How to Get Rid of Skunks in Your Yard

Keep skunks out of your yard.

Skunks do more than just make you turn your nose up at their smell. They can also damage your lawn as they search for food, disturb and tip over your trash can and cause other problems. If you have one or more skunks scurrying around in your backyard, several deterrent methods and physical control options can help drive them away.

Things You'll Need

• Hoe
• Lawn insecticide
• Flour
• 1/4-inch hardware mesh cloth
• Moth balls

Instructions

1. Reduce access to outdoor food sources, a common attractant that causes skunks to visit your yard in the first place. A common problem area is a garbage can, which you should fit with a tight or locking lid. Additionally, pick up any fallen vegetables or fruit and put away your outdoor pet's food before dusk falls.

2. Clean up your yard. This reduces all the potential skunk housing -- properly referred to as skunk dens -- and hiding spots that make your yard attractive to these animals. This includes trimming back thick hedges and low-lying bushes to let more light and air into their undergrowth areas; tightly stacking any blocks of lumber, rocks, bricks or wood you may have lying around; and mowing down thick stands of tall grass.

3. Inspect your lawn for white grubs if the skunks repeatedly dig holes in your yard. Use a hoe and peel back a 6-inch by 6-inch section of your grass. If you notice white grubs squiggling in the soil, promptly spray your lawn with any standard insecticide designed for grass. This kills the grubs and works as one of the easiest ways to keep skunks from coming to your lawn.

4. Fence off any open areas under your buildings, including your garage and porch, if the skunks have turned those areas into their home base from which they scavenge your yard. Dust flour all around the perimeter of these crawl spaces. In the evening, check the flour for footprints that alert you that the skunks have left the crawl space to start their food hunt. Then, seal off all such crawl spaces with 1/4-inch mesh hardware cloth.

Tips & Warnings

• If your skunk problem isn't serious, simple deterrents can be enough to drive them away. Skunks hate the smell of moth balls, so toss a few into your porch crawl spaces and other problem areas.

• Don't try to trap the skunk yourself. Trapping works well as the final resort if all other methods of deterrence and exclusion don't work. However, trapping the skunk yourself increases your chances of getting sprayed. Instead, call an animal control officer or pest control expert.

References

• University of California Integrated Pest Management; Skunks; June 2004
• Michigan State University Extension: Controlling Skunks
• Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management: Skunk Control and Management Information