This is the third time we have awakened to the smell being so strong in the house that you can't stand it. 

I'm sitting here this morning gagging and with burning sinuses.....all from a skunk!  We have always had a lot of skunks in our neighborhood so it isn't a new problem, but apparently there is one fellow that is unusually potent this year.  This is the third time we have awakened to the smell being so strong in the house that you can't stand it.  While I haven't noticed a problem, the kids insist that the smell clings to their clothing and that their lockers (and the lockers on either side of them) reek by the end of the day from their jackets.  We have looked, there is no place for him to be getting under the house so the smell is getting in some other way.  Could you ask the PhancyPages readers what to do about skunks?  Calls to the Game Commission don't produce any action as they are under staffed and don't have the manpower to deal with a skunk......maybe if he was actually in the house.  Since we are in the suburbs, shooting him (if we could ever see him) isn't an option.  We have box traps, but what on earth would we do with him if we caught him?  His stink is so strong that I'd hate to take a chance on anyone getting bombed.  We need ideas to get rid of this critter!   Stacy
 
This one comes from Country Gal:

This is a great skunk remedy.  We first head about it on WHO Radio which is Iowa's main talk-show station.  This is for the removal of that awful smell.  We have a lot of skunks (the animal kind not people) living in Iowa.  You would have to set out traps for the skunk family or have an exterminator come out to rid you of the animals.  This will only remove their little gift they leave behind.....THAT AWFUL SCENT THAT MAKES YOU WANT TO THROW-UP YOUR TOE-NAILS.

 
SKUNK ODOR KILLER
 
1/4 CUP OF BAKING SODA
3% PEROXIDE........1 QUART
1 TEASPOON OF LIQUID DISH SOAP
 
Mix this together and wash animal or surface of area contaminated with skunk spray.  This works great and will not stain like tomato juice which isn't effective against this odor.

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This remedy comes from Arlene Correll, Home Farm Herbery

We had some under the stained glass studio and I went to Dollar general and bought several boxes of moth balls. I opened the boxes and pitched the moth balls under there.

 
It got rid of the smell and the skunks
 
"Tread the Earth Lightly" and in the meantime
may your day be filled with...
Peace, Light and Love,
Arlene

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As for the skunk problem, I do not know of anything that really takes away the smell of a skunk except time. I had one spray the side of my house two years ago, and it took about 2 months before the smell really went away.

The one that sprayed my house was rabid, and Roger killed it with a shot gun before it could get to any animals or us.

I am sorry, but when we were kids and a skunk got us, mother made us bath in tomato juice to get rid of the smell. I really do not think that did any good though. I think she was just trying to get rid of excess tomatoes.

I do recommend getting rid of the skunk from under the house by placing food where it can get to it. While it is out, shoot it. I have seen people coax them into the humane type of traps, but then you are faced with the problem of getting it out of that without being sprayed. One man I knew would walk up to the back of the skunk in the trap and cover it with a heavy cloth like an old quilt. He then took it into the woods and removed the quilt opened the trap and moved away until the skunk made it's exit from the trap.

Byron Tumlinson, T-N-T Farm

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http://www.humboldt.edu/~wfw2/skunkspray.shtml This site gives lots of good information you might be able to use.

http://www.mediarelations.ksu.edu/WEB/News/NewsReleases/listskunk6159.html  This solution is suppose to take the smell off a pet but tells why the old remedies do not work.

http://www.ext.vt.edu/departments/envirohort/articles/misc/skunkmng.html  This is excellent management info and explains how a fence won’t work unless it is built to keep out the digging, burrowing critter such as a skunk. Good stuff.

http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/wildlife/nf15.htm   The title of this page is “Removing Skunk Odor from Clothing” and is what it says. Informative.

Hope these will help. I have written my account of this past Saturday’s adventures with Max waking me at 1 a.m. when a skunk had come up into the yard. Not just to the water pan like the night before but to between his house and the front door. There was about 5 feet where he couldn’t get to and that’s where he was when Randy shot him again and again. Oh my. The smell was terrible until the rain washed it away. I saw Max get hit in the face with spray over and over again. Poor puppy but he would have ripped its head off if only he could get to it. It did seem to be trying to get under out house. There were several other openings he had missed. We are an area with a high rate of rabies but it is the season for love to blind the most cautious of critters. I have never tried this method but had asked around once and got this back as a remedy to keep the returning skunk away. Open a can of tuna just only enough to put a penny inside. Set the can out where the skunk frequents your area. It was reported that the can disappeared and the skunk never returned. I never had to try it though so I cannot recommend it myself.

This is from Nita, my first response when Stacy asked for help. The recipe that Country Gal gives at the top of the page is nearly identical to the one on the last link for Removing Skunk Odor from Clothing. I like Arlene's remedy of tossing the moth balls under the house to remove the smell. I have yet to hear back from Stacy on how it is going. Our own smell has completely disappeared.