Skunks

[Shule]

How often do you all smell skunks when in your garden? I've never seen one on our property, but I smell them probably a few to several times a season. I've read that they're known to eat a lot of small critters that can be garden pests.

[Spike]

Never really noticed them in the garden but have had their aroma waft through the bedrooms windows at night.

[brownrexx]

I don't usually smell them but I see evidence of their visits. Skunks are nocturnal so I rarely see them but grubs are a favorite food of theirs so I find little holes about 1-2" deep all over the yard. We do not apply lawn treatments so I figure that they are getting Japanese Beetle grubs. I have not found their holes in the garden but I appreciate getting rid of any bugs that they eat.

[rxkeith]

i don't smell them often while working in the garden, but i do catch a
whiff of them in the evening at times. we are in the country, all kinds of
critters big and small here. i know that skunks will eat eggs if you don't
collect them soon enough. my chickens have nesting boxes in the coop, but
they prefer to lay in different spots in our old sauna building.
as long as the skunks leave the chickens alone, i will leave them alone.


keith

[Tormahto]

I haven't seen any in a couple of years. Before that, there was a population explosion of them in my area. They do like to dig their holes under porches. A few mothballs thrown down those holes may drive them away.

[worth1]

Saw a small dead one on the road yesterday.
Kinda broke my heart because there was no reason.

[Amateurinawe]

Pepe Le Pew!

[Labradors]

I see them occasionally, but this year, something unearthed a ground wasp nest under the wild apple tree. I'm pretty sure it must have been a skunk because no other animal would risk getting stung just to eat some wasp grubs! At least the nest was now obvious, and I avoided it every morning when picking up windfall apples before my crazy apple-eating lab could gorge herself on them!

Linda

[Rockoe10]

I live in town, and the past couple years I've smelled them nearly every day. This year however not a single time.

The Japanese beetles have always been a problem, but we have new neighbors this year and they sprayed when they came in. Caused some drift issues for my garden, but no skunk smell.

[Tormahto]

Saw a small dead one on the road yesterday.
Kinda broke my heart because there was no reason.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt-o2xlffWo

[JRinPA]

Not as often as I used to, now that I think about it. There is a development across the street for years now, rather than farm fields. A few times a year, for sure, here at the house, but I never see one. I will keep the dog's "backyard, potty" to a minimum when I do. My Springers have never been sprayed. Growing up, we had a half springer/half beagle that checked a skunk twice in our yard, and then a third time when it retreated across the street into the field. The skunk got her that time...the tomato juice bath did not do much, and every time she went in the rain for weeks after, she would stink again.

But the place I saw them, more than anywhere else, was on my route to school from one of the apartments I lived at in State College. Never got sprayed, but I must have seen skunks a dozen times in a few alleys, right in town. The first time I just about crashed my trek trying to avoid it. I must have had an 8am class that semester.

I know when I get a strong whiff, my first though is always "smells like home". Skunks I rather like the smell, makes me feel alive. Cow manure, don't mind it, but I can't stand driving past hog farms with the wrong wind.

[Rockoe10]

Not as often as I used to, now that I think about it. There is a development across the street for years now, rather than farm fields. A few times a year, for sure, here at the house, but I never see one. I will keep the dog's "backyard, potty" to a minimum when I do. My Springers have never been sprayed. Growing up, we had a half springer/half beagle that checked a skunk twice in our yard, and then a third time when it retreated across the street into the field. The skunk got her that time...the tomato juice bath did not do much, and every time she went in the rain for weeks after, she would stink again.

But the place I saw them, more than anywhere else, was on my route to school from one of the apartments I lived at in State College. Never got sprayed, but I must have seen skunks a dozen times in a few alleys, right in town. The first time I just about crashed my trek trying to avoid it. I must have had an 8am class that semester.

I know when I get a strong whiff, my first though is always "smells like home". Skunks I rather like the smell, makes me feel alive. Cow manure, don't mind it, but I can't stand driving past hog farms with the wrong wind.

Its chickens for me. Friends always had them when I was a kid. My mom has them. My uncle. But I never get that "Smells Like Home" feeling when it comes to chickens. Nasty things.

[slugworth]

almost every night.
Old ones suffer from incontinence and just drip when walking.
After mowing my garden down to the ground I see new holes dug every day them looking for grubs.