Skunks love living under decks!

How high off the ground is your deck and do you have a fence around your yard?

I ask because you could do what we did with a deck that was about a 12-18" off the ground. First you find where they're entering and exiting and then tack chicken wire all around the deck edge........the bottom can be attached to the ground with stakes or held down with stone. In the area they use for going under the deck, leave an opening in the wire, then sprinkle some flour on the ground. The flour lets you see their footprints and whether anyone has come out. Around midnight go out and check the opening and if you see tracks exiting, close the opening. The next day sprinkle some flour along the inside of their access area (under the deck) and watch for footprints. If you see some, leave the 'flap' open another night and repeat.

Skunks don't climb so if you have a solid fence, look for areas they're coming thru and close them off.

Skunks can be trapped but I've been told by the trappers that they will be destroyed afterward. I chose the non-violet method.

We had a skunk under our front step. Needless to say we had to have it removed, didn't want any visitors to get an unwelcome surprise! And yes, they do destroy skunks because they often carry rabies. When we called the guy out to trap the skunk, we actually thought it was a possum and that he would relocate it to his farm out in the country. As soon as he checked the hole, he was sure there was a skunk using the old possum hole, and there was. Our front step has since been animal proofed.

I had a skunk move under my deck once. There are cracks on the deck for cleaning. I put a sprinkler on the deck and ran the water on low some time every day. The skunk decided home sweet home was too wet and moved back in to the woods. I was riding my horse and ran across a mother skunk, three little babies came out from under her. I thought kittens were the worlds cutest animal baby until I saw those.

Acorn, they are just about the cutest little things ever.

You have to be REALLY cute to make me be willing to risk smelling like something awful, to pick you up and rescue you.

Water apparently doesn't deter my new friends, because they didn't show up until the rain started about 3 days ago. Maybe the have found the dry spot under the deck, and are camping out there. There was no sign of them last night, but I can't be sure. I will try the flower idea once it stops raining. Since it is raining, my dogs have no interest in going out for more than a quick business trip in the kennel, anyways so I really don't need to rush just yet anyways.

That's a pretty neat idea acorn! I'll keep that in mind.

I had a long time companion Mutt breed for 15 years. During her life she got "skunked" 3 times. Let me tell you tomato juice does not help at all. The poor dog had to endure that twice. After that didn't work we tried a baking soda bath. Though that help a little it wasn't much. Then we tried putting half a bottle of Brute cologne on her. By that time the poor thing was looking at me like, "aw come on buddy aren't I clean enough?" So she smelled like a skunk with Brute on. Finally We used Lysol dissinfectant which worked.
I am a hunter and woodsman. Skunks do indeed climb and quite well. They are attracted by the garbage because its easy food. It is very unusual that they come in near the dogs you have so be alerted they most likely have Rabies.
What can you do? Myself I killed them with an arrow. That may sound cruel but if you call Animal Control they will do they same with Rabid animals. If you do not care to kill them you could try passive things. One is plant lots of Marigolds around the yard they hate the smell. But it late in the season for that. Mothballs under the deck and around the dog pen and garbage will keep them away but as soon as it rains that won't work. Skunks are very easily trapped with a live trap. Just put in lots of veggies...Carrots, Apples, tomatoes and some cheese. You'll catch the stinker real quick. But I'm not going to be the one to carry it away while in the cage.
Whatever you choose to do do it fast before the dogs get bit and risk Rabies.

Unfortunately my archery skills are limited to video games, so there will be no shooting anything with arrows.

However, I'm starting to think they were making a pitstop before going home. We have been purposely leaving somewhat tempting garbage on the deck, to see if they're still coming around and there has been nothing at all. Problem with sprinkling flower is that we have a HUGE deck, all raised to some degree and I have no idea where they would most frequently be coming in and out of. My guess is it snuck in under the gate, mosied up the stairs to the deck and then made it's way through the kennel, under the deck and back from wherever it came from??

However it's been raining pretty non-stop, so maybe they're just in hiding?? I don't know much about skunks, but I'm assuming if a sprinkler would drive them away, constant rain would make them go elsewhere, too?

We have only been allowing the dogs out with us, in the kennel with the door shut, and back in the house. No outside play time as they both like to go under the deck and I would hate for them to find a nice stinky surprise under there. We do plan on putting lattice up before this summer is over to prevent the dogs from getting under, but now we need to figure out whether there are actually skunks or not, cause I don't want to trap them in if they are in there.

They may have been just passing thru. Keep the recipe below just in case your dogs ever make contact with one. The only thing I did differently than what the link suggests was to let the solution soak on the dog's fur for about 5 min. before rinsing. For around the eyes Baby Shampoo worked pretty well.

When you install the lattice, leave an open gap for a few days...........and use the flour then. That will let you know if anyone is around!

I stand corrected on their climbing ability. Striped skunks 'prefer' not to climb and in the area we lived the Wildlife people told me our fence was too tall and straight for them to ever attempt it. It was much easier for them to use holes under the fence.
Spotted skunks are another subject!

Here is a link that might be useful: skunk remedy