Skunks, deer, and other pests

[makattak]

So I was a little late getting the ducks into their house last night- it was an hour after sundown instead of still twilight as I prefer.

I was talking so they didn't get frightened when I came around the duck house... and I'm very glad I did because a juvenile skunk was just beating a retreat under our fence. Little bit of a pucker factor there.

This morning, something had clearly been in the duck's pen. (The house ought to be predator proof and so it appears.)

So, I need to start doing skunk abatement. I'm planning to put fencing about 1 foot underground all around the interior pen and shed.

We also have groundhogs that have taken up residence under the shed. (Separate building from the duck house.) Harassing them has not deterred them from their "home." (They also have a penchant for chewing electrical wires they have unearthed.  

Further, either the skunk or the groundhogs or the deer that live just up the hill from us have been eating some of our apples and destroying some of my tomatoes. (They aren't eating the tomatoes, apparently they don't like the taste, but they are biting them. Teeth marks don't appear to be from a carnivore/omnivore like the skunk, but it could be the deer or the groundhog. The deer are most likely the apple-eaters off the tree, but any animal can get the windfall apples.)

So, since we are in town (not even close to the city limits, we just have several large stands of forest and open fields nearby), the APS go to methods for dealing with these pests are not legal.  

Should I call animal control or will that just compound the problem? (I'm sorry, sir, we can't/won't do anything and you aren't allowed to do anything, either.)

Trap is one idea for the groundhogs, but I could end up with the skunk, which is a headache I'd rather not deal with.

[230RN]

Have Trump build a wall?

Pee on all four corners of your property?

Avoid Officialdom at all costs, except maybe the County Extension Agent.  (They're usually less citation-hungry than other agents of da goobmint, that is, more realistic in their outlook regarding farmey problems.)

Get ready for skunk spray in advance.  There are a couple of skunkstink mitigation DIY kitchen preparations on line, including here at APS.

S,s,s? < Illegal, probably, so it's not a recommendation, just an assessment of possibilities.   (Whew, did I get out of that one legally?)

[vaskidmark]

Seconding the thought to not involve officialdom in any shape or manner.

How high-tech do you want to go?  Weekly application of predator urine extract to various wicks located near what you want to protect?  15-foot high-amperage deer fences?  Covering the duck enclave in chicken wire that is also buried 2-3 feet below grade at the perimeter?

Use smoke to find the groundhogs' entrances then encapsulate them with plaster of Paris and hope they suffocate before they burrow back to the surface?  Give up the garden/orchard and turn it into a skate park?  Get the playlist SF used to drive Noriega out?

stay safe.

[Tallpine]

You moved into the critters habitat, so get over it 

 

[BobR]

a .22, subsonic ammo and a 1 liter plastic bottle? I saw it in the movies so it must be legit.

The skunk can probably be taken care of with a live trap, a can of tuna and a blanket to cover him with after he is in the trap, then the above suggestion.

The groundhogs will be more of a problem as will the deer. Good luck

bob

[makattak]

Seconding the thought to not involve officialdom in any shape or manner.

How high-tech do you want to go?  Weekly application of predator urine extract to various wicks located near what you want to protect?  15-foot high-amperage deer fences?  Covering the duck enclave in chicken wire that is also buried 2-3 feet below grade at the perimeter?

Use smoke to find the groundhogs' entrances then encapsulate them with plaster of Paris and hope they suffocate before they burrow back to the surface?  Give up the garden/orchard and turn it into a skate park?  Get the playlist SF used to drive Noriega out?

stay safe.

Well, the chicken wire 1-2 feet below the surface is already in the plans. The ducks have a house, an inner more secure pen (which the skunk penetrated through a less than secure fence to be addressed soon) and an outer, fenced yard within my further fenced yard. The inner pen and area around the house are planned to have chicken wire beneath the ground already. The outer pen is meant to only be used in daylight.

Unfortunately, as I stated, I'm in town, so firearm discharge is both completely illegal and not an option. Possible to use CO for the skunk?

Get a trap, put it in a hole, tarp over the hole, exhaust into the tarp? Or, given that CO is slightly lighter than air, should I just do CO₂ and deal with the skunk flipping out?

Same idea for groundhogs? (After the trap and hole are fully cleaned of the skunk smell.)

