Skunk Removal In South Jersey
Get Skunks Out From Under Your Deck and Keep Them Out
Skunks almost never end up in an attic. They end up underneath things: deck skirting, shed blocks, concrete steps, and the open span under a home raised on pilings.
That makes skunk removal in South Jersey a digging problem, not a climbing one. Between Pine Barrens sand inland and saturated lagoon soil at the shore, this is easy ground to tunnel, so whether they come back depends entirely on how the den gets closed.
We trap humanely, seal below grade, and clean up the odor and damage so the next skunk through your yard cannot move in.
What Homeowners Say After We Fix the Problem
UFO provides professional services. We had issues with racoons in the attic. Josh did an excellent job trapping, treating the attic, and sealing roof return. We highly recommend Josh and UFO.
Early Warning Signs of Skunks Around Your Home
Most homeowners smell a skunk long before they see one. Act on any of these:
- Lingering odor around a deck, shed, or crawl space vent, especially if it carries indoors
- Cone-shaped holes punched across the lawn overnight, or rolled-back sod
- Fresh sand fanned out at a gap under a step, slab, or lattice deck skirt
- Shuffling or scratching low to the ground, beneath the floor rather than above it
- A pet sprayed more than once in the same spot
- Anything moving under a home raised after Sandy, common in lagoon communities like Beach Haven West and Brigantine, where the water table pushes skunks into the open span under the house
Noise from above is a different animal, usually squirrels in the attic. Once a skunk has denned, it will not leave on its own.
Key Factors Behind Skunk Activity in South Jersey Neighborhoods
Skunks settle where food, shelter, and quiet overlap. In South Jersey, all three are easy to find.
Grub-Heavy Lawns and Open Food Sources
Irrigated turf keeps Japanese beetle grubs shallow from August into October, and a skunk will roll back sod all night to reach them. The postwar ranches around Cherry Hill, Voorhees, and Blackwood pair mature lawns with low lattice skirting, which is why Camden County drives our heaviest lawn-damage volume.
Sandy Soil and Open Space Under Decks and Sheds
Much of Burlington, Atlantic, and Ocean County sits on Pine Barrens sand, and a skunk moves through it in a single night. An unskirted deck in Medford or a shed on blocks in Shamong becomes a den almost immediately, and raccoons exploit the same voids, so raccoon removal often runs alongside the skunk work.
When Skunk Activity Peaks in South Jersey
Skunks do not behave the same way year-round, and the season changes what removal actually involves.
Late Fall and Winter
Skunks do not truly hibernate. They enter torpor and den communally, so a single space under a shed can hold several females through the cold months, and one call in January often turns out to be four animals.
Late Winter and Spring
Breeding runs late February into March, when roaming males drive the sharpest spike in spray complaints. Kits arrive by April and stay with the mother into early summer, which makes this the slowest season to resolve a den.
Summer and Early Fall
With no litter in place and the ground still workable, this is the best window to trench and seal. It is also when lawn damage peaks, which is what brings most homeowners to the phone.
What to Expect From Our Skunk Removal Process
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Inspection and Assessment
We find the active burrow and map every other opening along the deck line, skirting, and foundation. What we check depends on the build: crawl space vents and lattice on the older inland stock, the open span beneath piling-raised homes at the shore.
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Humane Trapping and Litter Handling
Trapping is no-kill and follows New Jersey wildlife regulations. If kits are present, we hold the exclusion open until the whole family group is out, because we do not seal a den we have not confirmed is empty.
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Exclusion Built for Sandy Soil
A barrier that only sits at grade gets undermined within one season in Pine Barrens sand. We trench the perimeter and set buried galvanized mesh with an outward L-footer, running it wider instead of deeper on shore lots where the water table sits high.
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Cleanup, Odor Treatment, and Prevention
We pull contaminated soil and nesting material, treat the odor at the source, then backfill the burrows. Torn skirting and damaged grade are handled as animal damage repair by the same team on the same visit.
What Affects the Cost of Skunk Removal
Pricing tracks the work required, not the animal.
The factors that move it:
- How many skunks are present and whether kits are involved
- Where the den sits: deck, shed, slab, or foundation gap
- How much lawn and structural digging has to be repaired
- Whether contaminated soil or material has to come out
- How many linear feet of trenched exclusion the property needs, which runs longer on piling-raised shore homes than on an inland deck
Litter season from March through June tends to sit at the higher end, because the family group has to clear before anything gets sealed. Every quote comes after a free on-site inspection, so nothing is estimated blind.
Why We’re the Top Choice for Skunk Removal in South Jersey
Skunk work is ground work. Almost every call starts under a deck or shed, so the outcome depends on the exclusion and repair that follow the trapping. That is the part most wildlife companies hand off, and the part South Jersey soil punishes hardest.
- Licensed New Jersey home improvement contractor (NJ HIC 13VH11098000), so removal, exclusion, and the repair to your deck skirt or grade are one team. No waiting on a second contractor to close the hole.
- Owner-operated since 2020 by Jesse Miller and Joshua Chambers, with 300+ homeowners helped and 1,000+ animals removed.
- Exclusions built for the ground we work in, trenched deep in sandy inland soil, run wide on high-water-table shore lots.
- Humane, no-kill trapping and relocation under New Jersey wildlife law, backed by years of volunteer work at local animal sanctuaries.
- Litter season handled as a family group, never a rushed seal-up.
- Three bases, in Southampton, Mount Laurel, and Toms River, covering both the Pines and the barrier island towns.
- A written guarantee on exclusion work, because the seal is the part that has to last.
Still Dealing With Skunks? Here’s What Homeowners Ask Before Calling
Can I trap and relocate a skunk myself in New Jersey?
No. NJ Fish and Wildlife regulates nuisance wildlife handling, and relocating a skunk off your property is restricted to permitted control operators. It is also how most people get sprayed.
Should I worry about rabies if a skunk is out during the day?
Skunks are one of New Jersey’s designated rabies vector species, but daytime movement alone is normal, especially in spring when a mother is foraging. Stumbling, circling, unprovoked aggression, or no fear of people is different. Keep pets and children inside, call us, and contact your county health department.
My dog got sprayed. What actually works?
Not tomato juice. Skunk spray is thiol-based and has to be broken down chemically, so mix one quart of 3% hydrogen peroxide, a quarter cup of baking soda, and a teaspoon of dish soap, work it into dry fur away from the eyes, and rinse after five minutes. Mix it fresh and never store it sealed.
How long does the whole process take?
A single skunk with one entry point is usually trapped and sealed within a few days. Litter season is longer, since the exclusion stays open until the kits can travel, and any repair or soil removal is scheduled around that.
How fast can you get out to my property?
Running out of Southampton, Mount Laurel, and Toms River puts most of Burlington, Camden, and Ocean County within a short drive, so same-day or next-day is normal. The spread-out Pines towns like Hammonton and the barrier islands are on the same schedule.
Tired of the Smell and Damage? Let’s Fix the Problem at the Source
If skunks have taken over your yard, the problem usually gets worse with time, not better. We handle the removal, cleanup, and prevention so you don’t have to deal with the smell, damage, or stress any longer.
Schedule your inspection today and get your property back under control.
Where We Provide Service in New Jersey
- Cape May County
- Pennsylvania