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Skunk

Ditch-Runner
 we have had skunks hanging around for several + years no real problem they are shy the cats eat right along with them ( the cat food ) but will give the skunks a little more room at times LOL  they do seal a few chicken  eggs but we never eat all them any way . one did spray one of dogs about two or three years ago but it was corner'ed   in a fenced in area no where to run they now avoid the area 
     any way I have caught a few in the past even dispatched a few years ago then started  the catch and release 
          tonight I caught one in a shed looking for cat food I shut the door and then blocked off the cat  door 
chased it around a bit it was hiding behind what it could . but I had a clear chance so I grabbed it by the tail and put it a cat littler plastic bucket ( had holes drilled in the top from previous catches ) its a fairly young one 
 and last second got to scared as I was lowering into the bucket and sprayed a little not on me ( but I was expecting it too ) I am sure I got a bit of the  fall out cloud as the dog keeps looking at me funny now 
 any way tomorrow a trip down to the river and it will have a new home 
I am sure my wife will want to pet it  when she gets up to go to work she thinks there so cute 
 i have learned if they think you no real danger or any harm going to happen they do there best to avoid spraying and wasting there reserve , I have been in contact with hem many times just be calm and talk to them seems to keep them calm 
the skunks I can deal and even live with and the raccoon hanging around but the ground hog seems to know his time will end if I see or catch him 
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Comments

22 comments

Date Votes
  • Butchdog2
    You sir are living on borrowed time.
    One day you will corner one with a hair trigger and it will be a sad time for you. Grins.
    3
  • Ditch-Runner
    Butchdog2 said:
    You sir are living on borrowed time.
    One day you will corner one with a hair trigger and it will be a sad time for you. Grins.
     I think the odds are with me here on my place as they have interacted with the cats and even me  they have to know where the food comes from ( cat food I put out for our cats ) so they have no real fear of danger  and this was a younger one  , I would not do the same with one I happened on in the woods  the odds would be against me for sure 
              but to finish the story  I went out a short time ago to take it on a  trip to the river /woods  about a mile or so away 
     but I had not secured it all that well so its back running loose .
          my wife told me as she was headed off to work  it will be waiting to ambush me tonight ..
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  • redhawkk480
    we have the same problem with skunks and the outside cat food , last night there was one out there when I took the dog out before bedtime,  run and got the BB gun and sent a few BBs his way ( just close by not trying to hit it ), it decided to move on,  there's no way I would try what you did , LOL  I've release a few from live traps and that's nerve racking enough , no way I'm going to grab one by the tail 
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  • JimmyJack
    Id have to see it to believe it!  There isnt much worse than a skunk whizzing.  I aways have  skunk kit available,  It contains one quart of peroxide,  one teaspoon of dawn soap,  about a cup or so of baking soda..  It beats tomatoe juice, etc by large margins. Use 3 % peroxide., rub  the mixture on and wash off with water.
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  • chiefr
    Second on the target list around here behind raccoons.  Armadillos are a close third.
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  • Mr. Perfect
    Skunks carry rabies.
    6
  • BikerBob

    I know I shouldn’t say this, but haven’t had one near by since the dog got skunked about 7 years ago. Glad Boxers have short hair!

    i give them a very wide berth, not sure if I’d even shoot one within 100 yards of the house, garage, barn. Let alone try to catch one.

    Had one in the garage when I was a kid, dad called the vet and got some pills That we ground into a few small balls of hamburger and chucked the balls in at the skunk. After he ate and was asleep, we relocated him. That was the last time I was knowingly close except to expired ones in the road!

    3
  • dcon12
    One winter day I stopped and put a roadkill skunk in the trunk of my 63 Falcon. It was worth a dollar at the fur shed. I made it about a mile and stopped and threw it out. I decided that I did not need the dollar so much! Don
    6
  • bpost
    They are great for getting rid of yellow jacket nests in the ground but the unwelcome one under my cat barn had to go.  I used two gallons of ammonia poured through the floor gaps.  He left and did not come back.  I hope to let them live and they let me live.  There is no way I could have them around the house, I would worry about getting sprayed and stinking for days.
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  • montanajoe
    • Community moderator
    I would never attempt what you just did.  :o
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  • waltermoe
    A skunk will usually give you two warnings before it sprays, they look at you then turn their back to you then raise their tail and keep walking, after the second warning your on your own.   After awhile most wild critters  get use to you knowing you are not a threat, but it only takes that one time when you startle them and your in a world of stink you could say.        
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  • Butchdog2
    Good at digging up the yard hunting grubs, same with yellow jackets to, the bee stings must not phase them.
    Had a big yellow jacket nest in the yard a couple years ago, Bear dug them out of the bank, you could tell by the paw swats on the fresh ground.

