# What's tearing up my lawn?



## stebo (Jun 5, 2006)

The last two nights something has been tearing up my grass. From a distance, it looks like mole tunnels, but when you get closer, it's something digging little holes and tearing the grass up. Looks like they are after grubs. I treated for grubs in July though. Is it voles, skunks, oppossums, *****? What do you guys think? If it's a vole, how do I catch it. I have a small live trap and a bigger live trap. What kind of bait for moles or skunks, etc? Thanks.
Could crows be causing this damage too?


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## mhodnettjr (Jan 30, 2005)

could be any of the above, it its from above ground good chance of a skunk. Some fish or other strong smelling meat will make quick work of the skunk. I caught a skunk this summer that reached through the holes of the trap and dug the whole trap about 3 inches below the ground.


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## Northcountry (Feb 4, 2004)

This exact time last year, my lawn was getting destroyed by a skunk. Every night, 50-100 new holes in the lawn, some big enough to fit a pop can into! :rant: I use grub control and I knew thats not what he was after...it was earthworms, which I have a ton of.

I knew it was a skunk by the shape of the holes. They go down at a 45-degree angle and end in a point like you dug it with your finger.

For trapping bait, I tried hard-boiled eggs, fish and cat food. He actually ignored it all and kept digging more holes every night!

So I "matched the hatch" by gathering a couple tablespoons of worms and mashing them up. I made a mound of dirt on top of my lawn and created a little dirthole set in it...baited with the worm mash.

Next morning, Bingo! Even with all the other traps and baits out...he was caught in the worm-bait set  

Heres the before and after pics....



















If you look closely, you'll see that I rigged the trap to a slide wire to move the skunk off the lawn before he made his catch circle. Worked like a charm!

Hope this helps.


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## wally-eye (Oct 27, 2004)

skunk..........


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## Swamp Ghost (Feb 5, 2003)

Northcountry said:


> If you look closely, you'll see that I rigged the trap to a slide wire to move the skunk off the lawn before he made his catch circle. Worked like a charm!


Nice!


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## stebo (Jun 5, 2006)

That's exactly what my lawn looks like! I'm going to try a live trap tonight baited with bananas. I'll keep my fingers crossed. If this doesn't work, I'll try your method! Thanks!!!!!!


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## ENCORE (Sep 19, 2005)

Skunk is the problem! Lil' Stinkers.
I took 3 out the other day and there's more back. All the wife's bulbs, the yard and 1/2 the orchard is tore up.
A cracker with a little peanut butter and trap worked on one.
A can of Coca Cola worked on the other 2. Time to get another can of Coke.


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## stebo (Jun 5, 2006)

ENCORE said:


> Skunk is the problem! Lil' Stinkers.
> I took 3 out the other day and there's more back. All the wife's bulbs, the yard and 1/2 the orchard is tore up.
> A cracker with a little peanut butter and trap worked on one.
> A can of Coca Cola worked on the other 2. Time to get another can of Coke.


A can of Coke? How did you rig that up? I sure hope I get the little bastage tonight. One or two more nights of this and my lawn will look like a warzone. I DID have one of the nicest lawns in the neighborhood. It sucks to spend all summer taking care of the lawn and busting my butt on in, only to have a skunk trash it in a couple of nights.


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## Dave Lyons (Jun 28, 2002)

Nobody should be using the can of coke. It kills EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!! Even your DOGS!!!!!!!!!! And then guys like me have to go crawl under a house to pull out dead skunks and ***** and other such animals. It is against the LAW and that is a FEDERAL LAW!!!!!!!!!!!!

And before anyone wants to tell my its not a FEDERAL law been broke. You are using a substance that has to pass FEDERAL arena's to be used. I hope enough of you idiots that use it GET caught. And then a product that was once good for its intended propose will no longer be available.

Dave


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## Raf (Jan 23, 2006)

instead of calling people idiots why dont you explain the method and why it kills animals? i have never heard of this and am interested, anyhow thanks for letting us know it is illegal.


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## Dave Lyons (Jun 28, 2002)

No thanks Raf,

I will not explain it, its illegal period.

The people that use it are WRONG!!!!!!!

And people that are using this method KNOW ITS WRONG!!!!!!

Dave


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## trotterlg (Oct 26, 2004)

I'm an old guy and a can of Coke killing a Skunk is a new one on me too. Guess I have lead a sheltered (however legal non Coke can killer) kind of life. Please, some person with more knowledge than I please tell us how this works, don't want to rot in the slammer next time a skunk digs a part full coke can out of my garbage! Larry


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## Dave Lyons (Jun 28, 2002)

Guys its an over the counter product that is used in Coke. 

Thats it.

