How to get a skunk to move... (1 Viewer)

ReallyGoodUsername

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A juvenile skunk decided to camp out underneath my kayak propped up against the outside of my apartment. My neighbor just informed me of it this morning. I haven't used my kayak since I got back from being out of town so it's possible it's set up shop and been there for 2-3 weeks now but I'm hoping it got caught out after sunrise and will find it's way home once nightfalls.

Just incase it's still there tomorrow, I wanted to see if anyone's used any of the sprays or motion detection light/sound repellants available on the market. While getting a trap of some sort and relocating it is also an option, I'm hoping getting it to out and propping the kayak off the ground (so there's no ground cover) will do the trick.
 
I haven't tried any purchased items. But they hate the smell of citrus, amonnia and mothballs. I used mothballs near a barn opening once and it left pretty quick.
I would try trapping it last. It will spray for sure.
 
I would simply devise a way to flip the kayak over and get out of the way quickly. They aren’t super aggressive with their spray nor do they spray indiscriminately. It probably won’t have time to identify you specifically as a threat and tag you.

FWIW I had to break up a fight between my dog and a skunk once at night near our garbage cans and I got sprayed at close range with the full business. The spray doesn’t even “stink” when it’s actually on you. That is the diluted smell. It’s more of a caustic chemical smell/irritant. I took showers in V8 etc and used other methods and still couldn’t get the stink off me for more than a week. Even longer to get it out of the house. You are a gambler right? Good luck :)
 
I haven't tried any purchased items. But they hate the smell of citrus, amonnia and mothballs. I used mothballs near a barn opening once and it left pretty quick.
I would try trapping it last. It will spray for sure.
Thanks for the info, looks like all of those are suggested in multiple places so I'll probably start there.

Upon reflection I also definitely won't have to trap it because worst case I slowly lay the kayak flat (I have a cover on it) and the skunk wouldn't be able to get underneath it so would leave anyway.
 
Could you throw a baseball or something at the kayak to scare it out? Hopefully it will run far enough that you could move the kayak and just like that no more skunk home.
 
I had a skunk family take up residence under my deck. I got a safe distance, and sprayed the hell out of them with a hose. They never came back. I can't say this is an approved method, nor that it would work again. But it was kinda fun, and at least for me, it was effective.
 
Do you have a black cat and a can of white paint?

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My backyard about a month ago. Neighbors and I both called animal control and had it removed. They can have rabies and be more aggressive. I would not mess with it yourself. After it was gone, I put moth balls under the shed where is was living to keep away it's relatives.

PXL_20210728_230726313.jpg
 
Supposedly, skunks don't like loud noises. (From the internet, not from personal experience.)
Originally read this all as one sentence and was thinking what, you have to take your laptop out to the garden with the volume on and connect to the net!
 
I haven't tried any purchased items. But they hate the smell of citrus, amonnia and mothballs. I used mothballs near a barn opening once and it left pretty quick.
I would try trapping it last. It will spray for sure.
This ^^ they will spray you the minute you try and move or get close to the trap - lol.
 

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