Skunks!

[XBT]

We have two kinds of skunks around here, the large striped skunk and the smaller spotted skunk. My house is at 5,000 feet elevation and all we have here around the house are the striped variety. When running a trap line in the foothills at a slightly higher elevation I would sometimes catch a spotted skunk. These can be approached slowly and carefully and released from the leghold trap with no problem. The larger and more excitable striped skunks are different; there is no good way to get them out of leghold trap without shooting it first, which is always a messy operation.

To remove “problem” striped skunks from around my house I use a box trap, built of wood with a piece of Plexiglas for a door. These have several advantages, for if you catch your neighbors cat you can release it unharmed and if you catch a skunk you can transport it away from the house for disposal.

I’ve done this many times, carefully placing the trap in my pickup and hauling it away from the house. When you open the trap the skunk won’t come out, so I pick it up from the back end so the varmint can’t see me and sort of fling it out of the trap so it lands eight or ten feet away from me. I keep the trap in my hands and back away quickly before the skunk can spray.

Up until now this method has always worked well, but this morning the skunk must have had a good hold on the trap and when it fell out it landed almost at my feet, and seeing a target, it let rip a shot of spray. I backed away with surprising speed for an old man, almost running over my wife who was standing behind me with a .22 rifle at the ready.

In all the excitement the skunk managed to get about fifty yards away before she got a clean shot at it. Then we made the second mistake. Driving the truck up close to the skunk to make sure it was dead, I didn’t watch the wind direction and drove up on the downwind side, with both windows open.

The truck is now sitting out in the driveway with both windows open, and my wife and I are sitting in the house with all the windows open, hoping we don’t have any company for a day or two.

[versifier]

There is an excellent product that is marketed around here as "Skunk Away", sold at hardware stores, the farmer's exchange, etc. It comes in a pump spray and contains an enzyme that breaks down mercaptan compounds and works really well. I have successfully used it on dogs and vehicles (I ran over one). If you got any into the car's air system, you can help things by turning the defroster on full and spraying it directly into the system's air intake (if there is an air/particle filter, it will have to be replaced). About the only things it does not work on are wood and paper/fiber where the perfume has penetrated the surface. With car upholstery, saturating the spot with the stuff, while admittedly not 100% effective, sure improves things quite a bit (my springer panicked and dove into the car through the open window). Hope this helps, because the old folk remedy, tomato juice, has absolutely no effect on the stench and stains anything that can possibly stained bright red. Search "skunk" here for an amusing post. Good luck!

[kenjuudo]

Baking soad and peroxide, mixed and applied does wonders.

jim

[carpetman]

XBT---Before I had my tonsils removed,I actually liked the smell of skunks(same with rubbing alcohol). After they removed my tonsils,I no longer liked the smell. Perhaps if you have had your tonsils removed,you could get a tonsil transplant. I have never heard of such an operation,but I'm sure if it exists Wills can post a link for you or Starmetal Joe might possibly have a friend that does them. As far as I know,thats one of the few things Buckshot doesn't do on his lathe.

[StarMetal]

Nope, no Doctors in the family, mostly all lawyers, law enforcement, and engineers.

Starmetal Joe

[carpetman]

XBT---Have you tried catching a striped female skunk and a male spotted skunk and seeing what you get if you pen them up together for awhile? It would create some problems. Who is going to get close enough to determine the sex first off? Would the offspring be hybrid like mules? What would they look like? Striped with spots or spotted with stripes? Perhaps the spots would look like a dotted line? sorta like a bunch of these.........................

[waksupi]

Are you sure the spotted skunks, aren't civet cats?

[XBT]

Carpetman, Even in the interest of science I’m not about to breed more of the sweet corn eating varmints, we have plenty here already.

Waksupi, I don’t really know, I just assumed they were some type of skunk. They are small, about the size of a small house cat, all black with some white spots on the back. The locals just call them “spotted skunks”. As I said, they are not as excitable as the striped skunk and if handled gently usually won’t spray. If they do spray, it smells just like any other skunk.

[wills]

http://www.enature.com/flashcard/show_flash_card.asp?recordNumber=MA0039
http://www.enature.com/flashcard/show_flash_card.asp?recordNumber=MA0038
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/spotted_skunk.htm

[Maxthompson]

Ric and I come from the same part of the country and I remember as a kid hearing about civet cats but don't think I ever shot one. i did shoot about everything else in Minnesota except bear.

Me and my Marlin 39A were a legend in my mind.

