Skunk deterrents: a low fence works, because skunks cannot climb

Fence them out, low. Iowa State University Extension states that fences can help with skunks, as they do not jump or climb, and that a sturdy chicken wire or woven wire fence pinned to the ground keeps them out of feeding areas. For lawn damage, lay wire flat over the affected turf and pin it. Repellents are typically not very effective.

The one fact that makes this category easy

Almost every animal this site deals with defeats a short fence. A deer clears eight feet. A squirrel jumps eight feet sideways and climbs anything. A raccoon goes over the top, which is why Iowa State says raccoon exclusion has to cover the ground rather than ring it.

A skunk does neither. They do not jump or climb. That one published sentence turns an eight-foot problem into a three-foot one, and it is the reason this page recommends a fence first when most of the site recommends a fence last.

The requirement that replaces height is that the fence has to be pinned to the ground. A skunk is a digger, and an unpinned bottom edge is a door. The whole specification is therefore: not very tall, and tight along the soil.

First, confirm it is a skunk

Skunk and raccoon lawn damage get confused constantly, and they need different fixes - so this is worth two minutes before you buy anything. Iowa State describes the two signatures distinctly.

They are after grubs, and there is a published threshold

A skunk digging your lawn is not interested in the grass. It is after what is under it, and Iowa State publishes the numbers that make this tractable.

• Healthy turf tolerates a lot. As many as 20 or more grubs per square foot before the grass itself shows injury.
• Skunks and raccoons arrive much earlier. Populations only typically have to be at five or more grubs per square foot to attract them.
• So the damage is a food signal, not a turf problem. Your lawn can be perfectly healthy and still be worth digging up. This is why people treat for grubs, see no grass improvement, and conclude the treatment failed.
• If numbers are low, no treatment is necessary. Dig a square foot of sod and count before you spend anything on insecticide.

Timing is the part that catches people out, and Iowa State is specific: the most effective treatment is preventative insecticides applied from late May to early August. Curative applications work best in August and early September. And treatments after early October are not effective and are not recommended - which is exactly when the damage is most visible and people reach for the bag.

In other words, by the time you see the holes it is usually too late to treat for this season. Fence the area now; treat on the calendar next year if the damage recurs annually.

The two fences, and which one you want

There are two different jobs here and they take different hardware.

Ringing an area - a vegetable bed, a chicken run, the ground under a feeder. A three-foot woven or welded wire fence pinned tight along the soil is enough, because there is no climb to defeat. This is the cheapest effective fence anywhere on this site.

Protecting open lawn - where the digging is spread across turf you cannot sensibly ring. Here Iowa State's instruction is to lay the wire flat: put hardware cloth, chicken wire or bird netting across the damaged areas and secure it to the ground with landscape staples or bricks. The grass grows through it, and the digging becomes frustrating enough to stop being worth the effort.

For denning - under a deck, shed or porch - the job becomes the same screening work the opossum page sets out, and the published mesh, depth and skirt figures there transfer directly. Check the space is empty before you close it, and be especially careful in spring.

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Quick picks

Ranked, with the trade-off named. Tap a row for the full write-up; the price button goes straight to Amazon.

#	Product	Best for	Price
1	SANZEUS Welded Wire Fence, 3 ft x 50 ft, 2 x 4 in, 15 gaugeHeavy-gauge welded wire at the 3 ft height wildlife agencies publish for woodchucks, in a 50 ft roll — the right raw material for a fence that has to be buried and bent.	The fence itself, at the published height	$50.99 on Amazon
2	YARDGARD 2 in Poultry Netting, 24 in x 150 ft, 20 gaugeClassic hexagonal chicken wire: 2 in mesh, 20 gauge, 150 feet of it. Cheap, light, easy to cut and bend — and 2 in openings stop nothing smaller than a rabbit.	Cheap coverage over a big area	$29.99 on Amazon
3	HOOPLE Landscape Staples, 6 in, 11 gauge, 100 packSix inches of 11 gauge galvanized wire, a hundred of them. This is the cheapest item on the page and the one most likely to decide whether the fence works.	Pinning the bottom edge, which is where fences fail	$15.99 on Amazon
4	HUNKA Hardware Cloth, 1/2 in mesh, 36 in x 50 ft, 19 gaugeRecommended by specification rather than by brand: 1/2 in mesh, 36 in tall, galvanized. This roll meets it — any roll matching the same three numbers does the same job.	A permanent rabbit barrier	$42.99 on Amazon
5	6 Gallon Galvanized Steel Seed Can with LidA galvanized can with a lid, which is the storage extension guidance actually names: rodents gnaw through plastic and paper, and do not gnaw through steel.	Storing seed where rodents cannot smell their way in	$28.79 on Amazon

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The picks in full

Top pick The fence itself, at the published height

SANZEUS Welded Wire Fence, 3 ft x 50 ft, 2 x 4 in, 15 gauge

Heavy-gauge welded wire at the 3 ft height wildlife agencies publish for woodchucks, in a 50 ft roll — the right raw material for a fence that has to be buried and bent.

