few mothballs around, they tend not to like the smell... maybe some other less lethal pursuasive ideas... if all else fails.... well ... there are varmint guns for a reason.... Had a skunk problem in my garage once. We tried luring it out, live trapping, mothballs. Nothing worked on this particular skunk. Since it appeared to have moved in for the winter I elected to shoot it and debated between a 12ga. and a .22. I had heard that a clean head shot will drop them without a chance to spray, plus I was not anxious to be in a garage with a hundred thirty or fourty lead pellets ricocheting around so I used the .22. The .22 did what it was designed to do and the skunk did the same. So much for the head shot theory. Dead skunks smell even worse than live ones. Moral? If you are going to shoot it get it as far away from the house as possible. And, yes, mine is an attached garage. Good luck. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy seale Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 use lime on blood/body fluids, it helps....but if it's a texas skunk....ya may need a 30 06.....just be sure it's lookin at you when ya lower the boom.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve McCarthy Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Shoot it. But to keep from having to carry off the smelly critter, I suggest gut shot with a 22. That don't sound very humane BUT, it sure beats carryng off a dead polecat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Einhorn Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 .....but if it's a texas skunk....ya may need a 30 06........ I heard that in Texas that everything including skunks are bigger. Is it true that skunks in Texas can bench press a Volkswagen Beatle? :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian D Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 I get skunks here all the time. If you can rig up a way to drown them, they will die without spraying or stinking. You just have to get rid of the carcass right away. I conveniently set a live trap with a large rock placed inside right next to the irrigation ditch. The trap has about a 30 foot nylon rope attached. When the skunk gets caught in the trap, I just give it a tug into the ditch. I know another guy that uses this same method with a large pit filled with water. I have not had a skunk that can resist watermelon rinds for bait, it gets em every time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddDuck Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 It's the season of the 'finding a home for winter' and 'fattening up' up around here, so they're all over the place. I took a bag of trash out to the bin in the carport this weekend, lifted the lid and heaved the trash bag. Just as I let go I spotted the little black and white head poking up out of the shredded remains of the rest of the trash bags in there, in the direct path of the flying bag-o'-trash. I slammed the lid back down and beat a hasty retreat. I don't know who was more suprised, him or me. I let things settle for a minute, and took a broomhandle and lifted the lid from a distance and propped it up, thinking that the critter would take the hint and vacate. He didn't. Started digging down into the pile to try to make me think he escaped. I had my son go and get the BB gun. He was excited and asked "Can I kill it dad?" and I thought for about a nanosecond and said "Hmm. Shoot a skunk with a less than deadly weapon twenty feet from the back door in an enclosed area. I don't think so. I'll do the shootin'." I didn't want to kill it, I just wanted to persuade it to move. So I pumped the BB gun up just a couple of times and (making sure the business end of the skunk wasn't pointed in my direction) popped him one. He jumped, so I know it hit him, and probably stung a bit. Took a couple more careful shots but he got the hint. Luckily he didn't associate the people with the sting. I checked carefully to make sure he was out and weighted the lid down so he (and/or his brethren or sistren) couldn't get back in. Now I've just got a bin-full of skunky smelling garbage to clean up. Yay me. So you have my sincere sympathies, and good luck. Mebbe a little d-con mixed in with the critter bait will fix his little wagon. Make sure all the places he could crawl under and die are blocked up first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Beware of using poison if you have domestic animals. Accidental poisoning of pets can happen. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Poisoning affects the whole food chain so don't use it. Club it, shoot it, trap it but don't poison it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rthibeau Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Anyone ever consider letting the little creature live? Just removing the outside food source should save both sides a lot of trouble. Skunks keep the smaller pest population down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddDuck Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Oh, I think it should live, as well. They're more trouble dead than they are alive. Supposedly they make great pets if they are de-scented, and they are kinda cute. Unfortunately, it is illegal in most places to make a wild animal into a pet, so take that with a grain of salt, and good luck de-scenting it. Wear old clothes and have a supply of tomato juice on hand. One of my Aunts told me she semi-domesticated one when she was a kid and fed it eggs, it never sprayed her, and it only stopped when my grandfather found out about it. And I suppose you guys are right about the food additives, Fluffy or Spot will be the one who thinks it's a tasty treat and eat it first, so scratch that idea. And Murphy sez that if it did work the little bugger would find the one hidey hole you missed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmy seale Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 don't forget about the possability of rabies...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBrann Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 When you are having a cigar in your shop after a long day and skunkula wanders to the door and looks in .. and takes a couple steps inside... and your shop is attached to your house ( the inside door goes into the kitchen).... you may rethink things. I knew once he got in the shop I might just as well burn the place down... but he eventually turned around and left... about the same time I found several large scraps of steel.. for persuasion. You will notice that I opted for removal and relocation first. I am not interested in needless death, but occasionally choices must be made. I have to make the same choice with mice every spring and fall. I feel guilty, but my health is more important than theirs. any way it goes good luck cliff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wedwards Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 Anyone ever consider letting the little creature live? . . . Yep. I'm all for that myself - just as long as they live somewhere other than in, under, or around my house. I'll do what I can to encourage them to leave, just as I would with the two legged kind. If they won't leave it's an easy choice as to who has the better claim to my house and how to enforce it. With my skunk problem I at first took the high road and called our county pest control office. Because of a statewide rabies outbreak they had been adamant about reporting skunk problems. I assumed they were interested in trapping it for rabies testing. I was told, and this is not an exaggeration, that once I got the skunk I was to cut the head off and send it to the state veterinary lab for rabies testing. I said, aah, ok (long pause here) let's assume I get that far, and that the USPS, FedEx, or UPS will accept the package in the first place, who will pay for the testing? They told me I would have to. Even though I have worked for the government for many years that is when I truly appreciated that it was not there to help me and I was pretty much on my own. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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