Mike

[waksupi]

I( remember catching them in traps occassionally, and dad shot a few around the corn cribs. Not as common as skunks, with a slight difference in "bouquet".

[versifier]

Lulu had a chicken
Lulu had a duck
Lulu put them in a box
To see if they would.....

Bang Bang Lulu
Lulu Bang Bang
Bang Bang Lulu
She ain't gonna Bang no more

[carpetman]

XBT---Starmetal doesnt have any friends nor family that could help with a tonsil transplant. Even more oddly,he apparently never worked at a place that did such. Wills posted links to identify skunks but no link to refer you to where you could get a tonsil transplant---I'd say you are in deep poo poo. Now in the interest of science you might want to consider what I suggested as to interbreeding the striped and spotted skunks. If they are hybrid and cant reproduce you could help deplete their population by having a sterile breed---sorta like neutering them.

[waksupi]

Ray, iot would never work out. Mixing spots and stripes, is a fashion faux pas, unless you work for Ringling Bros.

[XBT]

Carpetman, It’s not nice to mess with Mother Nature, remember the killer bee deal? What if I create a sort of super skunk that stands three feet tall, sprays scent twenty feet and can eat ten ears of sweet corn in one sitting?

Tell you what, if I can find a postman that isn’t too smart I’ll send you one of each and YOU try crossbreeding them. Even if it goes badly I figure it will take them a long time to spread from Texas to here.

[carpetman]

XBT---Never know till you try it. Yes might get 3 foot tall corn eating critter---then again it might both lay eggs and make honey to boot. You gotta keep in mind that Rome wasn't built in a day. The Dr's working for Jerry's Kids for example have been splitting hairs so to speak for years trying to find a cure. So you may have to raise the offsprings and see what you have before you turn them loose. Maybe even several generations before you get it perfected. Now wouldn't it be ironic if some part of a cross between a spotted and a striped skunk was the missing ingredient for curing Jerry's kids?

[Buckshot]

.............One of the kids I grew up with was a real mountain man. Tied his own flies. They all looked the same, like an exploded kitten. Subscribed to Fur, Fish and Game and would sleep out in his backyard all the time if his mom would have let him. Plus he ran a trapline out in the grape vineyards about a mile from the school we went to, and this was in elementary school!

He'd get up at like 0400 and walk the several miles out to check his traps, carrying an old Stevens SS 22 rifle. These were mostly single spring legholds he'd buy from a local junk store before such stuff became valuable vintage antiques on E-Bay.

Whatever he caught (mostly rabbits, but a few weasels and ground squirrels) he'd skin out and leave hanging on grapevines. Then after school he'd retrive them and his rifle. He did try tanning them on occassion but mostly they ended up like fuzzy on one side frisbees......... with legs and a tail. One day he wasn't at school, so as he only lived one house down from me I stopped to see what was up.

Apparently he'd trapped his first skunk which was really a thrilling change for him. He waded right in and got good and sprayed, but worse was he got bit a couple times. This was in the early 60's and rabbies was a big deal. While I was there at the screen door I could smell him. I was amazed his dad didn't have him out hanging on the clothesline out back or roped up to the eaves of the garage :-).

He didn't get rabies luckily and he'd discovered a newfound respect for skunks.

...............Buckshot

[Ricochet]

Yeah, baking soda dissolved in hydrogen peroxide works well.

[9.3X62AL]

.............One of the kids I grew up with was a real mountain man. Tied his own flies. They all looked the same, like an exploded kitten.
...............Buckshot

Thanks for the coffee in my sinus cavities, Rick! Recalling some of my early fly tying results, he and I had some real skill-level parallels.

We get skunks in our back yard, and last year they raised h--l with our sweet corn. No corn this year, and they've stayed out of the tomatoes and other stuff so far.

In a former residence, we had an old neighbor lady who fed just about every animal that traipsed past her house, and she had a special place in her heart for skunks. She was referred to as "The Humaniac" by our animal control officer.

The skunks apparently thought that they needed housing adjacent to their restaurant, and forced their way under my house via the basement vent screens. Once so ensconced, my idiot Shorthair and her understudy the Lab/Mastiff mix would commence to barking loudly at the skunks, which prompted the skunks to spray liberally without affecting the dogs too much--other than to prompt more barking, and a vicious cycle was under way. This rendered the house almost unlivable. I was unsure who to shoot first--the lady across the street, the dogs, or the skunks.

[StarMetal]

Rick,

This reminds me of my best friend I grew up with, but his senarios went on when we were teenagers.