Published specifications

Height

3 ft (published)

Roll length

50 ft (published)

Mesh

2 x 4 in (published)

Gauge

15 (published)

Material

Galvanized steel, welded joints (published)

Working

Published as cuttable and installable with T-posts

Trade-offs

• +3 ft is the height both sources on this page publish as the minimum for woodchucks
• +15 gauge is heavier wire than the 16 gauge most garden rolls use, which matters on a fence an animal climbs
• +Welded rather than woven, so the joints do not slip when you bend the bottom into an L
• +2 x 4 in mesh is small enough for a groundhog and open enough to see through
• −50 ft does not go far around a vegetable plot — measure the perimeter before ordering one roll
• −Galvanized bare wire is visible in a way black PVC-coated fencing is not
• −Cut ends are sharp and the roll has memory; this is a gloves-and-two-people job
• −It is only the wire. Posts, ties and the digging are all still ahead of you

Who it is forA vegetable garden or a run of beds that needs a permanent barrier built to the published spec rather than a temporary screen.

Skip it ifYour perimeter is long. The 100 ft roll costs less per foot and saves a join, and joins are where a burrowing animal gets in.

$50.99 on Amazon

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Where these specifications came from

• Welded Wire Mesh Fence 3ft x 50ft, 2 x 4 in mesh, 15 gauge galvanized wire fence roll (Amazon listing)

No. 2 Cheap coverage over a big area

YARDGARD 2 in Poultry Netting, 24 in x 150 ft, 20 gauge

Classic hexagonal chicken wire: 2 in mesh, 20 gauge, 150 feet of it. Cheap, light, easy to cut and bend — and 2 in openings stop nothing smaller than a rabbit.

Published specifications

Mesh

2 in hexagonal (published)

Gauge

20 (published)

Size

24 in x 150 ft (published)

Finish

Galvanized steel (published)

Trade-offs

• +150 feet is enough to cage a whole vegetable bed run, at a price hardware cloth cannot touch
• +Light and flexible: it bends around hoops and cuts with ordinary snips
• +Fine for the jobs extension guidance actually recommends 1-2 in mesh for — rabbit fencing and freestanding covers over rows
• −2 in openings pass chipmunks, mice, voles and young rats without slowing them down
• −20 gauge is thin enough that a determined squirrel can work an opening wider

Who it is forRabbit fencing, row covers and cages where the animal you are excluding is rabbit-sized or bigger.

Skip it ifYou are excluding rodents or sealing a structure. Use hardware cloth — this is the wrong material and it fails the same way every time.

$29.99 on Amazon

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Where these specifications came from

• YARDGARD 2 in poultry netting, 24 in x 150 ft, 20 gauge (Amazon listing)

No. 3 Pinning the bottom edge, which is where fences fail

HOOPLE Landscape Staples, 6 in, 11 gauge, 100 pack

Six inches of 11 gauge galvanized wire, a hundred of them. This is the cheapest item on the page and the one most likely to decide whether the fence works.

Published specifications

Length

6 in (published)

Gauge

11 (published)

Quantity

100 (published)

Finish

Galvanized (published)

Trade-offs

• +11 gauge is thick enough to drive into firm soil without folding, which 12 and 14 gauge staples do
• +100 staples at roughly one every 2 ft covers about 200 ft of bottom edge
• +Galvanized, so they survive being left in wet ground season after season
• −6 in is short for loose or sandy soil, where a longer pin or a buried apron holds better
• −Pinning a bottom edge is slow, unglamorous work that most people skip — which is precisely why it is on this page
• −They disappear into grass, so mark the line before you mow

Who it is forEvery mesh fence, without exception. The top of a deer fence gets all the attention and the bottom is where the animals get through.

Skip it ifYou are burying an apron of wire instead, which is better and considerably more work.

$15.99 on Amazon

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Where these specifications came from

• HOOPLE 6 in 11 gauge landscape staples, 100 pack (Amazon listing)

No. 4 A permanent rabbit barrier

HUNKA Hardware Cloth, 1/2 in mesh, 36 in x 50 ft, 19 gauge

Recommended by specification rather than by brand: 1/2 in mesh, 36 in tall, galvanized. This roll meets it — any roll matching the same three numbers does the same job.