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  • Ditch-Runner
     I just took the chance seemed like a real good possibility I could get away with it
         I had already played chase around the shed there is trash cans full of chicken feed and bowels of cat food and assorted other buckets the car door , a hole cut in the shed has a small piece of ply wood partially covering it   , I had blocked the out side ( just a metal siding style ) he went behind the ply wood could not see me and I already had the cat littler bucket to put him in ready.
     his tail was still sticking out from behind the piece of plywood so I grabbed it pulled and put it it the bucket so fast it did not have time to react . like I said it was a younger one also .
     I have cornered them in the past and just allow them to walk on by  to get away I always talk in a calm voice when around them , 
            I would guess a half dozen times I have 'petted" different one's facing me   they got use to seeing me is my guess and posed no danger when its calm even pulled a couple tails when they were head down in a trash can of empty feed bags they think its just another skunk ( just a guess )  
            one of our dogs a few years ago got a good face full and I used the above procedure ( jimmyjack posted ) 
        at night they do not see very well many years  ago I would just get close and " bang" end of skunk(s)  none ever sprayed when shot then I just started the catch and release I toss a old blanket or towel over the live trap they will not spray if they have no target then  just haul them off .
     this last group of skunks I have just for the most part just shared my yard and out buildings with  they remind me of cats when playing or eating they honestly do not cause much trouble and eat the dry cat food I keep at the chicken coop  I think it also keeps them from digging up the yard or wondering up to the house or out in the yard looking for food .
       I just decided to catch  them before another dog gets  to close  funny but the cats and  skunks they are all buddies no threat so they don't spray them but then again the cats eat with the raccoons and opossums  they do not seem to be picky about there friends 

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  • mohawk600
    I tried to head shoot a skunk one time because I wanted a pelt. Figured a head shot would result in no spray........wrong......It stayed on the ranch and became buzzard bait.
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  • yoshmyster
    Letting them get free eats will train them to do bad things. A shot from a 22LR, a ten foot pole with a rope with a slip knot, a dab of Vick's and a shovel.
    3
  • Okie
    If you do not want them to spray just shoot the tail off .
    I've heard they cannot spray if they can't raise their tail.
    If this don't work, shoot their tail off right behind their ears.
    Skunks and Foxes are the two main carriers of rabies. (and fleas, ticks and no telling what else)
    I was sitting in a tree stand deer hunting few years ago and witnessed a skunk come by in the daytime, it would stand for awhile, then fall on it's side and snap at the air. It moved out about 40 yards and laid down. I slowly and quietly got out of the tree before dark so as I could watch the sick feller. Next day I went to the stand after daylight, slowly and quietly watching for the animal with gun at the ready and the skunk was still where it was the evening before dead.
    Have no desire to have them skunks and foxes around me or my animals.
    0
  • bpost
    Do the skunks that visit your barn stink without spraying?  I would think any critter that sprays that vile smelling yuk has to go through life smelling like what it is dealing out, no
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  • Butchdog2
    Best I can tell the regular striped skunk does not stink all the time, at least I can't smell them with close encounters.
    We have a civics cat or spotted skunk that use to be seen sometimes, they stink all the time. I think I read somewhere they might be almost extinct.
    Had hair raising skunk encounter a while back. We had lost a yearling heifer and I had buried it pretty good with my excavator. Coyotes were trying to dig it up. I was watching for them out of the barn loft, got too dark to see good enough for a shot so I walked towards the house. Cherries were in season and the ground was covered with over ripe ones. Just as I stepped around my truck they was  small skunk about 3 feet away. We both said, oh no what next.
    I knew I was about to be marked for life. He reared up on is front legs as I braced for the shot. Instead he walked on his front feet for a good 25 yards before slipping out of sight over the bank. Great relief followed.
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  • Okie
    Butchdog2 said:
    Best I can tell the regular striped skunk does not stink all the time, at least I can't smell them with close encounters.
    We have a civics cat or spotted skunk that use to be seen sometimes, they stink all the time. I think I read somewhere they might be almost extinct.
    Had hair raising skunk encounter a while back. We had lost a yearling heifer and I had buried it pretty good with my excavator. Coyotes were trying to dig it up. I was watching for them out of the barn loft, got too dark to see good enough for a shot so I walked towards the house. Cherries were in season and the ground was covered with over ripe ones. Just as I stepped around my truck they was  small skunk about 3 feet away. We both said, oh no what next.
    I knew I was about to be marked for life. He reared up on is front legs as I braced for the shot. Instead he walked on his front feet for a good 25 yards before slipping out of sight over the bank. Great relief followed.

    That skunk was mooning you.
    You should have give it a Texas heart shot when it started over the hill. 
    It was lucky it was not mooning me. I could not have resisted the shot.

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  • Butchdog2
    I have shot my share of skunks, never a DRT sprayless event. I believe Captain Kirk could have shot one with a Phaser and still got sprayed.
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  • pulsarnc
    Thankfully they are exceedingly rare down here in the flatlands NC.  My grandfathers coon hounds ran  one around our house one summer about 55 yrs ago , pre air conditioning   We had to leave home for several days till the smell died down . They are pretty common up Ken and Allen's neck of the woods and I have had several close calls when riding my motorcycle up there 
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  • Ditch-Runner
     the striped skunks at least the ones hanging around do not have a smell , in the spring when mating season is is in I have heard they will spray at or each other I know in the evenings we can tell they are battling over the gal or she is defending her honor ether way for a few weeks its easy to tell if there around . 
    many years ago  20+ I shot a raccoon that came up in the yard and I sure it was sick  it was wobbling around and at 3:00 pm on a nice summer day not sure what it had gong on but dispatched it I do not recall if I burned it or burred it .  the only animal I have seen around that had a problem 

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