As soon as the nests have the larve in them the skunks will hit them. Skunks took out the nests in my wood pile, firewood lean to and 2 spots that had nests up in the pasture this fall. An old trapper that lived in the area explained to me about the skunks when I asked what would dig up the nests but not tear stuff up like a bear. I verified it with a trail camera since.
I'm glad it all turned out okay for you and your daughter. I've had a couple of run-ins with yellow jackets and it isn't fun. Those are some mean little hornets, and once they emit the pheromone that sends out the attack message to the rest of the nest, you'd better hope you have a downhill path to run. If I find a nest on or anywhere near my property, one thing I WILL NOT do is leave it alone and avoid it. I'll go out that night or the next night and eliminate it. All it takes are one or two cans of wasp & hornet killer and one of those long lighters. The entrance will have quite a few yellow jackets around it at night, but most will be underground. Just blast the ones on the ground, pump all that's left into the hole and light it. You won't have any more problems with that nest and you won't have to worry about someone else stumbling onto them.
Gasoline is the best way to deal with them, just dump it down the hole and it kills on contact. It's thin enough to flood all the chambers of the nest easily. Glad you're all okay.
Well if I ever go back to that area I'm gonna try and find em so I can get rid of em. Right now I'm content to stay far away though lol. The whole club knows the area of about where they are so they know to stay away. And if a poacher finds em, well sucks to be him.
