North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[nottke1 <nottke1@earthlink.net>]

Jim,
To me skunks are good to have around, despite the very slight rabies risk.  
They can sense underground insects and are very adept at digging them out.  
The holes you are seeing are probably places where they have extracted grubs. 
 The main benefit for me is that yellow jacket nests are one of their 
favorite foods - by August the yellow jacket population builds here and about 
the same time I start finding holes where a skunk has dug up the nest and 
extracted each larva from the cells.  See  
http://eduscapes.com/nature/skunk/index2.htm
Jim Nottke

-----Original Message-----
>From: Jim Fruth <jfruth@tds.net>
>Sent: Jun 30, 2008 9:16 AM
>To: NAFEX <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
>Subject: [NAFEX] War on Skunks
>
>    Pet food had been disappearing overnight for several weeks so I decided 
>to put a live trap out to see who my nocturnal visitors were.  The trap was 
>sprung several times before I caught a (young) skunk - now they won't go 
>near the live trap or the bait (dog food) that we used.  Once we saw momma 
>skunk scurrying out of the yard (under a gate).
>    I put sills under all of the gates and now they are burrowing under the 
>woven wire fence.  When I plug one hole, they burrow another.  I can't put 
>sills under 1,000+ feet of fence.  I baited them with Decon Rat Poison mixed 
>in jelly and they ate the jelly leaving the Decon pellets.
>    The skunks don't seem to be doing any damage but the thought of 
>accidentally running into one gives me the creeps.  I have water set out for 
>the honeybees (I have three hives) but the water bowls are atop 5-gallon 
>pails; can skunks reach that high?  Could they be in the orchard because of 
>being able to get a regular drink?  Otherwise, the worst damage they have 
>done (besides the under-the-fence-holes) is tiny holes as though they dug up 
>an acorn that some squirrel might have hidden.  The strawberries will be 
>ripe soon and I wonder if they will eat them.  What would you do in this 
>situation?
>
>Jim Fruth
>Brambleberry Farm
>Pequot Lakes, MN  56472
>For jams, jellies & syrups:
>www.bberryfarm.com
>(877)265-6856 [Store]
>(218)831-7018 [My Cell] 
>
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Jim Nottke
Pfafftown, NC