Published specifications

Mesh

1/2 in x 1/2 in (published); 1 in or smaller is the spec, 1/2 in excludes young rabbits

Roll

36 in W x 50 ft L (published)

Gauge

19, 0.91 mm wire diameter (published)

Material

Hot-dip galvanized over annealed wire (published)

Height above ground

At least 2 ft (Colorado State Extension)

Buried depth

4 to 8 in (Colorado State Extension)

Trade-offs

• +Extension services put chicken wire, hardware cloth or flexible netting at 2 ft high and buried 4 to 8 in as fairly effective against rabbits
• +A permanent fix rather than a reapplication schedule
• +Half-inch mesh also excludes young rabbits, which 2 in poultry netting does not
• +Hot-dip galvanized after weaving, which is the coating that survives being buried
• −Burying the bottom edge is the whole job, and it is real digging
• −Galvanized wire is visible in a way black deer netting is not
• −36 in tall means you are burying roughly a third of what you paid for
• −The listing warns of sharp edges at both ends — this is a gloves job, and nothing about this brand makes it better than any other roll at the same spec

Who it is forA vegetable plot or a border with a persistent rabbit problem, where you would rather dig once than spray for years.

Skip it ifDeer are the actual problem. Two feet of wire is a step-over for a deer; the height that matters there is 8 ft and up. See deer fencing.

$42.99 on Amazon

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Where these specifications came from

• HUNKA Hardware Cloth 1/2 Inch 36 x 50 ft 19 Gauge, hot dip galvanized chicken coop wire fencing (Amazon listing)

No. 5 Storing seed where rodents cannot smell their way in

6 Gallon Galvanized Steel Seed Can with Lid

A galvanized can with a lid, which is the storage extension guidance actually names: rodents gnaw through plastic and paper, and do not gnaw through steel.

Published specifications

Capacity

6 gallon (published)

Material

Galvanized steel (published)

Lid

Included (published)

Stated use

Bird seed storage, rodent proof (published)

Trade-offs

• +Steel is on the short list of materials rodents cannot gnaw through, alongside concrete and wire mesh
• +6 gallons takes a 15-20 lb bag of seed with the bag opened flat inside
• +A lid that seats properly also keeps the seed dry, which is the other way stored seed goes bad
• −A lid that merely rests on top is not enough where raccoons are active — they lift lids; a locking or strapped lid is the fix
• −Galvanized steel left in the weather will eventually rust at the seams

Who it is forAnyone storing seed in a garage, shed or porch — which is the single most common reason rats appear at a feeder.

Skip it ifYou buy 5 lb bags and use them in a fortnight. The bag in a sealed bin indoors is fine.

$28.79 on Amazon

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Where these specifications came from

• 6 gallon galvanized steel seed storage can with lid (Amazon listing)

Food management, briefly, because it still applies

A skunk's main draw is in the soil, which makes it different from a raccoon or an opossum. But the secondary draws are the familiar ones and they are the reason a passing animal becomes a resident: fallen birdseed, open bins, pet food left outside, and accessible compost.

A skunk cannot climb to your feeder, so unlike the raccoon case you do not need a baffle for it. What you need is for nothing to be on the ground underneath. A seed tray under the feeder and sealed seed storage handle most of it - keeping rats away from bird feeders covers the same ground-level discipline for the same reason.

The order we would do this in

1. Identify the animal from the damage. Small rutted holes, skunk. Flipped sod, raccoon. Do not buy hardware until you are sure.
2. Count the grubs. One square foot of lifted sod. Under five per square foot and grubs are not the draw; over five and they are.
3. Clear the secondary food. Fallen seed, bins, pet bowls, compost. A week of this alone resolves a surprising number of cases.
4. Fence or cover. Three-foot wire pinned to the ground to ring an area; wire laid flat and stapled down to protect open turf.
5. Screen any den space under decks and sheds, after confirming it is empty.
6. Put grub treatment on next year's calendar if the damage is annual - late May to early August preventative, August to early September curative, nothing after early October.
7. Skip the repellent as the plan. Iowa State rates it as typically not very effective, and the products on the shelf are mostly labeled for moles.

On the smell, and on being fair to the animal

A skunk sprays when it is cornered or startled, which is an argument for fences and against devices, traps and surprises. Every method on this page works by making a place not worth visiting, and none of them involves confronting the animal.

It is also worth saying that a skunk eating grubs is doing something you would otherwise pay for. The goal here is to move the digging off the lawn you care about, not to remove an animal from the neighborhood.