[bedlamite]

Get a bottle of this before you deal with the skunk:

http://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Off-OW900-Liquid-Soaker-8-Ounce/dp/B001ATDTCG

[BobR]

An up and coming popular method for suicide is inert gas asphyxiation using helium or nitrogen. If you could get the skunk into a closed area like your hole with a tarp and flood it with helium it would do the deed and Mr. Stripes wouldn't even know what happened which would help prevent the release of that noxious fluid skunks are known for.

As far as the groundhogs it is kind of late in the year to think about trapping but it may still be done. Get a live trap, often available from your local shelter for a small deposit, and put it 3-5feet away from the burrow entrance along their path. To encourage use of the trap you can use cantaloupe, strawberries, green beans or even lettuce to bait it with. Making a little trail to the trap may help. Once you have one then what are you going to do with it? Kill it is one option, relocation about 5-10 miles away is another but make sure it is legal in your area. Rub the trap with your bait, wear gloves and hope for the best.

The deer are a problem of their own, we have a herd of 300-400 Blacktail in our community and they love tulips, apples or nearly any other ornamental you put out. I use commercially available sprays, one is the sulfuric rotten egg small and the other is pepper spray smelling. They seem to work. There are DIY recipes for both available on the web but because I use such a small amount I just buy it. You may want to mix your own because of the amount of spray you will need for a tree.

bob

[Tallpine]

Gee whiz, what about a barrel or plastic horse trough, and a garden hose 

Some assembly required 

[BlueStarLizzard]

... And here I am, kicking myself because I keep forgetting to get a salt lick or some such treat for the deer that hang around here... Even if they did come on the steps to eat my strawberries last year (Dad swears up and down it was my "pretty girl")

The only constructive thing I have to add is I would be wary of gassing the groundhogs in their home if it's under semi occupied place, unless you're planning on staying well away from that place until the decomp has passed the stinky point.

[vaskidmark]

...

The only constructive thing I have to add is I would be wary of gassing the groundhogs in their home if it's under semi occupied place, unless you're planning on staying well away from that place until the decomp has passed the stinky point.

Why do you think I suggested plaster of Paris to seal up their burrow?  Anaerobic decomposition with all sorts of worms coming in to work the soil.

stay safe.

[RoadKingLarry]

... And here I am, kicking myself because I keep forgetting to get a salt lick or some such treat for the deer that hang around here... Even if they did come on the steps to eat my strawberries last year (Dad swears up and down it was my "pretty girl")

The only constructive thing I have to add is I would be wary of gassing the groundhogs in their home if it's under semi occupied place, unless you're planning on staying well away from that place until the decomp has passed the stinky point.

5 or 6 years ago I buried a mineral block on the back of my place. The deer and other critters still tear up the spot.


So far this year the deer have wiped out my tomatoes, green beans, pinto beans, most of my flint corn and are keeping the tender leaves eaten off of my okra.

Had to dispatch a opossum Monday morning. I keep my bacon feed in a plastic trash barrel. I emptied it Sunday evening and left the lid off of it. I started to drop a sack of feed in it and saw a wad of grey fur balled up in the empty sack. I figured it was a cat that sometimes holes up in my shop so I just upended the barrel and out rolls a nasty old opossum. I went Lizzie Borden on his ass.

[wmenorr67]

Pellet gun

[roo_ster]

Bought a couple live traps online. 

They work great, unless your dog likes what you have baited them with, and then you walk outside and damn near have a coronary from laughing because the dog got her head caught in the live trap a bit and is in the process of shaking/pushing it off her head.  She got loose before i recovered from laughing.

Nonetheless, still caught several possums.

Oh, I also caught one of our chickens in a "friendly fire" incident similar to the dog above. 

[GigaBuist]

I've used 220 traps to get groundhogs before.  They work but setting them is a bear.  It's an option.

For deer supposedly Milorganite, an organic fertilizer, will deter them.  It's pretty good stuff for the lawn, doesn't cost too much, but it does smell a bit.  It's human feces.

[vaskidmark]

But it's a dried feces.

stay safe.















sorry, I just couldn't help doing that.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

I'll use a heavy mesh or hardware cloth flat on the ground running about 18 inches to the outside of the pen and it keeps the animals from digging in and I drown skunks possums and raccoons live trap blanket over top for the skunks water trough

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