Wildlife division · Skunks
Skunks under the deck.
The smell is what makes people call. The den under the deck, the shed or the concrete steps is what they are actually paying to solve — because when this one moves on, the hole it used is still there for the next.
1–3 hours on site · Photos and a written estimate · Any fee confirmed up front
Signs there is a den, not just a visitor
Skunks pass through almost every yard in Central Virginia at some point, and that is not a job. What makes it a job is one taking up residence underneath something, and the signs are specific.
- The smell strongest in the same spot every day — one corner of the deck, one end of the shed — rather than drifting through the yard and fading
- A hole at ground level against a structure, with smooth worn edges and flattened, packed earth at the entrance
- Shallow, cone-shaped digs across the lawn, roughly the width of a thumb — that is grub feeding, not damage in itself, but it tells you one is working the yard nightly
- Coarse black and white hair caught on the underside of decking or a shed skirt
- A dog that has become very interested in one particular gap
- Activity at dusk and again before dawn, on the same route
Not sure whether it is a skunk, a groundhog or something else using the same gap? Send a photo of the hole to (826) 203-0343 — the entrance usually tells us.
Why your house
A deck is a den with a roof already on it.
Skunks are not climbers and they are not chewing their way into anything. They are looking for a dark, defensible space at ground level with something solid overhead, and a deck, a shed on skids, a porch or a set of concrete steps provides exactly that with no work required.
Sometimes there is no work required at all because the hole is already there. Skunks will readily take over a burrow another animal dug and abandoned, which is why a groundhog problem you dealt with last year can turn into a skunk problem this year through the same opening.
Why removing the animal is the short half of the job
Because the den site does not change when the animal does. The gap under the steps is still a gap, the ground under the shed is still diggable, and skunks are not in short supply in this part of Virginia. Deal with the animal and leave the opening and you have bought yourself a season.
What we cannot do
Take it somewhere else. Virginia does not permit releasing a trapped nuisance animal elsewhere, and a quote that promises trap-and-relocate is describing something that cannot legally happen. We would rather tell you that before you pay for it than after.
How we handle it
Work out what is under there, and whether there are young
This is the part that determines everything else. A female with young too small to travel changes the timing completely, and getting it wrong is how a den ends up sealed with animals still in it.
Resolve the animal deliberately, not in a hurry
Quietly, at the right time of day, with the right equipment, and with the least provocation we can manage. Most of the time nothing gets sprayed. We are not going to promise you that, because it is a skunk.
Then close the ground for good
A stainless steel dig barrier set about twelve inches into the ground along the deck, shed, steps or porch, so there is nothing left to dig under or crawl through. It is the same hardware that solves groundhogs, for the same reason, and once the ground settles over it you do not see it.
Exclusion work carries a 1-year warranty unless we have discussed otherwise.
Skunk questions we get asked
Something smells like skunk but I haven't seen one. Is one living here?
Possibly, and possibly one just passed through the yard — the smell carries a long way and lingers. What tells you it is resident rather than passing is a repeatable source: the smell strongest at one corner of the deck or step every day, rather than drifting and fading. A den also usually shows a hole with worn, smooth edges and flattened ground at the entrance.
Can you get it out without it spraying?
We work in a way that gives it the least reason to, and most of the time it does not. We will not promise you it will not, because it is a skunk and that is its one defence. Anyone who guarantees otherwise is guessing on your behalf.
There's one under my deck right now with babies.
Then timing matters and forcing it will go badly. Young that are too small to leave with the female are the reason a den gets closed up with animals still under it, which is the worst outcome for everybody. Call us and we will look at where it is in the season before anyone decides anything.
Can you trap it and take it somewhere else?
Relocating a trapped nuisance animal is not legal in Virginia, so no — and neither can anybody else, whatever their website says about trap-and-release. That is exactly why our work centres on making the den site unusable rather than on removing animals one at a time forever.
How do I stop it happening again?
Close the ground. A skunk is denning under your deck or steps because it can get under them, and nothing about that changes when this particular animal is gone. A steel dig barrier along the structure removes the option permanently, which is the same hardware we use for groundhogs.
My dog got sprayed.
That is a veterinary and laundry problem rather than a wildlife one, and there is better advice for it than ours. What we can help with is the reason your dog and a skunk are meeting in the same place every evening.
Related
Something denning under the deck?
The animal moves on eventually. The opening it used does not.
1–3 hours on site · Photos and a written estimate · Any fee confirmed up front