Skunked

Just to update anyone keeping score. To date, I've trapped nine skunks and killed one for a total of 10, since December 27th.

I had enough of not being able to fill the hole they keep going down (cuz they dig it out each time, even when I mix water in with crushed limestone, which should freeze like concrete in the winter.

So after number 10 was carted off, I decided to collapse the tunnel they've been using to go from the hole opening to get under my porch, a tunnel of about four feet in length. I got a giant steel pike and started chipping at the 3" thick ice. Once I got through that I had to chip and pound through the frozen rock hard soil. Once I got through that, it got easier and I would use the pike to leverage large pieces of frozen soil up.

The area they had under the soil wasn't so much a tunnel as it was an area of about three feet in diameter and about 5-6" of crawl space before it fed under my porch. I totally collapsed that area and threw gasoline soaked rags under the porch and pounded and compacted the debris into and on top of the entry hole and I'm approaching a week with no activity. Phew! I'm not sure I'm out of the woods yet, but it's looking good so far.