Day Six of the Great Skunk War

That, my friends, is what a skunk trap looks like after it has been OVERTURNED, and stripped of it's bait by the skunk you are trying relentlessly to capture.

The more knowledge we gather about skunks and the more we think about the situation, the more we think that he is a she.

The plan tonight?

Another chicken finger (with peanut butter) in the bigger cage. My dad and I will both be on the clubhouse to observe, assuming it doesnt go in the trap, and then I will try to follow it for as long as I can. Then we will move the trap outside of the enclosure and put it where we think it has best chance of being used. It will also be weighted down with a rock.

What we think happened is that it went in to get the chicken wing, but was bigger than the cage, so when the door closed it just thrashed about until the cage was off. Tonight that shouldn't happen.

Come on back later for Part 2, after the skunk's 9:15 excursion.



UPDATE!!!

Part Two: Proceeding With Caution

Once again, 9:15.  Only this time, he stayed in back of the bush that blocks his hole for a few minutes.  May dad and I were both on the clubhouse this time, anticipating where he would go.

Unfortunately, that is exactly what the skunk was planning on.

He stayed in the enclosure for a good 3-5 minutes. Tonight we could barely see him. It had rained, so the leaves were still wet making him harder to hear.  He managed to silently make a tunnel through the leaves that plugged the fence hole, and then, hugging the fence, moved around the back of the shed.

His only mistake was hitting the bush that overflows the enclosure; that caused both of us to think he might have gotten out undetected.  After that I jumped down and moved into the open part of our yard behind the shed area, trying to see if he was around there.  Right before I jumped down, however, I saw a patch of black run down the length of the property line between our trees and the neighbor's yard.  I gave a big point for my dad as I ran around to get in my new (out-of-spray-range) position.

A few seconds later I heard two small whimpers from my porch.  It seamed that my mother managed to come outside undetected as well.  As we did the first time this happened, both of us ran to where she was sitting on the deck.

The object I saw running down the property line was indeed that furry little bastard.  He then came along the deck area, only to retreat around the time my mom saw him.

After that he vanished like a fart in the wind.

He was expecting us this time, and he was very careful to change directions, thinking we might have been over where he was last night.

The new, larger trap is outside the enclosure tonight, so once again we turned on the security lights.  We don't want any other animals getting themselves caught in the trap, and we know that the SKUNK isn't scared of the light anymore.I'm not sure how well that trap is going to work now, because I'm fairly certain the skunk realizes that.....



I will check again when I go to bed if anything looks disturbed...which it probably won't.  Come back tomorrow as the Skunk Saga has officially reached a week.


(Actually, we think the skunk was there last summer as well, but he was undetected, and we do not rule out the summer before.  Last year our dog was no longer around, and the year before last he wasn't going that far out in the backyard.  The theory behind this is that, since this was the perfect burrow last year, the skunk isn't willing to give it up, not when it is this close to the time it needs to lock down for the winter. )

The Great Skunk War- Day 5

July 7th- 5:29pm

Part One: Spy Games
He's back...again, and by the looks of things, he is getting more aggressive.

 Just blew right on through those rocks, didn't we?  That wire fence? I weighed it down with the rocks...and it was under dirt.  As for our trap?

 Empty...besides the two sardines left in it...I guess our little friend doesn't eat fish. (We are working on a name for him, by the way.)

He also expanded his front porch a little bit:

 But all of this is ok.  We have a new plan for this evening.  Besides filling in the hole a little...I'm going to be trying a new plan of attack.  My father and I agree that new bait is needed, but we haven't decided on where to put the trap.  Putting it outside of the enclosure brings us the risk of catching something other than the skunk.  So, as of this moment, we haven't come to an agreement on where our trap should go.  Needless to say, it would be nice to have multiple traps...but it turns out that these little guys are $30 a pop. Tonight's bait will be a chicken finger smeared with peanut butter...I may throw an Oreo in there for good measure.

But, tonight i have a new goal...and a new Crow's Nest:

 My trusty clubhouse. it sits directly across from the enclosure, and the area of the fence that our furry friend seems to think is the easiest way out.

I am going to sit up here and wait.  It will probably be long...and will probably be boring.  But by sitting here i will see where he goes.  I won't try to stop him, but I might follow him after he moves a long a bit.  All we know is usually leaves the yard on the right side. With my Maglite in hand, I will wait for the enemy to show himself.


This post will be updated...check back later.

This is an all out war.


UPDATE!