Dave


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## Liver and Onions (Nov 24, 2000)

We have talked about using fly bait and Coke or Pepsi on here before. Search raccoons and fly bait. Also can be found on the internet. A good number of sweet corn growers use it to kill many ***** every year. 

L & O


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## FixedBlade (Oct 14, 2002)

*And it is 100% illegal. This is why I got into ADC work. SO people didn't try home remedies on unsuspecting animals. Poisioning is simply the worst way to die. It's cruel and inhumane.* Here is a little story for you. I went to a customers house who has a stink comeing from somewhere but she didn't know where is was comeing from. In talking with her while looking at her house she informed me that raccoons were going in and out of the holes in the soffits. She had tried to get rid of them but she wasn't able to. She went on to tell me of the coke treatment that someone recommended to her. I went into her attic to find the decomposing bodies of an entire family of raccoons. She paid a high price for trying to do it herself.


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## glockman55 (Mar 9, 2006)

stebo said:


> That's exactly what my lawn looks like! I'm going to try a live trap tonight baited with bananas. I'll keep my fingers crossed. If this doesn't work, I'll try your method! Thanks!!!!!!


What are you gonna do if you catch a live skunk? Got lots of tomato juice I hope?:lol:


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## outdoor junkie (Sep 16, 2003)

Sit up all night with a light and a 12 gauge and blow his stinkin head off ! Is that illegal too?


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## Raf (Jan 23, 2006)

one of my friend caught lots of skunks last year behind his house. most of them never sprayed. He used to drown them in a 50 gallon drum of water still in the cage. he said even when they did spray underwater it was not strong at all. One thing he did to help was put cardboard around the cage so that the skunk was not as nervous when he walked up to it.


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## walkercoonhunter (Feb 17, 2006)

Ive seen the coke can used lots of times, never once did the skunk go more then 15 feet from the can????


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## FixedBlade (Oct 14, 2002)

Quote; "Ive seen the coke can used lots of times, never once did the skunk go more then 15 feet from the can????"

Right. On a rach style house the height from the deck to the soffit was about 8'. If you don't mix it strong enough it takes longer to kill. The problem is that there are no mixing directions for killing ***** on the poision container.


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## ENCORE (Sep 19, 2005)

FixedBlade,
How do you propose stopping the 10's of thousands of dollars in damage that these varmints do every year? *Not trying to start a riff*, but something has to be done and I'm wondering what your recommendation is.
Last year alone, we lost somewhere between 12 to 15 acres of corn. At over 120 bushel per acre, that's a dent in the savings account. Gas prices may have come down, but diesel is expensive and equipment doesn't run on air. No matter how many den trees have been cut, the population has and is exploding further. Just this year alone, the wife has replaced a couple hundred bucks worth of bird feeders and the place still looks like Red Green lives here. _A very good friend works at a grainery and litteraly has to kick them out of the way and, they have no fear of the workers_.
*These varmints are walking around and living in the grains that make our childrens bread, etc. You just don't hear about it and probably don't want to know it. Its not something that bread manufacturers want the public to know.*
People spend thousands on sod, landscaping, fertilizer, grub control, etc. only to end up with their hard work destroyed.
*Our negative mind sets and/or anger would be better directed towards P.E.T.A. and those who oppose trapping and/or hunting with hounds*. Back in the day, when you heard a hound at night, farmers knew that somewhere a varmint was going to hit the ground. Today, even those who hunt, trap and support the hunting and shooting sports are likely to call the sherriff and complain about tresspassing.
One local DNR officer is wondering WHEN, not if, Michigan will see an outbreak of rabies.
Licensed animal control/pest trappers can charge $30+ a varmint and may only relocate it to become a problem for someone else. Well $30 isn't much to get rid of one varmint, but, when you have 56 like a friend took from inside his barn and garden, that amounts to about $1,680.
You may not agree with all the ways that people may use get rid of varmints, but when they're causing hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of damage, people will make the attempt to rid them.
Cost saving and practical suggestions?


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## skidway (Jan 11, 2004)

Here's one:
The vineyard owners on Old Mission peninsula have suffered heavy losses because of *****. They say the **** know when the grapes are ripe before the vintner and I can attest to that. They won't pay an ADC man and they won't let you trap because of the high density fox population that they're trying to protect for "rodent control". Their answer was to string a 24" 3 wire electric fence around the vineyard and it's working. Between the mist nets over the vines and the fence one owner said he'll probably harvest 80-90% of his crop as opposed to as low as 50% in past years.Yeah, it cost money but should pay for itself in 2 harvests. The **** there are thick but when they need them trapped the fur is worthless and distemper is in the area and will probably thin them out. Also, I can't think of single ADC operator who relocates and releases **** and skunk.