One day going over to his house, via the alley ways, I smelled skunk. Thought nothing of it. It got stronger the closer I got to his place. Then a thought went through my brain "No, no, no..Carl wouldn't be skinning a skunk". By the time I reached the edge of his yard the smell was very strong and I see him on his porch hunkered down working on something. My worse fears were true, he was skinning a skunk. As he saw me approaching he started laughing. I said "What the hell are you doing?". He just laugh...he gave up on the idea and threw the whole mess in the garbage can. We were actually thinking about skipping school the day the garbage pickup was on, just to see the face of the garbage man as he openned the lid on that can. We didn't.

I told Carl he was nuts trying to skin a skunk. He assured me all was going well until that scent bag broke. I do remember, though, after it was all over, Carl really didn't smell like a skunk sprayed him. I don't know what he did to clean himself up.

Something was always going on with Carl and skunks. We both worked some on this horse ranch. It was about a 90 acre spread on some nice land that included fields, woods, hills, and a lake. One day that I wasn't there Carl was telling me he was up at the barn looking down valley towards the lake with his little Redfield telescope (remember thoses?) for groundhogs. His rifle was a Remington singleshot 22 that he got for S&H saving stamps. Well he spotted a mother skunk and her four little ones down at the lake getting a drink. Then they started back towards the woods single file style. Well Carl rested his rifle on the fence and he said being it was a terrible far distance he aimed way way ahead of the mother skunk in the lead. We're talking hundreds of yards here, but down hill, though that probably doesn't make a difference. Well he fired and said it took a small amount of time for the bullet to impact and impact it did, as Carl said the last skunk in line stopped moving. He said the others never noticed and continued into the woods. By this time Carl was running to get down there. Then Carl said he saw the mother skunk and other little ones come back out of the woods, grab the dead or injured one, and drag it off back into the woods. He said they were long gone when he got there, but he found blood and of course, alot of stink!! Never found the skunk. Carl wasn't much of one for lying, so I don't doubt it happen and we both agreed that it was fantastically lucky shot. We laughed about the skunks coming back to get their sibling.

Carl was also the friend I was with when we both were attacked by a groundhog!!!! That was a few exciting moments for us as Carl has to load that singleshot Remington over and over, many times, trying to kill that maneating woodchuck.

Boy, the good old days.

Joe

[MT Gianni]

XBT, back in the day, I had great luck with a 38 special through the shoulder blades of skunks. Break the spine and no spray. Gianni

[drinks]

Texas has the honor and privilege of having all 5 species of skunks, stripped, hooded, hog nosed, eastern spotted and western spotted in our borders, eat your hearts out those of you not so blessed.
Texas does not have any civet cats, those are found in Africa and Asia.
I enjoy watching skunks forage in the debris in the woods, I just do not like hitting one with the car or finding one of the smelly weasels in the chickens.
My [very tough] father made his spending money in the '30s, trapping skunks, he said they were worth from 25c to 75c, with the most valuable being those who had the least white on them.
This was when .22s cost 10c a box and grown men worked 10 hour days for $1 a day.

[Ranch Dog]

drinks is right, we've got all five of them!!! What you guys needs is an Australian Kelpie dog... a certified killer of skunks. This picture is of my late Sheila after her third kill. The first one got her by surprise and that never happen again. She would hit them before they knew what was coming and kill them dead. She never let them see her.

My dad made the award. The badge is from the can of Ragu sauce that we used to kill the odor on that first skunk. The label on the lid says "Worlds Greatest Skunk Killer". The "Milk Bones" are labeled "Kill 2", and "Kill 3". As you can tell, she is quite proud of the award and went on to kill a couple of dozen of the critters in her life time!

[XBT]

I got another one this morning. My fifteen-year-old grandson was here and wanted to try his 9MM carbine on one so we loaded the trap and hauled it out away from the house a ways. I told him to grab one side of the trap while I handled the other side and on the count of three we would throw the skunk out. He thought I was joking. When I convinced him I was serous he refused to do it. After a long talk he reluctantly agreed to give it a try.

When the count was at two and one-half he dropped his side of the trap and ran. That made me drop my side and as it hit the ground the skunk, still in the trap, let rip. Now we got to do it again, but with the trap thoroughly contaminated. We finally got it out of the trap and he whacked it with the carbine.

I told him when he got home he could tell his friends all about skunk trapping. “ When I get home,” he said, “ I’m going to tell all my friends that I have a crazy old man for a grandpa”

Kids nowadays have no sense of adventure.

