I live in 'skunk central', where people give directions to their houses by the number of road-kill skunks - "Take a left on road 21, drive four dead skunks, my house is on the left". Skunks can reek to high heaven w/o having anything bothering them at the moment - I always figured they'd sprayed at something some time previously, and just had the waxy stink stuff on their fur. They are also a creature of specific habits, so they'll follow a similar path .... going along the fence line here, then headed over to the vegetable garden there, then along the side of the house under the bedroom window which wakes us all up from the stench, then along to the side of the pond, etc. When they start coming around the house on a regular basis, I put a single moth ball every 10 feet along the base of the house - of course, you don't put any right near an open window. They won't come near it. I've read, but haven't tried it, that hot pepper works as well - I suppose spraying a bit with one of those key-chain, personal protection capsicum sprays or spurting a bit using a can of bear spray would do the trick. I've also read - but not tried - that ammonia in a dish will work- seems reasonable. Any thing that messes with their sense of smell should work - they're basically after grubs and earth worms, using their noses and, I suppose, ears. Look around your compost bin, and see if there is any shallow holes were they've dug up worms. Good luck. We had one earlier that came by the bedroom window about an hour after we went to bed, and the smell from that one would peel paint.

I so wish the local animal control, or fish and game would come take care of the skunk I accidentally caught in my life trap (intended for cats that kill the yard birds). Anyway, I called local, state, fed. and they all said the same, "good luck." So this poor skunk is slowly starving/choking to death, because I'm cowardly and don't want to get sprayed or have the front yard stink for a month...so I have to find a way to deal with this! If the law, which I doubt, says I can't "relocate", then I'm left with killing the poor thing! This is going to haunt me in my nightmares! As for Kimmsr and her "well written" and well-researched input: state laws vary widely, it's best to call and find out if they'll help you before doing anything! If your state, like mine, won't help, here is a Youtube video that I think is the most humane I've seen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9F16vTJXbk  

Susanzone5: A few years ago I went for a hike in the Windsor NY are. It was Christmas week. There was spotty areas of snow on the ground. The air was bite your cheeks cold but the sun felt warm. I was walking and stopping every now and then. I stopped at the base of the mountain to look around. Just as I stopped a medium size bear ran up the hill into some spruce trees. She ran from a blow down not 15 yards from where I stopped. As I looked around I saw movement from the other side of the tree.8 short black legs turned into two small cubs. I watched them for several minute. The mother didn't go far. I walked out around where they were. I walked an old snow covered logging road just above where mom ran.She never crossed the road.Again this was Christmas week.Bears in this area do not always den up at a set time. Males will wonder on warm or sunny winter days looking for food.I don't believe a mother bear would den next to a blow down that offers sparse cover.Males will den in any spot that looks comfy.It looks like your bird feeder might not be safe except for the dead of winter.

NH Fish & Game says to take feeders down by April 1. We usually see a mother bear and cubs in the spring and then usually not again although at one 4th of July party a bear strolled along the stone wall maybe 200 yards away in the middle of the day. The UPS guy says he always checks the area near our house where the woods meet a marshy meadow. He has video of cubs scrambling up a tree. We have watched cubs playing while mama made work of something near the stone wall, perhaps an insect nest. Across the road a bear tore a dead tree apart to get insects. We have never had a problem with one coming to our compost bins but I usually top kitchen scraps with a thick layer of grass clippings or leaves. That said, a gardening acquaintance in a very rural area of New London (last house on a dirt road) had a bear tear into her garden shed to get the bird seed. We also have deer and other wildlife that usually stay away from the house. Maybe they just have more wild food available. I have more trouble with voles and chipmunks doing damage to the vegetable garden. One time we did not give permission for someone to train his bear dogs on our property. Of course, the dogs didn't know property bounds. Someone was camping next to the river and the dogs chased the bear towards them. Upon seeing the people, the bear jumped into the river. The farmer used to plan corn in the field on the other side of the stone wall and we used to see more wildlife then. It's a hayfield now so we usually only see deer and one porcupine. Even the wild turkeys have stopped visiting and they used to roost in the pines along the edge of the field.