As far as not wanting hounds on their property anymore; well, it's their property and they pay the taxes. The days of letting the hounds run wherever they want to go in certain areas of the northern lower are numbered. It used to be OK and now it's not. Too many door slamming transplants, slob outdoorsmen of all types and tree huggers are changing the way things are done. We have to live with that whether we like it or not.


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## ENCORE (Sep 19, 2005)

skidway said:


> Here's one:
> The vineyard owners on Old Mission peninsula have suffered heavy losses because of *****. They say the **** know when the grapes are ripe before the vintner and I can attest to that. They won't pay an ADC man and they won't let you trap because of the high density fox population that they're trying to protect for "rodent control". Their answer was to string a 24" 3 wire electric fence around the vineyard and it's working. Between the mist nets over the vines and the fence one owner said he'll probably harvest 80-90% of his crop as opposed to as low as 50% in past years.Yeah, it cost money but should pay for itself in 2 harvests. The **** there are thick but when they need them trapped the fur is worthless and distemper is in the area and will probably thin them out. Also, I can't think of single ADC operator who relocates and releases **** and skunk.
> 
> As far as not wanting hounds on their property anymore; well, it's their property and they pay the taxes. The days of letting the hounds run wherever they want to go in certain areas of the northern lower are numbered. It used to be OK and now it's not. Too many door slamming transplants, slob outdoorsmen of all types and tree huggers are changing the way things are done. We have to live with that whether we like it or not.


We had to put up the electric fence for the orchard. You're right, there's a considerable expense to it. 
Unfortunately, you're exactly right, we have to live with it as far as the hounds go. Boy..... back in the day.......!


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## Dave Lyons (Jun 28, 2002)

Encore,

Heres the problem with lawns. You can do all the grub control, fertilizer all that and you still won't stop an animal damage problem. If it was moles you had trouble with killing grubs won't work period. If it skunks same thing. Wait till you see a **** "grubbing" I wish I would have taken pics the homeowner darn near had to start over with his lawn.

Mammals are not bugs. You can't just spray something to make them go away. You need to take them out. What people need to do is call someone to rid of this problem if they can't remove them* legally* You might be amazed at the price. But you say its costing you money not to kill them so why not pay before it becomes a problem. It called preventative work or management in the trapping and hunting field.

I have trapped for farmers since I started trapping all year. In fact I have a story I will side track on.

I stopped at a farm in Ravenna to ask to fur trap there land. Farmer said no, no problem left a card and keep working. Two weeks went by and I get a call from the farmer. He said will you come trap woodchucks and **** right now. I said no problem but I said I am either charging you or have rights to fur trap the land (1,080 acres) They said no problem trap anytime. So I took care of the problems they had in a week time.

Well I guess if people just paid a little up front (before a major problem) It would save them in the long run. And for the farmers maybe instead or letting the deer hunters be GOD!!!! Let a trapper work the hunters during bow season (I don't trap land during gun season). There are ways for everyone to win but hunters are so worried a trappers is going to mess up there hunt. I will say the deer look at my truck just like a farmers truck within a week. In fact I have put guys on good bucks because I am there more then any hunter.


Dave


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## Shop Rat (Apr 8, 2006)

Dave Lyons said:


> Encore,
> 
> Heres the problem with lawns. You can do all the grub control, fertilizer all that and you still won't stop an animal damage problem. If it was moles you had trouble with killing grubs won't work period. If it skunks same thing. Wait till you see a **** "grubbing" I wish I would have taken pics the homeowner darn near had to start over with his lawn.
> 
> ...


 

I would like to add a funny story that happend at my house. When I first moved in, the skunks were all over. One night I worked late and when I pulled into the driveway there was a family (4 or 5) skunks next to my driveway on the neighbors side tugging at the sod like a dog playing tug-of-war. I parked right next to them, got out and they did not even stop.


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## FixedBlade (Oct 14, 2002)

Encore. Have your farmer friend get on the Michigan Trappers Association web site. There he will find the farmers assistance program. He can sign up or send an email to the M.T.A. and request a trapper from the area to trap the animals during season. This will surely help your farmer friend. As for the other guy with one skunk. If cannot do it himself then he should hire a pro. It's not going to cost him 10's of thousands of dollars. Well it might,,, if he gets caught poisioning them.


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## walkercoonhunter (Feb 17, 2006)

Most farmers I know dont get online. Heck most of them dont know how to turn it on. LOL


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## 22 Chuck (Feb 2, 2006)

I know we have all heard about coke eating the rust off a nail but killing dogs?? Dogs stomachs are not much different than peoples.


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## Dave Lyons (Jun 28, 2002)

CL,

You need to read all the post. Coke is used with flybait as posted by L and O. And Yes this mixture will kill your dogs.

Dave


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