Jerry J Bromenshenk wrote: 
>tried all of the skunk remedies
 
  
I agree Jerry, the best method is just to keep the hives away 
from their reach. 
 
Quick story. It¹s about midnight and thought I¹d look at my 
hives before turning in. So across the road and back a bit, I 
came face to face with a skunk, who also wanted to check out 
the cluster size. Went back, loaded the gun, and proceeded to 
the bee yard again. Here¹s where the problem started...I 
became so engrossed with watching the skunk ( through the 
scope ) go from hive to hive looking for a free meal, he 
finally realized I was there AND CAME AT ME !! Four feet of 
grass and pitch black are not a good combination. Click went 
the safety, my feet did their thing.
 
Buster colonies do a fine job of self-protection, the weak 
fall prey. Working them after a round with a skunk is no fun, 
win or loose.
 
I prefer the square 4² trap, inside a box that would only 
allow a skunk to enter ( no beekeepers feet ). Trapping is a 
humane way of controlling a nuance predator, and relives the 
foraging pressure from it's more ³properly predisposed² 
relatives. I have never had a skunk release from such 
encounters.
 
Poison is the last resort for the wary skunk. Unfortunately 
sometimes necessary.
 
Best so far is that I¹ve had a couple of owls spend fall / 
winter above the hives, as Canada grows colder ;-) .Now 
there¹s natural control.
 
Scott    N. of St.Paul, MN  USA