Striped skunks turn up across a wide slice of Montana, from the wetland edges of Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge to the shoreline cover of Flathead Lake and the brushy river-bottoms along the Missouri, wherever open ground meets brush or streamside cover for denning. Montana has 157 records in all, and the western valleys lead, with Ravalli County at 19 and Missoula County at 15.
Records climb through spring to a June peak, with July close behind, tracking the stretch when this year’s kits are becoming independent and moving on their own, making a normally low-key, mostly nocturnal animal easier for people to run into. NatureServe rates the species secure (S5) statewide, and Montana’s cold winters likely push this species into a much lower-activity state than the sharp seasonal record swing alone would suggest.
Full species profile
