Help With Skunks

[GL23]

I have a skunk problem and need some hunting/PAGC questions answered. I am not a hunter so this is unknown territory. Can you guys help out or offer some guidance?

First, is there anything in PAGC regs allowing shooting of nuisance animals? These skunks nest under my ground level deck. I have spent $600 having a company set and bait traps, and they have hauled away 4 skunks in the last two weeks. At least two more remain. They spray several times a day. It smells real bad in our basement, and it seeps into the living space. It is so bad you can taste it in your mouth at times. Here is the tricky part.

Assuming I am allowed to shoot the "nuisance" animals, my township has a discharge ordinance. Does state law/PAGC regs override this ordinance so I can't be charged if I am shooting a nuisance animal? If I am permitted to shoot them, what type of gun must I use? Thanks in advance for your help/guidance.

[fingers80002]

Your Twsp Ord. overrides PGC......

Trap them......

[spooter66]

Trap them,,,take them outside your township,,,then shoot them!

I suggest you try to trap the remaining skunks at the same time, haul them away at the same time. That way you only have to de-scent yourself once.

You could try baiting your traps with poison then haul them away after they are dead. That may help keep you from being sprayed.

There is no good way of dealing with skunks, except maybe with a rifle from a distance.

Good luck with your little friends.

[AxiTech]

Animals require three things, remove any one of the three and they will leave on their own.
1: water
2: food
3: shelter

I assume you want to keep your deck intact. Can you fence it with chicken wire to keep them out?
Is your dog's dish left outside, full, at night? Try bringing it inside.
You can't very well get rid of the water, it is everywhere right now. Try putting a droplamp under your deck to harrass the skunks into leaving. If they can't get darkness, they won't feel safe and may leave on their own.
Instead of poison, drape your deck with a plastic tarp, run a hose from your vehicle or lawnmower exhaust under the tarp and kill them with gas. The beauty of this is they go to sleep and don't spray. The downside is you have to go in and get them. I recommend at least an hour of exhaust fumes. Nobody wants to grab a half-dead skunk, right?

Good luck!!

[fingers80002]

Animals require three things, remove any one of the three and they will leave on their own.
1: water
2: food
3: shelter

I assume you want to keep your deck intact. Can you fence it with chicken wire to keep them out?
Is your dog's dish left outside, full, at night? Try bringing it inside.
You can't very well get rid of the water, it is everywhere right now. Try putting a droplamp under your deck to harrass the skunks into leaving. If they can't get darkness, they won't feel safe and may leave on their own.
Instead of poison, drape your deck with a plastic tarp, run a hose from your vehicle or lawnmower exhaust under the tarp and kill them with gas. The beauty of this is they go to sleep and don't spray. The downside is you have to go in and get them. I recommend at least an hour of exhaust fumes. Nobody wants to grab a half-dead skunk, right?

Good luck!!

With where he lives, I'm assuming he has fairly, like 2-5 yo cars, it won't work....

[XD40coyote]

600.00 for 4 skunks? You need to find a nuisance controller who is also a good-ol-boy trapper. They'd probably charge 50.00 a skunk and they'd catch them faster than 4 in 2 weeks. Skunks will semi hibernate through bad winter weather, but it sounds like these have been active the whole time if they spray every day. Skunks can usually be trapped fairly easily with boiled egg or canned cat food. They also clog up fox and coyote sets LOL. I have VERY few skunks in my area, and they can be finicky in early fall when there's still lots of grubs to dig up to eat. But everywhere I hear there are alot of skunks, the canine and coon trappers also catch a bunch, as well as possums, so long as there is favorable weather.

Try the PA Trappers Association, someone can hopefully direct you to a less expensive and more skunk experienced nuisance trapper in your area.

[AxiTech]

With where he lives, I'm assuming he has fairly, like 2-5 yo cars, it won't work....

Point taken. It would work, but it'll take all week! Use the lawnmower exhaust! Turn the mixture screw out a notch or two for a really choking death.

[XD40coyote]

Animals require three things, remove any one of the three and they will leave on their own.
1: water
2: food
3: shelter

I assume you want to keep your deck intact. Can you fence it with chicken wire to keep them out?
Is your dog's dish left outside, full, at night? Try bringing it inside.
You can't very well get rid of the water, it is everywhere right now. Try putting a droplamp under your deck to harrass the skunks into leaving. If they can't get darkness, they won't feel safe and may leave on their own.
Instead of poison, drape your deck with a plastic tarp, run a hose from your vehicle or lawnmower exhaust under the tarp and kill them with gas. The beauty of this is they go to sleep and don't spray. The downside is you have to go in and get them. I recommend at least an hour of exhaust fumes. Nobody wants to grab a half-dead skunk, right?

Good luck!!

Use galvanized hardware cloth to seal off the deck under areas to keep more away after getting rid of them. Dig a thin trench and bury the bottom of the cloth about 1 foot down to keep any from digging in. Skunks are like groundhogs.

BTW right now it is skunk mating season, so that is probably why there is so much activity going on under there.

[GL23]

With where he lives, I'm assuming he has fairly, like 2-5 yo cars, it won't work....

2002 Honda Odyssey
2000 Nissan Frontier Pick-Up

I only live where I do because I got lucky in buying and selling my first house in a very hot area in the 1990's. I couldn't afford to buy here today, even in a down market.

[fingers80002]

2002 Honda Odyssey
2000 Nissan Frontier Pick-Up

I only live where I do because I got lucky in buying and selling my first house in a very hot area in the 1990's. I couldn't afford to buy here today, even in a down market.

Nah, still too new......

Hell my '96 Merc. G.M. wouldn't do it, the exhaust thing....