[DLCTEX]

Try mixing lemon juice with the baking soda and hydrogen peroxide, haven't tried it myself, but was given this formula as a sure skunk oder killer. I catch skunks in a live trap and just place an old blanket over it to haul the skunk to an appropriate disposal place, have never gotten sprayed doing this. If you can pick a skunk up by it's tail it can't spray, just don't hit it with a stick! Been there, done that. Spotted skunk, civet cat, same thing in America. Read that a sure fire skunk oder eliminater for a dog is to pass the dog through smoke of burning leaves, tough to do with an 85 lb. German Shepherd. Duke has probably 100 skunk kill to his credit, numerous armadillos, possums, coons, and at least 25 attempts on porcupines(35 bucks a trip to the vet), and 1 coyote. We won't mention cats in case some of my nighbors might read this.

[Ranch Dog]

. We won't mention cats in case some of my nighbors might read this.

Hey... they got to practice on something :drinks:

[bruce drake]

That Kelpie probably decided after the first skunk to do preemptive strikes on the local skunks to prevent any future sprayings. Strike first and hard and give them no chance for retaliation.

Bruce

[StanDahl]

Couple of skunk stories...neighbor in the sticks in MN when I was a kid, left a basement window open one night. Next morning there was a skunk in the basement. Thinking ahead, he laid a plank through the window to let the skunk find its own way out. Next morning, there were two skunks in the basement. Don't remember how the story ends - sorry!

My cousin came home to find a skunk loitering by the pole barn/garage. It wouldn't leave, so he thought he'd shoot it in the head to minimize the collateral damage. So...a .22 to the head results in the skunk flipping head over heels with jets of stink going everywhere. He couldn't go anywhere near the garage door for about 2 weeks. This is the same cousin who called up gophers with his riding mower and used a 12 gauge to put them down as they popped up to investigate. His wife isn't as embarrassed as she used to be by all this. Stan

[Old Ironsights]

Only safe way to shoot a skunk is to trap it in a cage with tail-down. Then you can lung it without spray. (If you have a largish syringe you can then extract the scent from the glang sacs and sell it to perfumers...)

Head shots will almost always cause a skunk to spray, even a tail-downer.

[Old Ironsights]

XBT, back in the day, I had great luck with a 38 special through the shoulder blades of skunks. Break the spine and no spray. Gianni

If you've got a Levergun in .38/.357 try some 5gr BP/Sub Catsneeze loads. [smilie=1:

[windwalker]

being from oz dont no about skunks but do they stink that bad .
bernie:-D

[MGySgt]

Was watching the show Myth Busters last night and guess what they tried all the remedies to get ride of Skunk Smell. The 'Home Remedy worked best:

Baking Soda
Hydregon Perioxide
Dish Washing soap.

How timely for some one!

Drew

[bruce drake]

Bernie,

think of an Australian animal that can make your eyes water, shut down your throat, sear your nose hairs and make you catch your breath in gasps and you might get the idea of the intensity of a skunk blast. Even a week later, you can tell where one exploded.

Bruce

[XBT]

Bernie, I shot one in my garden one fall and when I tilled across that area the next spring I could still get a faint smell of skunk.

[Old Ironsights]

Bernie, I shot one in my garden one fall and when I tilled across that area the next spring I could still get a faint smell of skunk.

Back in the day when I was doinga little trapping in Wyoming, the guy I worked the trap line for sold the skunk scent for big money. I guess there is some method by which the Perfumers strip the skunk smell but leave the "Eternal Carrier" to which they apply their bad smells.

Like I said, if you cage trap them with the tail down they won't spray. Then you shoot them in the lungs with slow .22 solids. They die quick enough, but there is no CNS shock to make them let go. Then you pull the scent from the gland sacs with a syringe. Doesn't take too long to figure out how to do it and without smell.

'course, you can always save a syringe full for clandestine pranking at the 'ol HS... :twisted:

[drinks]

Old I;
Why do you remind me of the sorry varmits that got all of us put in detention about once a month in High School when no one would rat on the sorry varmits? ;D

[MT Gianni]

Ironsides, A lot of trapping scent makers would buy skunk scent as an attractor. Coyotes and fox love skunk in the winter as it is a major source of fat when nothing else is. Gianni.

[Old Ironsights]

Old I;
Why do you remind me of the sorry varmits that got all of us put in detention about once a month in High School when no one would rat on the sorry varmits? ;D

'Cause nobody ever figured out who was doing it? [smilie=1: You can get away with alot when you are considered the class Geek and not a "woodsy" type. (Little did they know... )

OTOH, if somthing 'sploded guess who they interrogated first? :-?