Part Two: Quiet as a...skunk

9:15.



That's the wake-up bell, it seems.  9:15, just about on the dot is when that skunk comes out from under our shed. It has been 9:15 each of the last four nights, and it was again tonight.  I cluttered the skunk's burrow in leaves, and did the same for the hole under the fence, so I would be able to hear when that little guy was moving around.

And it just barely worked.

This thing is quiet.  As in, barely noticeable, quiet. He barely made a sound going through those leaves!  And I made a BRIER out of those leaves!

It inspected the cage, but had no interest in going inside. I didn't think to bring a camera outside, but I suppose I could have. My plan, you see, was to let him do his thing and just follow him a safe distance, to see where he goes.  But, unfortunately, he started heading straight for my dad, who felt he needed to blast him with his Maglite.  I still followed him, but he quickly disappeared into our neighbor's bushes. And something about two people rumaging around in your backyard just seems a bit too creepy for me.

We think the main reason he is uninterested in the cage is because of it's size.  Tonight was the first time we got a really good look at him.  This thing is HUGE!  And it's tail looks like just another body waddling along behind it, and there is no way that this cage could house both the skunk and his tail.  Tomorrow, we are upgrading.

Our fear is that he is, in fact, a she. And that she is a mom-to-be, and that is why she refuses to give up her prime spot. We can only hope that this is not the case.

Bring on Day Six.

Operation: Skunk-Day 4

July 6th-Day Four
 Part One- He's back, and he's pissed off.

Well would you look at this:

Two planks of wood decking?  Child's play for our furry friend. He simply expanded his hole, and then pushed rocks out of the way to make a new hole. This is not a defeat, this is motivation!

Reinforcements! And...

Ace in the hole? This is the non-lethal trap we are putting in the middle of the enclosure, which looks like so, by the way:

  The trap will be placed in the center right next to that bird hotel(...that's right...hotel) with a couple of sardines at the far end.  The trap is designed to catch a multitude of critters, most of which are smaller than a skunk. So to make sure our friend gets himself in all the way, the one door will be closed, that is the side where the sardines will be.  In the middle is a plate where you're supposed to put the food, but we will not be doing that. Instead the one end of the plate will be propped up, so it can only be tripped from one end.  The skunk can only spray if he gets his tail up, and that ceiling is too short to accommodate this function...we hope.

Sounds like a pretty decent plan, no? As far as the trap's effectiveness goes...well I guess we will just have to wait and see, now won't we...

Pat Two: Inconceivable!!!!

11:30pm

I have just checked the trap.  It is intact, exactly where I left it. We left his hole uncovered and the security lamp unplugged...we want him out, not to be scared back in for the night.

I don't have a picture, but that little bastard just dug right around my newly reinforced fence!  And by dug around, I mean he uncovered the buried end of the wire fence...and BENT it upward to get underneath it (a skunk needs 4 inches to get through...we've done our research). That beast is out there right now and there isn' t a damn thing I can do to keep him in. At night he could attack from any direction!  He clearly is angered and won't go down without a fight.

New bait tomorrow...something with peanut butter.

He's goin' down. We'll cement his ass in if we have to!

And if all else fails:











Just um...ignore that part at the end...that won't happen to us. 

Operation: Remove Skunk From Under Shed

Well hello again, world.

I have been quite busy the last month, blogging away for wordbridgeblog.blogspot.com, which you should have already checked out given my previous post.  And although I will still be putting a lot of work into that site, I felt the need to tell you all an exciting little story from my unemployed summer.

As the title implies, my family discovered a skunk living underneath the shed in my backyard.  The following is the breakdown of our plan thus far.

Day One- Saturday, July 3rd- Approx. 8:00pm

I was walking down my lengthy backyard to observe the fireworks I heard in the distance.  They had been obstructed by the trees on the side of my yard, and I was walking toward more open ground. While I was passing my shed...I heard scratching.

For a while we have suspected that a rabbit had burrowed under the shed. For this reason (as well as the multitude of squirrels and rabbits that call our yard home) we had long since enclosed the flower garden next to the shed in small wire fencing.

When I took a flashlight to this area, however, I saw something crawling in the hole my father recently blocked with plastic.  It was black and white.

Day Two- Sunday, July 4th

The next morning, we discovered that a hole had been dug under the plastic laid atop the skunk's hole. From there, we not only filled-in said hole, but filled in any weak spots in the rock wall/fence that surrounded the garden.

