How to Get Rid of Skunks: Keep Them Out of the Garden

Hey—what’s that smell? If your yard suddenly smells like a tire fire dipped in garlic, chances are you’ve got an unexpected guest: a skunk. These black-and-white critters may look cute, but skunks’ chemical warfare is no joke. If you think you’ve got a skunk hanging around your yard, it’s time to act. Here’s how to identify and deter skunks from disturbing your yard and garden.

What Are Skunks?

Skunks are nocturnal animals that are naturally mild-mannered and nonaggressive; they usually eat small animals and insects for dinner instead of your garden. They occasionally visit gardens; if they do, it may be because corn or other plants are close to the ground.

The skunk claims homesteading rights from coast to coast. Four species of skunks are distributed across the country, including the striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis) and the spotted skunk (Spilogale putorius). The common striped skunk lives mostly in sparse forests and fields.

Skunks can be very nice to have around because they dig up and feed on the larvae of cutworms, hornworms, Japanese beetles, and other crop-destroying insect life. However, skunks are not only partial to insects; they will eat leaves, buds, grasses, grains, garbage, fruit or berries within reach, and even small game. They also may disturb your plants while digging for these grubs. This is what can make them a bit of a nuisance to gardeners.

Although their nocturnal wanderings around our fields and gardens, lawns, and flowerbeds cause us occasional inconvenience and uneasiness, these are minor faults that can be readily overlooked by the time the Harvest Moon begins to shine. It is then that the skunk’s appetite for the pests that plague our gardens helps make it possible for that Moon to glow over a cornucopia brimming with plenty.

Why and How Do Skunks Spray?

Skunks are famous for their skunk spray—you can smell an angry skunk from over a mile away. Furthermore, a skunk can “shoot” you from 10 to 12 feet—sideways, up, or down—with little apparent effort. Most gardeners worry more about a skunk spraying in the garden, on the gardener, or on a pet than about a skunk chewing up some veggies.

Under a skunk’s tail are two pouches equipped with a pair of ducts that remain hidden in peacetime but quickly expose themselves when danger threatens. Their foul ammunition is a golden-yellow liquid whose active ingredient is the sulfide mercaptan. Each of the two pouches contains enough ammunition for six rounds. After the supply is exhausted, a week is required to replenish it. This spray means skunks are feared by nearly all animals, including most of humankind.

A skunk’s warfare is purely defensive. When confronted by a menacing human or clamorous dog, a skunk tries to sidestep by ambling off. If you find a skunk, turn back, and you should be fine. A skunk will turn, face its aggressor, and stamp its forefeet if pursued. This is its first warning. At this point, you should be running!

The second warning comes when its tail, all but the tip, is hoisted. If this ultimatum fails to establish peace, the white tip rises and spreads out, and the skunk, snapping into a U-position with snout and rear toward the target, delivers a charge of spray. At this point, it is simply too late, and your dog (for example) probably smells foul.

People usually get sprayed when walking through their yards in the dark (if you can’t see a skunk, you can’t run away) or if they disturb a skunk while it’s eating. Those are good reasons to keep skunks out of your yard in the first place—and to always carry a flashlight!