My dad installed a small door into the fence, blocking off the other side (where it appeared the skunk exited the enclosure). The goal of this was to insure that the skunk went out the door, so it could be closed off, effectively blocking the skunk out of the garden. Our hope was that skunk would get the idea of "Better abandon that burrow!".  No such luck.

My dad sat outside and waited for the skunk to leave.  When it did, he chased it (from a distance) out of the backyard, and closed off the gate. With no idea when the skunk would return, we ended the mission for the evening (After making sure the shed perimeter was secure, and that the skunk's hole was blocked).


Day 3- Monday, July 5th- Revenge of the Skunk
 Part One: Upping Our Game

The morning brought bad news. The skunk had returned to his home underneath the shed.  The small beast dug a hole underneath the fence, and then again underneath the blockade of his hole. With no fear of the nocturnal animal coming out in the day light, we set-up a security light that had been kicking around the shed on the wall facing the garden, reinforced the perimeter with a stronger rock set-up, and fresh, compacted dirt. The motion-sensitive light was set to go off in one-minute bursts, however, it wasn't going to be plugged in just yet.

The plan of attack for the evening was as follows: The door to the garden was once again left open, to be closed once the skunk was seen outside the enclosure. Once the skunk was out, we would turn on the security light, and cover the hole with some spare wood-decking.My dad also laid out some flour, in the hopes that it would help us track the skunk.

Part Two: The Skunk Strikes Back

The plan played out very quickly, thanks to some very lucky timing on our part.  My parents had set up chairs near the deck, facing the shed. Around dusk, they took their positions at the Crow's Nest. After about ten minutes of waiting, out popped the skunk, right on schedule, and he began to notice that he was trapped, having exited the wrong side of the garden, away from our door.

I joined the party shortly after this. After waiting for a few minutes, we decided that I should try to circle the yard to get a look at the other side of the garden.  Armed with a Maglite, a set off.

I moved very slowly, and very quietly.  Getting sprayed by a skunk was not on my agenda for the evening. I was about two steps from where I could see the shed when I heard a blood-curdling scream come from behind me. It was my mother.

My immediate thought was that there was some sort of intruder in the house.  I turned off the light, moved it to, what I'd like to call, Billy Club Position, and sprinted for the house. As I approached I heard my mother yelling something about being sprayed. She was not, but apparently the skunk managed to bypass our security forces, loop around the deck, and brush right up against her, before jetting off into the blackness. A warning, it seemed.

My father and I immediately ran to the garden.  There, on the backside of the garden, was a freshly-made hole under the fence.

That sneaky little bastard.

I plugged up the hole, while my dad set up the lamp, and covered the hole to the burrow. I then did a sweep of my entire yard and adjacent neighbor's yards (which I'm sure must have looked very creepy from inside their homes), in the hopes of finding the little rascal. No such luck.

We all went inside, for once again, we had no idea how long it would be before the skunk returned.  It also appeared that he was onto us, and wasn't going to give up his comfy home without a fight.

Part Three: The Day Isn't Over Yet

As I wrote this, I went downstairs for an ice cream cone.  It was then my dad saw the security light go off. A quick sprint (with Maglites in hand) and we were scanning the area for our furry-little friend. Nothing.  Once again, we went inside.

That is where the mission currently stands. Here is the plan for the following days:

If tomorrow, we see evidence that the skunk has returned to his little home, we will lay out one non-lethal trap. If it is caught, we will drive the little bastard to a park a few miles away, and release him. If the trap proves unsuccessful, well...then the plot thickens, doesn't it?

I'll be back tomorrow, with pictures from the battlefield.

Head over to The WordBRIDGE Blog!

Hello Friends,

So for the next few weeks I'll be running the WordBRIDGE blog and video updates from WordBRIDGE 2010 in Clemson South Carolina. I'll be posting multiple entries and videos everyday, so make sure you head over there!

I say this, because this unfortunately means I will not be updating this blog for the next few weeks. But, this is a great organization that needs your support. Head over to

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for the blog, head to the main site



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YouTube Travels: Why Dogs Are Better Than Cats

This fact was established long, long ago. Cats: pompous, vicious...evil. Dogs? Just...funny.  If nothing else, they are that. Here is evidence of my well-spent morning:

 


















Alright, alright...here's one for you Cat People Out there...








Adorable, aren't they?

Paid for Blogging?

Now this is something i will have to explore.  And I shall do so by posting this sentence;

Have a break, have a manatee

 We shall see what comes of this.